Di isole e di città with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò at Teatro Vittoria, March 2 to 7, 2027

Di isole e di città, the sentimental and literary journey through Greece by Giuseppe Cederna, actor and traveler, and the Hellenist Giorgio Ieranò, with live music by Edmondo Romano and direction by Sergio Maifredi, is at Teatro Vittoria from March 2 to 7, 2027, at Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice 10 (00153 Rome), in the heart of the working-class Testaccio district. Performances are on Tuesday, March 2 at 21:00, Wednesday, March 3 at 17:00, Thursday, March 4 and Friday, March 5 at 21:00, Saturday, March 6 at 19:00 and Sunday, March 7 at 17:30. Prices are published on the theater's official website, from which tickets and subscriptions are bought on the authorized presale network. The box office answers at 06 5740170 and 06 5740598. You get there by metro line B, Piramide stop, about 10 minutes on foot, or by tram 3 along Via Marmorata.

Language: performed in Italian. No English version or English surtitles are announced.

The show is produced by Teatro Pubblico Ligure, which, says the Vittoria's presentation, once again crosses the Mediterranean with a Hellenist and an actor. The words of Mark Twain, Plutarch and Alberto Savinio lead the audience to discover the islands of the Aegean: from the shores of the sea to the Acropolis of Athens, from the tombs of the kings of Mycenae to the temple of the oracle of Delphi, all the way to the island of youth and oblivion.

Di isole e di città at Teatro Vittoria in brief

Di isole e di città is at Teatro Vittoria in Testaccio from March 2 to 7, 2027 for six performances, with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò on stage and live music by Edmondo Romano.

The schedule

Tuesday, March 2 at 21:00. Wednesday, March 3 at 17:00. Thursday, March 4 at 21:00. Friday, March 5 at 21:00. Saturday, March 6 at 19:00. Sunday, March 7 at 17:30.

Tickets

They are bought online from the Teatro Vittoria website, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the box office on Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice. Prices are listed on the theater's tickets page.

Who is behind it

Dramaturgy by Giorgio Ieranò. With Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò. Music written and performed live by Edmondo Romano. Direction by Sergio Maifredi. Production Teatro Pubblico Ligure.

The genre

A recital of words and music: readings, storytelling and dialogue between an actor and a scholar, with a musician on stage. No realistic set is announced: the journey is made with the voice.

Di isole e di città: a journey through Greece at the theater

Di isole e di città is a sentimental and literary journey through the Greece of yesterday and today, on the thread between past and present, legend and reality, personal memories and poetic fantasies, according to the presentation of Teatro Vittoria.

The stops

The route starts from the shores of the Aegean and reaches the Acropolis of Athens, passes through the mysterious tombs of the kings of Mycenae and the temple of the oracle of Delphi, and ends on the island of youth and oblivion.

Ancients and moderns

In Cederna's narration, in dialogue with Ieranò, the voices of ancient writers interweave with the impressions of modern travelers: the wanderings of Apollo sung in the Homeric Hymns next to Mark Twain's emotion before the Parthenon lit by the full moon.

Plutarch and Savinio

Plutarch's admiration for the wonders of the Athens of Pericles alternates with the amazement of Alberto Savinio before Isadora Duncan dancing barefoot among the ruins of the theater of Dionysus.

A sea of wonders and history

The journey goes across a sea that, since Homer, is a space of enchantments and wonders, populated by nymphs and sirens. But for millennia it has also been the stage of memorable events, crossed by the triremes of the Athenians and the galleys of the sultans, by the ships of pirates and the boats of refugees fleeing war.

A journey inside yourself

The presentation closes with a simple idea: a journey to Greece, in the end, is always a journey of self-discovery.

The live music of Edmondo Romano

The music of Di isole e di città is composed and performed live by Edmondo Romano, and according to the presentation it evokes the atmospheres of the Mediterranean and the Levant.

A third voice

Next to the actor and the Hellenist, the musician on stage is a third voice of the story: the music marks the passages between ancient and modern, between an island and a city.

The Levant

The reference to the Levant widens the geography of the show beyond Greece, toward the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean: the same horizon as the galleys of the sultans and the refugees mentioned in the text.

Why live

In a recital of words, live music changes the rhythm of the evening: it breathes with the actors, fills the silences, sometimes takes the stage. In our view it is the added value of this format compared with a simple reading.

Who Giuseppe Cederna is

Giuseppe Cederna, born in Rome on June 25, 1957, is an actor and writer. The son of the writer and politician Antonio Cederna and the nephew of the journalist Camilla Cederna, he is known above all for the films of Gabriele Salvatores, from Marrakech Express to Mediterraneo.

Film

He made his debut in 1982 with Luigi Comencini's Cercasi Gesù. He has worked with Marco Bellocchio, Mario Monicelli, Ettore Scola, Silvio Soldini and the Taviani brothers. He also got noticed in a comic role, the servant Boris in Fracchia contro Dracula. In Mediterraneo he is the orderly Antonio Farina.

Television

He plays Francesco Saverio Borrelli in the series 1992, 1993 and 1994, between 2015 and 2019. For Hammamet he received a nomination for the 2021 David di Donatello for best supporting actor.

Spoken-word theater

Alongside film he cultivates public reading and storytelling theater: In cammino, from 2004, taken from his book Il grande viaggio. L'ultima estate dell'Europa, which debuted at Teatro Stabile di Torino on January 7, 2015. Mozart, ritratto di un clown, in 2016. Da questa parte del mare by Gianmaria Testa, directed by Giorgio Gallione, in 2017.

The traveler

The Vittoria presents him as an actor and traveler. He is the author of the radio documentary Un viaggio tra le pietre vive della Palestina, broadcast by Radio 3 in 2014, and is a mountaineering enthusiast.

Giorgio Ieranò and Sergio Maifredi

Giorgio Ieranò is the Hellenist who signs the dramaturgy of Di isole e di città and dialogues on stage with Cederna. Sergio Maifredi, a director from Genoa, is the artistic director of Teatro Pubblico Ligure, which produces the show.

The Hellenist on stage

The presence of a scholar on stage, next to the actor, is the hallmark of the show: the ancient sources are not just read, but explained and put in dialogue with the impressions of modern travelers.

Sergio Maifredi

Born in Genoa in 1966, with a diploma from the Accademia dei Filodrammatici in Milan and a degree in Modern Letters, he is artistic director of Teatro Pubblico Ligure and of the Festival Grock, dedicated to the clown Charles Adrien Wettach. Since 2019 he has directed the historical reenactment of the Disfida di Barletta. He has been resident director at Teatr Nowy in Poznań, Poland, since 2005.

Maifredi's Mediterranean

Already in 1991, at Teatro dei Filodrammatici in Milan, Maifredi signed Un racconto mediterraneo da Iliade, Odissea ed Eneide: the sea of the ancients is a theme that runs through his whole career.

Teatro Pubblico Ligure and Maifredi's Mediterranean tales

Di isole e di città fits into a long line of work by Sergio Maifredi and Teatro Pubblico Ligure devoted to the great texts of the ancient Mediterranean, told by an actor and a scholar.

Odyssey, Iliad, Aeneid

From 2012 to 2015 Maifredi stages Odissea, un racconto mediterraneo, which debuted at LuganoInScena. In 2015 Iliade, un racconto mediterraneo follows, and in 2016 Eneide. It is the mature form of an idea that goes back to 1991, when at Teatro dei Filodrammatici in Milan he signed Un racconto mediterraneo da Iliade, Odissea ed Eneide.

The Greeks and science

In 2017 Maifredi signs with Piergiorgio Odifreddi Sul cammello e all'ombra del bastone, on the mathematics of the Greeks. In 2018 with Ermanno Bencivenga Uccidete Socrate!, on how Athenian democracy got rid of an inconvenient figure. The Hellenist or scholar on stage next to the actor is the house formula.

With Cederna, before today

In 2021 Giuseppe Cederna had already been the lead for Teatro Pubblico Ligure in Le isole del Tesoro, from Stevenson's Treasure Island. Di isole e di città therefore continues a collaboration already under way, and a shared taste for islands.

The awards

Maifredi won the Premio dell'Associazione Nazionale Critici Teatrali for the direction of Vero West by Sam Shepard, in 2008, and was twice a finalist for the Premio Ubu for best foreign novelty, with Icelandic texts.

Giuseppe Cederna in film: the movies to remember

Giuseppe Cederna has a filmography of more than 40 years, from the 1982 of Cercasi Gesù to the 2021 of Silvio Soldini's 3/19, with the most important directors of Italian cinema.

With Salvatores

Marrakech Express, in 1989, and Mediterraneo, in 1991, are the two Gabriele Salvatores films that made him popular. Already in 1983 he was in the same director's Sogno di una notte d'estate.

Auteur cinema

He worked with Marco Bellocchio in Enrico IV, with Mario Monicelli in Le due vite di Mattia Pascal, with Ettore Scola in La famiglia and Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa, with the Taviani brothers in Tu ridi, with Guido Chiesa in Il partigiano Johnny, with Enzo Monteleone in El Alamein.

Hammamet and beyond

With Gianni Amelio's Hammamet, in 2020, he earned a nomination for the David di Donatello for best supporting actor. He also worked in an international production, Rob Marshall's Nine, in 2009.

How to plan the evening or afternoon in Testaccio

With six performances at five different times, Di isole e di città suits very different plans: an evening with dinner, a weekday afternoon, an early Saturday.

The evening show

For the 21:00 performances on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, a dinner at 19:00 in the neighborhood trattorias leaves time to arrive without rushing.

Saturday at 19:00

On Saturday the earlier start lets you have dinner after the show, when Testaccio is livelier.

The matinees

Wednesday at 17:00 and Sunday at 17:30 are the most convenient choices for those coming from out of town or who prefer to head home early. Before the show, a walk to the Non-Catholic Cemetery or to ex Mattatoio.

Early March in Rome: the week of the theaters

The week of March 2 to 7, 2027 offers Rome several stage plays at the same time: anyone staying in town a few days can build a small personal program.

In the center

In the same days Teatro Quirino hosts Priestley's Ispettore in casa Birling, with Ettore Bassi and Galatea Ranzi, and Sala Umberto hosts the tribute to Bukowski by Marco Bocci and Pia Lanciotti.

In Testaccio

Di isole e di città is the most literary offering of the week: in our view a journey that makes you want to really leave.

A curiosity about Di isole e di città with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò at Teatro Vittoria, March 2 to 7, 2027

The most interesting curiosity concerns the director. Sergio Maifredi, who directs Di isole e di città, was from 2010 to 2016 the organizational director of Teatro Vittoria itself. The show does not arrive in Testaccio like just any guest: it brings back to Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice a man of theater who knew its machinery from the inside for six seasons.

The second curiosity concerns Giuseppe Cederna and the title of the film that made him famous. Gabriele Salvatores's Mediterraneo, in which he played the orderly Antonio Farina, carries in its title the same sea that is the protagonist of Di isole e di città. More than 30 years later the actor returns to that sea, this time as narrator and traveler.

The third concerns Isadora Duncan. Among the images evoked by the show is that of the American dancer dancing barefoot among the ruins of the theater of Dionysus, seen with amazement by Alberto Savinio: an ancient theater evoked, night after night, by a Testaccio stage that in the early 1900s was a variety theater.

Teatro Vittoria, the hall in Testaccio

Teatro Vittoria is the stage-play theater of Testaccio, at Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice 10, opened in its present form in December 1986 with 560 red velvet seats in front of a large stage.

From variety to cinema

In the early 1900s the Vittoria was a two-story building facing an unpaved square, with a brand-new church opposite, and variety shows were put on. After the war the building was torn down and in its place rose an apartment building with a large cinema on the ground floor, built by the entrepreneur Amati.

The birth of the stage-play theater

In May 1986 work began to turn the cinema into a stage-play theater, to a design by the architect Enrico Nespega, wanted by Attilio Corsini and the cooperative Attori e Tecnici. In December of the same year the new Vittoria opened to the public.

Beyond stage plays

The Vittoria also organizes literary teas, the series Salviamo i Talenti with the prize named after Attilio Corsini, and an acting school for spettAttori from 5 to 105 years old. For some shows it offers an audio description service. A show of literature and music like Di isole e di città is in tune with this vocation.

Something nobody tells you about Di isole e di città with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò at Teatro Vittoria, March 2 to 7, 2027

What is rarely said about spoken-word shows is how much they depend on the start time. Di isole e di città has six performances at five different times: 21:00 on weekdays, 17:00 on Wednesday, 19:00 on Saturday, 17:30 on Sunday. The Wednesday afternoon, in our view, is the best performance for those who prefer theater by day and for travelers in Rome who want their evening free.

The second thing concerns the audience. A show about Greece, with a Hellenist on stage, naturally attracts those who studied Greek in high school. But the presentation insists on the sentimental and personal tone of the journey, made of memories and emotions. You do not need to be able to read Homer in the original to follow it: you need the desire to leave.

The third concerns the production. Teatro Pubblico Ligure, says the Vittoria, once again crosses the Mediterranean with a Hellenist and an actor: Di isole e di città is part of a line of work that the Ligurian company has been carrying forward for some time, not an isolated episode.

How to get to Teatro Vittoria

Teatro Vittoria, at Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice 10, is most simply reached by metro line B, Piramide stop, about 10 minutes on foot.

Metro B, Piramide stop

From the Piramide stop you cross Piazzale Ostiense, take Via Marmorata and turn toward the center of Testaccio until Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice. Piramide is also the hub of Roma Ostiense station and of the Lido train.

Tram 3

Tram 3 runs along Via Marmorata and leaves you a few steps from the center of the neighborhood. For buses it pays to use the Atac route planner.

By car

Evening parking in Testaccio is difficult, especially on weekends, when the neighborhood fills up for the trattorias: the metro is better.

The tip I give you for visiting Di isole e di città with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò at Teatro Vittoria, March 2 to 7, 2027

My tip is to arrive with a small mental map of Greece: Athens, Mycenae, Delphi, the Aegean islands. You do not need a school review, it is enough to know where you are going. Anyone who has been to Greece will recognize the places. Anyone who has never been, in our view, will come out wanting to leave.

The second tip concerns the performance. For those coming from outside Rome or traveling, the Wednesday performance at 17:00 or the Sunday one at 17:30 leave time for an unhurried dinner in Testaccio. The Saturday performance at 19:00 is ideal for those who want to have dinner afterward, in the neighborhood trattorias.

The third concerns the seat. With 560 seats in front of a large stage, for a spoken-word show it pays to choose the central orchestra, to follow the faces of Cederna and Ieranò and to see Edmondo Romano's instruments up close.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

It is well known that Giuseppe Cederna is a film actor. Much less often mentioned is how deep his bond with storytelling and writing runs: the son of the writer and politician Antonio Cederna and the nephew of the journalist Camilla Cederna, he has published books, written a radio documentary for Radio 3, and staged public-reading shows for more than 20 years. Di isole e di città is the natural continuation of that path.

The second rarely mentioned fact concerns Maifredi and Rome. The director from Genoa, before returning to the Vittoria as the author of shows, was its organizational director for six years, from 2010 to 2016, in the same years in which he ran Teatro Curci in Barletta and sat on the board of the Fondazione Carlo Felice in Genoa. A man of theater used to holding several cities together, like the title of the show.

The third concerns Isadora Duncan and Alberto Savinio. The writer appears in the show as a witness to amazement before the American dancer among the ruins of Athens: a meeting between the avant-gardes of the 20th century and antiquity that, in our view, sums up the whole show in a single image.

The right photo to take at Di isole e di città with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò at Teatro Vittoria, March 2 to 7, 2027

During the show your phone stays off. The right photo is taken before, in Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice, with the facade of the church and the entrance of the theater in the same frame: the piazza that the Vittoria describes as the heart of the neighborhood since the early 1900s.

The second is taken at the Pyramid of Cestius, on the way to the metro: a pyramid in Rome is, in our view, the perfect image of a Mediterranean in which forms and ideas travel from one shore to the other.

The third is taken after the matinee, on the Tiber embankment in Testaccio at sunset: the river flowing down toward the sea is the most Roman way to close a journey in the Aegean.

Around Teatro Vittoria: Testaccio

Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice is the center of Testaccio, the working-class district born in the late 1800s between the Tiber, the Aventine and Monte dei Cocci. An overview is on the page about what to see in Testaccio.

Mattatoio

A few minutes from the theater is ex Mattatoio, today a space for contemporary art. Opposite the first Vittoria, the theater recalls, rose the first public housing, assigned to carters and slaughterhouse workers.

The Non-Catholic Cemetery

Next to the Pyramid is the Non-Catholic Cemetery, one of the quietest places in Rome, ideal before a matinee.

The district museum

The Museo diffuso del Rione Testaccio tells the history of the neighborhood through its places, from the public housing to the market.

Some important events that happened here in history

The history of Teatro Vittoria follows that of Testaccio. In the early 1900s the Vittoria is a two-story building on a still unpaved square, in front of a newly built church and the first public housing of the district, the result of an international competition and assigned to carters and slaughterhouse workers. Variety shows are put on, and on that stage Aldo Fabrizi, Totò and Anna Magnani perform.

After the Second World War the old theater is torn down. The entrepreneur Amati builds in its place an apartment building with Cinema Vittoria on the ground floor, with orchestra and balcony, for years a reference point for the neighborhood's entertainment.

In May 1986 work begins to turn the cinema into a stage-play theater, wanted by Attilio Corsini and the cooperative Attori e Tecnici, to a design by Enrico Nespega. In December the new Vittoria opens with 560 seats. In 2008 the artistic direction passes to Viviana Toniolo. From 2010 to 2016 the organizational director is Sergio Maifredi, who in March 2027 returns to Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice as director of Di isole e di città.

Who has passed through Di isole e di città with Giuseppe Cederna and Giorgio Ieranò at Teatro Vittoria, March 2 to 7, 2027

Through Teatro Vittoria passed, in the days of variety, Aldo Fabrizi, Totò and Anna Magnani, according to the history told by the theater itself. Since 1986 it has been the home of the cooperative Attori e Tecnici of Attilio Corsini and Viviana Toniolo, which has performed there for decades its signature title, Michael Frayn's Rumori fuori scena.

Among the men of theater who have led it is Sergio Maifredi, organizational director from 2010 to 2016. From March 2 to 7, 2027 Giuseppe Cederna, Giorgio Ieranò and Edmondo Romano pass through Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice, with the production of Teatro Pubblico Ligure.

And with them pass, through the words of the show, Homer and the Homeric Hymns, Plutarch and the Athens of Pericles, Mark Twain before the Parthenon under the full moon, Alberto Savinio and Isadora Duncan among the ruins of the theater of Dionysus. A cast that no theater could bring together, except in a journey made of words.

Di isole e di città with teenagers

Di isole e di città is a show suited to high school students too, especially those who study Greek, ancient history or literature: the classical sources are told by a Hellenist and an actor, with live music.

For school

For a high school student, hearing Plutarch and the Homeric Hymns next to Mark Twain and Savinio is a way to discover that the classics keep speaking to modern travelers.

For younger children

For children the show is demanding: it is a recital of words, without traditional stage action. Better from age 12 or 13 up.

Accessibility and practical information

For the accessibility of the hall and the seats reserved for people with disabilities, the reference is the box office of Teatro Vittoria, at 06 5740170 and 06 5740598, to be contacted before buying.

The box office

According to the theater's website the box office is open Monday from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:30 to 19:00, Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 20:00, and Sunday and holidays from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:30 to 19:00. On Sunday afternoon it is open only when there is a show.

Audio description

For some shows the Vittoria offers an audio description service for visually impaired audiences: it pays to ask the box office if it is planned for Di isole e di città too.

Arriving on time

With start times that change every day, it pays to check your ticket twice: arriving at 21:00 for the Saturday 19:00 performance is an easy mistake.

Where to eat before or after the show

Testaccio is the neighborhood of traditional Roman cooking, known for the quinto quarto dishes, a legacy of the nearby slaughterhouse: coda alla vaccinara, tripe, rigatoni with pajata.

Before 21:00

For the evening performances a dinner at 19:00 leaves enough margin. On weekends the trattorias fill up: booking is essential.

After the matinees

For the Wednesday and Sunday performances dinner comes afterward, a short walk from the theater. For a lunch before the matinee there is the Nuovo Mercato Testaccio, on opening days.

Frequently asked questions about Di isole e di città at Teatro Vittoria

When is Di isole e di città playing in Rome?

Di isole e di città is at Teatro Vittoria in Rome from March 2 to 7, 2027: Tuesday, March 2, Thursday, March 4 and Friday, March 5 at 21:00, Wednesday, March 3 at 17:00, Saturday, March 6 at 19:00 and Sunday, March 7 at 17:30, at Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice 10.

Who is on stage in Di isole e di città?

On stage in Di isole e di città are the actor Giuseppe Cederna and the Hellenist Giorgio Ieranò, author of the dramaturgy, with the musician Edmondo Romano, who performs his music live. The direction is by Sergio Maifredi.

What is Di isole e di città about?

Di isole e di città is a sentimental and literary journey through Greece, from the Aegean islands to the Acropolis, from Mycenae to Delphi, with the words of Homer, Plutarch, Mark Twain and Alberto Savinio interwoven with the memories of travelers.

How much do tickets for Di isole e di città cost?

Prices for Di isole e di città at Teatro Vittoria are published on the tickets page of the theater's official website, from which you buy online. For information the box office answers at 06 5740170 and 06 5740598.

Who produces Di isole e di città?

Di isole e di città is produced by Teatro Pubblico Ligure, artistically directed by Sergio Maifredi, who also directs the show.

Are there afternoon performances?

Di isole e di città at Teatro Vittoria has two afternoon performances: Wednesday, March 3 at 17:00 and Sunday, March 7 at 17:30. On Saturday, March 6 the show starts at 19:00.

Is Di isole e di città suitable for teenagers?

Di isole e di città is suitable for high school students, especially those who study Greek, ancient history or literature: a Hellenist and an actor tell the classical sources with live music. For small children the recital is demanding.

How do you get to Teatro Vittoria?

Teatro Vittoria, in Testaccio, can be reached by metro line B to Piramide and then on foot in about 10 minutes, or by tram 3 along Via Marmorata. In the evening parking in the neighborhood is difficult.

The final tip on Di isole e di città

Di isole e di città is, in our view, the ideal show for anyone dreaming of Greece in early March: an actor who is also a traveler, a Hellenist who knows how to tell a story, a musician who brings the Levant on stage, a director who knows the Vittoria from the inside. My tip is to choose the performance according to dinner, the central orchestra to follow the faces, and to arrive in Testaccio a little early for a walk to the Pyramid.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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