A year has passed since Andrea Camilleri passed away. His memory is always alive and, through his work, the echo of his hoarse voice and the many vicissitudes of his characters are still heard. On the day of his death, July 17, thanks to the contribution of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, countless appointments are scheduled throughout Italy. To enrich it all is the release of his latest unpublished novel. The expected ending of the successful Montalbano series, entitled “Riccardino”.

Portici di Carta. Fotografia di Andrea Camilleri - Paper arcades. Photography by Andrea Camilleri
“camilleri” by Premio Chiara is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Camilleri a life spent for culture

The vicissitudes of his characters are the mirror of his intense life. Camilleri, in fact, spent himself entirely on culture. He started working at a very young age as an author and theater director collaborating and making friends with young actors who later became celebrities. He writes short stories and poems. Some of these will be published in an anthology edited by Giuseppe Ungaretti. He has the intuition of staging Samuel Beckett’s plays for the first time in Italy, of which he will even curate a television version.

Camilleri - scena del film con Montalbano e Fazio  - Camilleri - scene from the film with Montalbano and Fazio

A great intuition and Sicilian stubbornness accompany him. In 1954 he began his collaboration with Rai as screenwriter and author of countless programs. Meanwhile he was teaching at the Experimental Center of Cinematography and the National Academy of Dramatic Art. He will even have a very young Luca Zingaretti as a pupil. An almost prophetic meeting of the great bond that will be created between the two, thanks also to the events of the most famous commissioner of fiction and TV.

Andrea Camilleri and Salvo Montalbano

Montalbano has allowed Camilleri to reach the highest peaks of popularity. It has become a literary phenomenon. His books, including historical novels, have sold around 31 million copies. An unexpected success, given that Camilleri started writing the adventures of Salvo, Livia and the Vigata police station, when he was already over 70 years old. Camilleri with Montalbano has conquered a vast audience of readers, who have approached a difficult but at the same time understandable language.

Camilleri - set allestito a vigata - movie set

The Sicilian language has managed to reach millions of readers around the world. Camilleri, wise and in recent years blind, loved to repeat that the commissioner who made him famous “will end with me”. Hence, exactly one year after his death, the last episode, the ending awaited by everyone, even with a little bitterness, published by Sellerio, “Riccardino”, written when he was 80 years old and kept in the drawer until now, comes out in bookstores.

“Riccardino” the unpublished novel is out

In Palermo for the occasion of the release of the book, a special event “The dawn of Riccardino” was held at the aquarium of the water lilies of the Botanical Garden at 5 am on July 16. A reading of some pages of the book coming out, which echoed the atmosphere of the Vigata police station. Gigi Borruso, Filippo Luna, Salvo Piparo and Vincenzo Pirrotta have read Camilleri’s prose with the artistic coordination of Sandro Tranchina.

Camilleri - casa del Commissario Montalbano

Camilleri amazes, with this ending, by comparing Montalbano and his literary and television alter ego. An intuition that we will understand by reading the written pages, in which the creativity and originality of the author will lead us. Many of us hope that Salvo will finally decide and marry, his Livia, but who knows! After 30 books dedicated to the commissioner, the novel carefully preserved in a drawer by Elvira Sellerio will reveal us many secrets or, perhaps it will still keep us in suspense.

Tiresia screened in Italian theaters

On the day of the first anniversary, thanks to the precious interest of the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Dario Franceschini, and promoted by the Piccolo Teatro di Milano and the Italian National Theaters, ‘Conversazione su Tiresia’ will be screened in Italian theaters. A show staged and recorded only at the Greek Theater in Syracuse last year and written and interpreted by Andrea Camilleri under the direction of Roberto Andò.

alcuni libri
Some novels by Camilleri – photo by Gianna Maione

The minister said that the show is a valuable contribution “that restores the vitality and intelligence of an extraordinary author, projected in the National Theaters for this initiative. And I hope as many realities as possible will join it to pay the right tribute to this great authos who still excites us with his creativity”. This is a way of remembering a great man of our time, a cultured, sensitive man who, even blind, he saw with his heart and soul and whose words caressed by his voice consumed by cigarettes can still make us reflect and why not make us best.

Andrea Camilleri: the first anniversary of his death ultima modifica: 2020-07-17T11:40:00+02:00 da Gianna Maione

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