Poetic art
For fourteen years Rome has hosted one of the most ambitious and essential cultural event in Italy: “Ritratti di Poesia” (Portraits of Poetry) colors the Eternal City with the infinite nuances of the poetic universe. A real poetry marathon promoted and organized by the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro and the Fondazione Cultura e Arte, which is a one-of-a-kind event, provided by Italy’s capital city.
Home of art and beauty, the Belpaese is often lost amongst more celebrated international cinema, design and music. One of its liveliest contemporary sensibilities is the purest art—poetry. Every year in Rome there is a time when the frenetic routine seems to slow down to give way to a time of reflection that is good for the soul. For a day, the heart of the Eternal City pulsates with the rhythm of meetings, readings, interviews, ideas, verses and voices, those of important authors, Italian and foreign, and young promises.
It is the annual event known as “Ritratti di Poesia”, promoted and organized by the Fondazione Cultura e Arte of the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro - Internazionale, in collaboration with Inventaeventi and curated by Vincenzo Mascolo, which has focused on the cultural debate, the world of poetry and its relationship with other expressions of human genius for over fourteen years.
For the first time in its history, the event was held in Rome’s Auditorium della Conciliazione —voice and stage to the most important foreign authors for years. In the session, evocatively called Poesia Sconfinata (Boundless Poetry), a special guest such as Philip Schultz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 2008 and Ana Blandiana—an advocate for civil rights in Romania and Terzo Pilastro International Prize awarded to Romanian poet. Professor Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele, President of the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro, created the event to ensure ever-greater resonance for poetic culture, focusing on enthusiasm and support for youth.
In fact, special initiatives, the national prize award and the European prize “Portraits of Poetry.280” are all dedicated to youth. Conceived during the 2014 edition, the competition was created to recognize compositional savvy even in the time of Twitter, working within a 280-character limit. And the project “Caro Poeta (Dear Poet)” is dedicated to the high schools of the city. The new competition entitled “Ritratti di Poesia.storie (Portraits of Poetry. Stories)” is also driven by the same vision, created to combine the poetic verse with the visual communication typical of Instagram through a series of meetings with Canadian illustrator Julian Peters who creates comic book adaptations of classic poems, and sculptress Paola Grizi who produces terracotta and bronze book pages from which mysterious faces emerge. Many prominent names in the world of Italian poetry took part in the session entitled “Di penna in penna (Pen in Pen)”, with a first-works award appropriately called Opera Prima. The National Prize Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Ritratti di Poesia went to Paolo Valesio, poet and Professor Emeritus of Columbia University in New York.
A closing concert entitled “Emozioni. Viaggio tra le canzoni di Mogol e Battisti (Emotions. A journey through the songs of Mogol and Battisti)” closed the event and featured the iconic band Mogol and the singer Gianmarco Carroccia, accompanied on stage by a live 16-piece orchestra.
“The idea of creating “Ritratti di Poesia” came from my firm belief that poetry in Italy should have the same relevance, visibility and usability as other artistic forms (visual arts, cinema, theater, music, dance), through an annual event that can fill a significant gap in the cultural panorama of the city and the country. As a meeting place for a small circle of professionals and enthusiasts, Ritratti di Poesia has grown, becoming an event known and expected by the general public in Rome and beyond: in fact, I wanted, over time, the presence and production of the most established poets from all over the world has made it an event of international appeal, enriched with other artistic forms of absolute value. Our highest goal is to have contributed to a wider and more varied diffusion of the culture of the poetic verse, and the results of the public and critics achieved so far urge us to continue, with ever renewed conviction, on the path taken.”