next March 4th Lucio Dalla he would have been 80 years old. The Bolognese artist who died in Montreux 11 years ago remains one of the most celebrated talents in Italy and abroad. The value and versatility of his life are the leitmotif of the exhibition "Lucio Dalla. The dream of being Neapolitan” al MANN-National Archaeological Museum of Naples from 4 March to 26 June. An event among the most anticipated that unites young and old.
Anyone who has followed Dalla from the beginning knows that he loved in Naples and that in a dreamlike vision of existence he really wanted to be born in Naples. In a conversation in 1979, during the "Banana Republic" tour together with Francesco De Gregori at the San Paolo Stadium, he said that Naples moved him and that the city's musical culture was the best in Europe. In the following years, those of great successes, he would frequent the city to study its soul, its rhythms, its widespread musicality. A discreet presence which, however, put him in contact with emerging artists and groups of the 80s. Then came other extraordinary concerts, the friendship with Pine Daniele, performances with other Neapolitan musicians, up to the composition of the famous "Caruso" in 1996 in Sorrento. For those strange coincidences that happen in the life of a complex and varied city, Naples will soon inaugurate a museum dedicated to the great tenor. Dalla would have been enthusiastic about it, but the composition he dedicated to Enrico Caruso certainly made the tenor better known to young people.
The return to "his" Naples
Lhe proximity to the ideal city for composing melodies and transfusing feelings, in the exhibition curated by Alexander Nicosia, will be represented in the section “Dalla and Naples.” To the director of the MANN Paolo Giulierini and Lucio Dalla Foundation credit must be given for having included the review in the 2023 program "The MANN for the city". An event-journey into the human and musical genius of a virtuoso Italian. "A journey that starts from childhood and retraces a path of life and collective memory, to the rhythm of the notes of his songs" reads the presentation. The Ministry of Culture, the Campania Region, the Campania Festival Foundation, the Cinecittà RAI Light Archive and the Vesuvio hotel are among the promoters of the exhibition. But Dalla, singer of life, was not only a musician, but also an actor, writer, theater director, a lover of motors, opera and literature. He left hundreds of documents, photos, videos, clothes and a collection of hats with which he performed in public. His fifty-year career with songs that have touched every aspect of real or fantastic life, always with flair and personality, will be organized into the sections: His music; Family-Childhood-Friendships-Musical Beginnings; Dalla is told; The clarinet; Dalla and Naples; Cinema, theatre, television; Universe From; The Lucio Dalla museum; Dalla and Roversi. The meeting with the writer and poet Roberto Roversi, author of songs by Lucio from the 70s, but also the expression of a complicated artistic relationship, will be one of the highlights of the exhibition at the MANN ». His songs - Roversi would write after Dalla's death - have his personality, they are simple, non-conceptual lyrics, like the ones I gave him ». And Dalla, who lived the time of creativity in his own way (... in my own way I would need to dream too -Piazza Grande) could only return to the city where he had dreamed of being born.
