Matteo Collura turns 80: 3 days to celebrate the man, the journalist and the writer
It was August 14, 1945 when Matteo Collura was born in Agrigento. In 2025, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, his “traveling companions” still alive – those who have marked, each with their own friendship and intellectual contribution, his path up to now – will celebrate the man, the journalist and the writer. The initiative was conceived and coordinated by Enzo Sardo, Diego Romeo and Don Angelo Chillura. “As a first objective – explains Enzo Sardo – we tried to mark the fundamental stages of his existence, the cultural values he highlighted, then the affections of friends, relatives and admirers. So we created a program of activities that will unfold over 3 days, all starting at 6:30 pm”.
The first appointment will be on July 25th in the monumental hall of the Lucchesiana library in Agrigento, much appreciated by Matteo, where all the works and material regarding his literary life will be exhibited. On that occasion an interview that Diego Romeo conducted in Leonardo Sciascia's house in Palermo will be screened. The second appointment will be on August 1st at Palazzo Bellacera in Comitini, where inside there is a small but valuable sulfur museum. The place is very significant for Matteo because in 1988 he published 'Baltico' in which he describes the history and epic of the Sicilian and Grotte sulfur miners, deformed by the hard work in unhealthy and dangerous environments.
“It is worth remembering – continues Sardo – that, at the beginning of the last century, in the Comitini area there were numerous sulfur mines where thousands of people worked. Therefore, Comitini is a natural setting for the biographies that Matteo has published. At Palazzo Bellacera, an exhibition dedicated to his works will be set up and the film 'Eterno visionario' by Michele Placido will be screened, taken from the book 'Il gioco delle parti, vita straordinari di Luigi Pirandello', which Matteo Collura published in 2010. Finally, on August 8, at the Leonardo Sciascia Foundation, we will exhibit the works and all the material that documents his activity, including the letters that constituted the epistolary relationship he had with Leonardo Sciascia. And the interview with Diego Romeo will be shown again”.
In addition to the events, a celebratory volume will also be published with the testimonies of some friends. “In the following days – adds Sardo – we met with relatives and friends of Matteo Collura in order to organize all the events with adequate and motivated sharing and participation. Among the relatives we contacted his brother Alfredo, his brother-in-law Enzo Cassaro, his nephew Andrea Cassaro and his cousin Matteo Collura who made themselves available to contribute with all the literary material in their possession”. Among the friends involved were the relatives of Leonardo Sciascia, Gianni Provenzano, Settimio Biondi, Gianluigi Colin, Virman Cusenza, Angelo Pitrone, Gero Difrancesco, Maria Pia Farinella, Antonella Ferrara, Enza Lerna, Salvatore Nocera Bracco, Mariella Oliveri, Ottavio Rossani, Paola Pastacaldi, Mario Patanè, Michele Placido, Jone Riva, Mariella Spagnolo, Toni Trupia, Valter Vecellio”.
"For the esteem they have always shown towards Matteo Collura, we have also contacted Carmelo Arnone, Gaspare Agnello, Beniamino Biondi, Piero Baiamonte, Giovanni Buscarino, Calogero Brunetto, Melina Capobianco, Franco Carlisi, Paolo Cilona, Maria Concetta De Marco, Enzo Di Natali, Michele Di Pasquali, Diego Guadagnino, Cristina Iacono, Moraleti, Salvatore Indelicato, Antonio Liotta, Carmelina Guarneri, Lia Lo Bue, Maurizio Masone, Piero Meli, Silvano Messina, Raimondo Moncada, Giovanni Moscato, Marika Helga Gatto, Giacomo La Russa, Silvia Nocera, Salvatore Picone, Patrizia Pilato, Maurizio Giuseppe Piscopo, Lorenzo Peritore, Vincenzo Patti, Enzo Randazzo, Angelo Ruoppolo, Alfio Russo, Andrea Sardo, Giuseppe Sciascia, Gerlando Sciortino, Giovanni Tesè, Adele Troisi, Filippo Vitello, Antonio Zarcone, the painters of the Calapanama association of Palermo and Mario Gaziano who has made numerous theatrical adaptations and direction of the novels of Matteo Collura with related staging and performances in Italy and abroad.
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