Feb 01, 2026
3 min read
Minister Giuli and the authority of the RAI commemorated the Catania artist five years after his death.Between Gavin and Italian ideas, ... learn more!
Minister Julie and the management of RAI remember the artist from Catania five years after his death.Between Guenon and the Italian spirit there is a desire to bring the defenseless into the pantheon.
"To think of Battiato as an inferior artist. It is a good idea of the Italian culture of the last half century."The words of Giorgio Calcara, curator and artist that opens today at MAXXI in Rome.It's called Another Life.Organized, together with the Museum of Rome, by the Ministry of Culture and C.O.R.Create Organize Know with Alessandro Nicosia Foundation.
To be malicious, this is the latest in a cultural manipulation of appropriation by the Melonian world, following Calcara's book published by Relicbury and the biography The Long Journey, co-produced by Rai Fiction and Casta Diva Pictures.But it is better to proceed step by step.
The exhibition press conference reiterated the ministry’s great interest in the event.Emanuela Bruni, who took over MAXXI from Alessandro Giuli, announced plans to launch a series of "exhibition events" dedicated to Italian cultural figures.Alfonsina Russo, head of the microphone department, talks about the "successful synergy".He is proud to be part of trends such as concerts and stresses the importance of his "very strong roots".The appearance is reminiscent of the ministerial style of Carcarla, which adheres to the concept of "Italian thinking" and "unprecedented".
"Unpublished" are the master's Dadaist compositions, "unpublished" is the chapter inaugurated by Batiato in the seventies.Another concept that stands out is that of "success", which at a certain point the singer-songwriter "imposed on himself": Batiato "did not limit himself to the light heart-love rhyme", and his compositions are "balm for the soul".And the conclusion: "Behind a great artist is a great man."
It guarantees reverse writing for the principles, but covers the evening duties of the public program, in its vision, in its own way elders.”
On the other hand Calcara says (who shared with the minister the feeling of the young and Celtic that led him to wish his Facebook followers "Happy Winter Solstice" on December 25) that the minister was "a boy of fifty who grew up on bread and Battiato"."And the ban. The generation of ministers grew up with us. So the right she wants for herself?"Some things seem good, but when you enter the cultural sphere we talk about philosophical philosophy, but also civil commitment, the category does not apply.He sent those things to us."
However, it seems no coincidence that both Calcara and Spampinato cite Battiato's studies of René Guenon, a traditionalist philosopher who also associated with Julius Evola and long corresponded with the intellectual idol of the Italian right.In his revealing book on Battiato, Calcara describes the artist as having an almost anti-awakening vision: 'The magic shop is, in Battiato's literal sense, 'the sacred department where Dior perfumes are sold'.
Collection: The volume is published by Railibri, directed by Adriano Monti Buzzetti, past Tg2, a passage to the Centro del Libro (where on the right he replaced Marino Sinibaldi).To be clear, one contributor to the now legendary exhibition J.R.R. Tolkien was employed by Gennaro Sangiuliano when he was a minister.In the mass of evidence, in addition to Calcara's illustrations (whose purpose is to examine Battiato's "popular side" and ask his questions about the "basis of the Western secular state"), there are testimonies from the Sagarbi brothers, Petrangelo Batafuco and others who had the opportunity to know him.
It is Marco Travaglio who highlights how the singer and composer almost predicted the bloody attacks on Sicily at the beginning of the nineties - one of the historical episodes that Giorgia Meloni often cites to describe her entry into politics - in Povera Patria.It's Simone Cristicchi, an artist who gained the respect of the right in Sanremo with music considered professional and has already performed “for Battiato” at the Pantheon.With all the skepticism that this choice caused among those who knew the Master well.
Shows and movies
In the exhibition, in addition to the central octagon, where you can watch video clips and listen - although two are synchronized - to five original recordings, remastered from scratch and distributed over eleven speakers, you will mainly find valuable items belonging to families and private collectors.
In the presentation, Cristina's niece spoke about the love for others that characterized her uncle, the great sociability, the desire to share a table with friends or watch a movie together.
The exhibition route, for its part, offers some of the master's paintings, several Persian carpets, many books, many LPs and some photographs.There's a synthesizer, a fetal suit and a poster of him sitting on a sofa and downstairs to advertise a furniture fair in Cologne.
Hero of tradition
The same one about which Batiato and his mother Grazia meet again years later.At least according to the biopic by Renato De Maria, who in the past directed films such as "Ruthless" and several TV series such as "District Police" and "Anti-Mafia Squad".The film returns to the concept of "arbitrary" success, the desire to be popular.
The drama - which will be shown in cinemas before airing on Rai - focuses on the initial phase of Battiato's artistic experience: the relationship with his mother is strongly underlined, many pieces are fully interpreted and made as glue with flash at different times.
The initial period of artistic research, learning, traveling to Tunis through the destination of Battiato, we have just mentioned. Grazia, who opposed Franco's female friendship by telling him "you are not comfortable alone", later fell ill while her son appeared before Pope John Paul II.Beautiful pictures of snow-coveredly Etco and 'Siban's, Monte 'Siban's some.The producer is Casta Diva, who also supervises other favorite projects (Dating projects Mi Presento ai Tui and La Porta Magica) of what is considered the most intellectual identity of the director of Viale Mazzini: Angelo Mellone.It is a shame that, looking at the facts, there is no trace of all this trend to the right.
Saro worked with Cosentino Battiato for a long time.With him, among other things, he wrote Tozeur's Trains and No time no space.The Roman artist is believed to have sympathized with the Radical Party.Even Crocketta's participation in the council "was not a political intervention, but an attempt to reach out. No one will defend him when the phrase "whores in parliament" (a metaphor for MPs ready to change their shirts, ed.) ends his experience in the region."Umberto Scapagnini, a Berlusconi supporter, did not forget that when he was elected mayor of Catania in 2000, he threatened to make him a foreigner.
"I don't think there was ever any sympathy with the authorities," explains Cosentino."When he went to Iraq, he did not want to meet Saddam, he did not lie to the powerful. But the right wing is still obsessed with him: 'Maybe they are looking for connections that are more marketable than the traditional ones.'What you hear is their problem."
