Technology, multi-media and rock: these are the ingredients of the exhibit “Sanremo Story: Sixty Years of Italian Music” which, beginning on February 13th and running until March 8th, will cover nearly 1000 square meters on the first floor of the Ligurian city's
Palafiori building. The exhibition's creator and artistic director is Pepi Morgia, who wanted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Italian Song with this tribute to the “City of Music”
and its famous gala event.
The exhibit, which comes as part of Sanremoff, is created using material from the Foundation of the Erio Tripodi Museum of Song, of which Morgia
is also artistic director, and has received the patronage of the Municipality. The production
and the layout have been designed by Gruppo Eventi, lead by Vincenzo Russolillo. “This will be
an innovative itinerary – totally unconventional”, notes Morgia, “which will allow us to chronicle
the history of festival in a new and engaging way. Visitors will be suspended between a focus
on tradition on one hand, and the technology and multi-media on the other, in an entirely new,
Blade Runner-like atmosphere”.
Object from the same Tripodi Museum will be displayed, along with film clips from the RAI's
archives, stage costumes and wardrobe on loan from the artists who graced the Ariston stage,
along with wardrobe items from the Maison Daphnè of Sanremo. Among the memento and curios, the
musical memorabilia should receive special mention, with original period albums, album covers, backstage passes, autographs and sheet music, these also original. And further still, periodicals from the era
with covers dedicated to the Festival, including those from the “Domenica del Corriere” (Sunday
magazine of the Corriere della Sera), “TV Sorrisi e Canzoni” (“Television Smiles and Songs”), and “
Radiocorriere TV”.
Technology will take a leading role here: twelve plasma touch-screens will show the 60 years
of the festival, according to decade. The links will allow visitors to learn about the
curiosities of that period: dress styles and fashion, as well as orchestra conductors, hosts and
the “Miss Italy” from each year. Furthermore, the 60 monitors, one for each year of the Festival, will screen all of the curiosities and
events of these six decades, while specifically designed capsules will allow visitors to
access the various editions with a four-channel sound system.
Music will envelop the visitors in a unique, high-impact itinerary. Blown-up photographs of some of the festival sets will further enhance the visit,
while in the foyer will be a bookshop with various books dedicated to the festival's
history. At the centre of the facility, with a circular shape, the statue of the lion rampant with the palm, which represents the Sanremo Festival's highest award, as well as the symbol of the Matuziano city, will capture visitor's
attention. The lion, situated on a pedestal, will stand a good five metres high.
Finally, there will be a section entitled “Music at the Table”. Here will be set up a banquet table featuring the place settings of the various restaurants in Sanremo where artists usually dine. Then will be set up an overview of candid artist photographs. The images will be projected on monitors set into the plates. Furthermore, an approximately 130-page publication is in the works. This will be a veritable photo album, with a preface by Vincenzo Mollica, with contributions from some of the most reliable witnesses of the Festival journey. Also to be presented are a number of sketches and set photos. “After March 8th”, concludes Pepi Morgia, “the exhibit will head to Israel before returning to Italy and, more specifically, to Sicily Calabria, and to Macerata, in the region of Le Marche. Following that, it will take off for Ekaterinburg, in Russia”.
