Thursday 6 August, 7.00 pm panoramic terrace at Billy’s Bar, Villa San Michele

Screenwriter and playwright Ippolita di Majo presents two volumes published by Einaudi: Fabrizia Ramondino’s Teatro, edited by Ippolita di Majo, and Goliarda Sapienza’s Il filo di mezzogiorno, adapted for the stage by Ippolita di Majo.
She will be joined in conversation by journalist Mirella Armiero.

Fabrizia Ramondino is one of the most significant voices in Italian literature of the second half of the twentieth century. In addition to her novels, short stories, poetry, essays and works of cultural criticism, she also wrote for the stage, although this part of her work has remained largely unknown.

Ramondino began writing for the theatre after working with Mario Martone on the screenplay for Morte di un matematico napoletano. According to Martone, it was her “electrifying encounter” with the work of Thomas Bernhard that drew her towards playwriting.
Edited and introduced by Ippolita di Majo, Teatro brings together four previously unpublished plays of remarkable expressive power. The volume reveals another aspect of Ramondino’s writing and her ability to explore the complexities of reality with passion, irony and disillusionment.

Published in 1969, Il filo di mezzogiorno was Goliarda Sapienza’s second novel. It recounts the author’s experience of psychoanalysis, her complex relationship with her analyst and, through their sessions, the course of her life, beginning with her move from Sicily to Rome and her training as an actress.
In Ippolita di Majo’s stage adaptation, two dramatic planes continually overlap: Goliarda’s dreamlike and delirious world and the more realistic setting—though just how realistic?—of her sessions with the psychoanalyst. As these two worlds alternate and merge, Goliarda attempts to recover a memory clouded by her admission to a psychiatric clinic and repeated electroshock treatment.
A screenwriter and playwright, Ippolita di Majo has worked with Mario Martone since 2008. Together they have written the stories and screenplays for films including Il giovane favoloso, Capri-Revolution, Il sindaco del rione Sanità, Qui rido io and Nostalgia. In 2022, Di Majo and Martone jointly received the Nastro d’Argento for Best Screenplay for Qui rido io and Nostalgia. They also co-wrote Fuori, inspired by two novels by Goliarda Sapienza and selected for competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

Admission is free, subject to availability. Advance booking is recommended.

Information and bookings
Tel. +39 081 837 1401– events@sanmichele.org

Visitors travelling from Naples will be able to return on the final ferry of the day.