It was a special evening with many meanings . Because Emilio Lussu returned to Armungia with his “A year on the plateau” . He returned home, to the house where he was born, in the Cannedu district. On stage, in the courtyard of the house, which dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, Pietro Lussu (Emilio's nephew), at the piano, and the actor Felice Montervino , who, in addition to taking care of the construction of the dramaturgy, gave voice to the Lussu memories as they emerge from the cornerstone of the memoirs of the First World War.
There could not have been a better stage for “A year on the plateau - In war sometimes we also sang”, an artistic project that was born in Berchidda, within Insulae Lab, the fruit of a happy intuition by Paolo Fresu, and which in Armungia experienced an exhilarating moment.
Pietro Lussu, with a surplus of emotion for the meeting with his grandfather in a familiar place, wove the plot of the music that accompanied, in a perfect alchemy, the story. "For me - he said at the end of the show - it was a liberating moment . It is a way to reiterate how the values in which he believed are still very current".
Montervino, who divides his time between cinema in Sardinia and the theater with Massimo Popolizio (he also contributed to the success of Macbettu) immersed himself with passion and enthusiasm in the atmosphere of “A Year on the Plateau”. Starting from the author's words: «The reader will find neither the novel nor the story. They are personal memories, rearranged as best as possible and limited to one year, among the four of war in which I took part. I have only told what I saw and what struck me most».
A living place
"Everything started from this rural house with a dirt floor, an old fireplace in the center that is no longer used, a courtyard with a stable, a cellar and a food room, and the bedrooms and study above," wrote anthropologist Pietro Clemente. The spectators, in the house that Tommaso (Pietro's brother) and his partner Barbara, together with little Eva, keep alive with the old looms that produce new fabrics and other initiatives for the present and future of the community, have rediscovered the Cavaliere dei Rossomori. Here his story continues to be cultivated.
"Among the books on the First World War, "Un anno sull'Altipiano" by Emilio Lussu is, for me, the most beautiful", said Mario Rigoni Stern. In the introduction to the Einaudi edition, about "Uomini contro", the film born from the book, he added a memory: "One day in Rome, after having seen the film with him and Rosi, while I was accompanying him towards Piazza Adriana, he told me as if following one of his thoughts: you know, in the war we even sang sometimes...".
In the courtyard of Casa Lussu, for the original re-reading of "A Year on the Plateau", there was also Giovanni, the son of Emilio and Joyce.