Gemma

with Gelsomina Bassetti and Federico Vivaldi

Script by Luisa Pachera

Lighting Design Michele Chiusole

Direction Ornela Marcon

Gemma Guerrieri Gonzaga (de Gresti) was a noblewoman who lived most of her life in Rome, in Turin and in her estate of San Leonardo in southern Trentino. During the war and in the years to follow, she became the hero of a great enterprise, that of tracing the Austrian-speaking Italian soldiers who were prisoners in Russia, of putting them in touch with their families and, later, of returning them to Italy. 

This story deals with three very important topics: - the First World War and in particular the Russian front and the condition of the Italian-speaking troops dispersed in those places; the female condition during war time; the national identity of those soldiers who left the front as Austrians, and came back as Italians. Yet, they were never really recognized either as one or the other, and this leads us to reflect on the concepts of national identity and of ethnicity.

This event is organised thanks to the contribution of the Fondazione Caritro, Autonomous Province of Trento, Municipality of Riva del Garda, Comunità di Valle Alto Garda e Ledro