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After the successful stage adaptation presented in the gardens of Villa Arbusto, one of the most poetic, mysterious and moving short stories by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky returns to Lacco Ameno, this time in Piazza Santa Restituta: White Nights. On Sunday, 21 December at 5:30 pm, Ischia-based director and playwright Salvatore Ronga will present an evocative theatrical adaptation of this poetic meditation on youth and love, on the fragile architecture of dreams and on the solitude of the human soul. The story is also well known for its celebrated film adaptation directed by Luchino Visconti and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schell.
Against the backdrop of a deserted city, where the ice cracks and creaks along the canals, we follow the wanderings of a young dreamer who, while waiting to finally live an authentic life, feeds on illusions. His encounter with a mysterious and restless young woman named Nastenka seems to give shape to a long-cherished dream.
Two lives brush against each other and then drift apart, unable to find a stable place between reality and the desire to free themselves from the sticky seduction of solitude. Beneath its romantic and sentimental surface, Dostoevsky’s text explores the dark mechanisms of desire and falling in love, like a score marked in four movements: four nights and a love story, an (un)real dream destined to fade too quickly.
Salvatore Ronga’s dramaturgy and direction give the performance an itinerant form, transforming Piazza Santa Restituta into the canals of an oneiric and fantastical St Petersburg. Amid musical suggestions and nocturnal visions move the two characters portrayed by Daniele Boccanfuso and Irene Esindi.
Accompanying the stage action are pieces from the Russian classical repertoire, performed live by the Pithecusa Brass Ensemble. At the piano, Maria Gabriella Taliercio performs the Barcarolle “June”, from The Seasons, Op. 37a by Tchaikovsky. Special thanks go to ASD Pattinaggio Ischia for their friendly participation and to Eleonora Sarracino for editing the audiovisual contribution.
“We are delighted to bring this story by Dostoevsky to the stage,” says Salvatore Ronga, “a text that speaks deeply about love and helps educate our emotional awareness. We are staging it in a public square also as an attempt to reinterpret spaces and territory through theatrical action, allowing us to see them with new eyes.”
With this new production, part of the Christmas events programme, the Metamorphosis association joins the initiative to enhance and promote the area’s historical and artistic heritage, supported by the Municipality of Lacco Ameno and the Department of Culture.
“The staging of White Nights curated by Salvatore Ronga,” comments Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture Carla Tufano, “allows us to offer a performance of the highest quality, reflecting on the mystery of the human condition, on escape into fantasy, and on nostalgia for what we have never lived due to missed or wasted opportunities. I am confident that Ronga will transform Piazza Santa Restituta into a vibrant stage that enables true artistic and cultural experimentation, highlighting theatre’s role as a mirror of the community. White Nights will not be mere entertainment, but an opportunity to reclaim collective spaces, turning our squares into places of participation, social inclusion and shared emotions.”
White Nights will be performed on Sunday, 21 December 2025 at 5:30 pm in Piazza Santa Restituta, Lacco Ameno. Free admission.
The performance is part of the Christmas events programme “Christmas in Lacco Ameno”.
Information
museo@comunelaccoameno.it
+39 081 996103 (during museum opening hours, available at www.pithecusae.it)
