Traduzione in Inglese del saggio breve – Translate in English Language of the short essay
The Chia Tower – Pierpaolo Pasolini’s place of ispiration
The locality of Chia is a small fraction of Soriano nel Cimino in the province of Viterbo (Lazio) of medieval origin, like most of the localities of Tuscia. Chia was much loved by the writer Pierpaolo Pasolini, in fact it was a place of literary inspiration and a cinematographic location for the film he himself made “The Gospel according to Matthew” (1964). In 1966 he wrote in reference to the castle and the tower of Chia: “the most beautiful landscape in the world, where Ariosto would have gone mad with joy in seeing himself recreated with such innocence of oaks, hills, waters and casks”. In 1970 Pierpaolo Pasolini bought the Tower, provided for the restoration and lived often in the last years of his life until in the last three years of his life he lived more and more often in Chia, working on a novel entitled “Petrolio” published posthumously. On March 19, 2011 on the occasion of the expansion of Piazza Garibaldi, the municipality of Soriano nel Cimino placed a bust in memory of Pier Paolo Pasolini who loved this small corner of the town. The bust, created by the sculptor Gianluca Bagliani, was discovered by Walter Veltroni who arrived for the occasion, at the invitation of the municipal administration, in the new square of Chia.
Near the Chia waterfalls, Pasolini made the film “The Gospel according to Matthew” in 1964, retracing the most important moments of the Gospel. Through this film, a more human than divine Christ is described by describing him as a character full of sweetness who, however, reacts angrily to hypocrisy and falsehood. From an artistic point of view, the director decided to insert some musical compositions in the film to describe some scenes of the film such as Bach’s Passion according to Matthew and Mozart’s Music.
Bibliographic and sitographic references:
- Pierpaolo Pasolini study center casarsa della delizia: http://www.centrostudipierpaolopasolinicasarsa.it/
- Rai Tre broadcast “Le Falde del Kilimangiaro” – Chia, Soriano nel Cimino
Cecilia Pallotta, 19/08/2020