POlihedral in geometry is an adjective that describes something with many faces. There is no clearer and more defined image to describe David Riondino. Singer, writer, actor, director and playwrightthe artist with a thousand faces passed away at the age of 73 years old in his home Romesurrounded by books, papers and handouts that accompanied him throughout his life. «You and I were amazing», this is how he remembers it Sabina Guzzanti, companion of scene and artistic ideas for decadesup Instagramposting a photo of them portrays young people, accomplices, sitting close to a restaurant table.
Below Guzzanti’s photo also the comments of Corrado and Caterina Guzzanti, Dario Vergassola, Paola Turci, Piero Pelù, Carla Signoris. «Today is a sad day», «You were stratospheric together», «He accompanied my youth making it more thoughtful and lighter», «A genius, a poet, an artist, a good person is passing away», «It was brilliant. His joyful, serious irony and very heavy lightness will be immortal». And it is through these words that it emerges the story of a free and multifaceted artist who marked Italian culture.
In the comedy “Cuba libre – Velocipedi ai tropici”, directed by David Riondino, Sabina Guzzanti, Antonio Catania and Riondino himself are on stage.
The friendship between Sabina Guzzanti and David Riondino
Sabina and David’s paths crossed on stage. Riondino, already established in the world of theater and poetry, had dedicated himself for years to off-the-cuff poetryone form of improvisation in verse inspired by Ariosto’s Italian epic. In the 1970s he founded a Florence The Victor Jara Collectivea creative laboratory that combined theatre, music and animation. The artistic meeting with Sabina occurs with the show O my homeland (1993-94), directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci. In 1997, having established unlimited complicity, the two created the production company Janustogether with Lelia Serra And Antonio Catania. For Sabina, David was not just a colleague, but a creative travel companion. Together they have gone through decades of the stage, bringing to the theater a subtle humor, intelligence and irony, managing to speak to the heart and mind of the audience.
Between stage and music: Sanremo 1995
In the 1980s Riondino also made itself known in satire and on televisioncollaborating with counterculture magazines and inventing memorable characters such as the Brazilian singer-songwriter Joao Mesquinho. At the same time, he continues to cultivate theatre, poetry and music: among his most famous creations is song Maracaiboas well as the sitcom theme song Zanzibar. Riondino and Sabina Guzzanti participate together in experimental television programs such as Matryoshkaa format that mixed comedy, satire and music in an innovative and irreverent way. An incredible cuisine due to their complicity. The partnership between the two reached its peak in 1995 on the Sanremo stage, with the songToo much sun, written during the writing of the screenplay of the film of the same name directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci.
The Italian comedian Sabina Guzzanti and the singer David Riondino, accompanied by the musical group “La Riserva Indiana”, composed of Sandro Curzi, Nichi Vendola, Mario Capanna, Daria Bignardi, Remo Remotti and Antonio Ricci, during the Italian Song Festival. Sanremo (Italy), 1995 (Photo by Rino Pietrosino / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Poetry as a common thread
Poetry was the true heart of Riondino’s work. In 2003 he founded the festival “The garden of poetry” a San Mauro Pascoli and collaborated with directors and actors for bring stage readings of classic and contemporary works to the stage. He has published collections of poems and songs, and on the radio he has created programs dedicated to literature and music, helping to make poetry accessible to a wide and varied audience. A free and multifaceted artist, capable of mixing poetry, music, improvisation and satire without ever bending to conventions. A man who loved to contaminate languages and reinvent artistic forms.
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