Adelaide Ristori, rediscovering an icon

Adelaide Ristori was one of the greatest actresses of the nineteenth century: a stage star admired around the world, a symbol of social mobility and female enterprise, an international fashion and glamour icon.

Today, 200 years after her birth, the Museo Biblioteca dell’Attore, together with the Teatro Nazionale di Genova and the Department of Italian Studies, Romance Studies, Antiquities, Art and Entertainment (DIRAAS) at the Università di Genova, are launching “Adelaide: 200 anni sulla scena” (Adelaide: 200 years on stage), a project that aims to bring Ristori back into the spotlight, celebrating a figure from yesteryear who is still highly topical and contemporary for a number of reasons.

The project has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of various bodies, universities and theatre organisations from across Italy, including the Comune di Genova, the Soprintendenza archivistica e bibliografica della Liguria, the Direzione Generale Archivi del MIC and the Regione Liguria. The project has been included in the UNESCO Anniversaries 2022–2023 programme by the Commissione Nazionale Italiana per UNESCO (CNIU). “Adelaide: 200 anni sulla scena” also benefits from the patronage of the Università degli Studi di Genova.

Furthermore, the project involves a number of other partners: Palazzo Nicolosio-Lomellino, which will host the exhibition of costumes worn by the actress, the Comune di Cividale del Friuli, the Teatro Ristori di Verona and the Università degli studi di Milano – Department of Cultural and Environmental Assets, together with all the other universities that make up the technical committee for the international conference scheduled to take place in November 2022.

As part of the “Adelaide: 200 anni sulla scena” project, numerous initiatives will be organised and promoted by the Genoa partnership, starting on Saturday 29 January, the bicentenary of the great actress’s birth.

In March there will be a play produced by the Teatro Nazionale di Genova: a new Lady Macbeth performed by Elisabetta Pozzi and directed by Davide Livermore. Autumn will see the other two major events to take place in the year of Ristori: firstly, the opening of the exhibition “Adelaide Ristori: teatro e haute couture” (Adelaide Ristori: theatre and haute couture) at Palazzo Nicolosio-Lomellino in Genoa and then the international conference “Adelaide Ristori e il Grande Attore. Radicamento, adattamento ed esportazione di una tradizione” (Adelaide Ristori and the Great Actor. The establishment, adaptation and exportation of a tradition), scheduled to take place in November 2022.

A community engagement and audience development operation entitled “Ristori Diffusa” is a common thread running through the main events of the bicentenary. It is centred around the Museo Biblioteca dell’Attore, with the aim of enhancing the collections and consolidating relations with the public.

Communication plays an essential role in supporting such a complex project. The BAM! Strategie Culturali team has therefore been asked to develop the communication on several fronts.

The first task involved developing the digital strategy for the entire project, coming up with guidelines for effective, creative and engaging digital storytelling. In order to achieve this, BAM! organised a workshop with the entire organisational staff from the three institutions promoting the project, so as to identify project resources, contents, targets and channels.

During a second phase, BAM! worked on the project’s graphic identity, creating the brand book and all the necessary variations for the launch.

Following the launch, BAM! managed the project’s social media channels and carried out a targeted national press office operation in close partnership with the staff of the Teatro Nazionale di Genova.

At the same time, BAM! supported the partnership in its application for the “Italia Patria della Bellezza” (Italy, Land of Beauty) call for proposals, which, if successful, will guarantee the continuation of communication activities on a national scale. In this case, BAM! will play an active part in the strategic definition and development of the “Ristori Diffusa” operation.