Festival Opening – L’Inganno

Music by Tiziano Popoli
Text by Renato Billi
Directed by Oderso Rubini

with

La Toscanini NEXT Orchestra
Tiziano Popoli director
Ocarina Quintet from the Conservatory of Bologna
Emiliano Bernagozzi, Riccardo Biagetti, Leonardo Carbone,
Alberto Ciarrocca, Elisa Zilioli
and the Soloists Lorenzo Speca, Tang Jiusi, Gexing Wang, Yi Zeyu,
Lorenzo Sarinelli, Antonio Tavoni

and Giuseppe Losacco, actor
Masks by Margherita Citran
Costumes by Eva Aremar

L’Inganno is a satirical drama freely inspired by El Güegüense, the first literary work of post-Columbian Nicaragua. It is considered one of the most distinctive expressions of the colonial era in Latin America and a folkloric masterpiece typical of Nicaragua. In 2005, it was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

At the heart of L’Inganno lies the archetype of creative resistance: the protagonist challenges colonial authority not with force, but with cunning, irony, and double meanings, feigning submission that is, in reality, a mockery. This dynamic recalls the feats of the divine twins of the Popol Vuh, who could defeat the lords of the underworld through ingenuity and magic, elevating intelligence as a tool of liberation.

Today, this work emerges as a powerful symbol of cultural empowerment against global homogenization. It teaches us that wit and mastery of language are true instruments of social survival, capable of reclaiming a mixed identity that refuses to bow to oppressive systems. It embodies the same spirit that animated the theatre of Dario Fo: just as the Nobel-winning Italian jester used grammelot and satire to ridicule power, the Güegüense uses its mixed dialect to subvert the logic of the oppressor. More than a mere fragment of folklore, the work is a practical manual of nonviolent resistance: a strikingly contemporary testament to how ordinary people can bridge the gap between their everyday reality and the power imposed from above, turning words into a shield and laughter into an act of rebellion. This version of the Güegüense, suspended between the lyrical song of authority and the popular voice of the streets, represents the essence of modern resistance: a deception that becomes art in order to survive.