“Ghirlandina. Light and Memory” returns with evening screenings, alongside a weekend of sacred music and guided tours of the Cathedral, a World Heritage Site
Following last year’s huge success, the festival will kick off on Thursday 1 October at 9.30 pm and 10 pm in Piazza Torre with the return of the show “Ghirlandina. Luce e Memoria”, a spectacular video-mapping display projected onto the tower’s façade, which will give a voice to the city’s symbol, transforming it into a canvas of light and sound. The audiovisual show will be on display every evening until Sunday 4 October, with two screenings each night (at 10.30 pm and 11 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 9.30 pm and 10 pm on Sundays), with free admission every evening. The show will also be repeated the following weekend, from 8 to 11 October, at 9.30 pm and 10 pm.
Through an engaging show, the video projection will recount the construction of the Ghirlandina, which took place over more than two centuries: images, a narrator’s voice, evocative music and three-dimensional sets will take residents and visitors on a journey of pure wonder, creating a dialogue between past and future through a visually striking and deeply evocative narrative.
A major audiovisual work that links Modena’s two UNESCO designations – World Heritage and Media Arts – in a dialogue between the monument of exceptional universal value and the multimedia art at the heart of the entire project. Since 2021, Modena has been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, the first city in Italy to receive this recognition for media arts – an expression of a collective journey of cultural innovation, the development of creativity and dialogue between different forms of knowledge and expression.
Produced by Delumen with projections by Santimone srl, the video installation is the result of a long collaborative effort. The content, curated by Francesca Piccinini with the narrative adaptation of texts by Elena Grazia Fè of the Modena Civic Museum – Modena World Heritage Office, presents the most up-to-date research on the history of the Tower, thanks to the collaboration of Professor Stefano Lugli (UniMoRe – Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences) and architect Rossella Cadignani, who oversaw the most recent restoration work on the Ghirlandina. The architectural model is based on the 3D scan of the tower provided to the City Council by engineer Federico Benatti, whilst the projection has been made possible thanks to the cooperation of the Duomo Museums, the Metropolitan Basilica and private citizens.
Ahead of the evening video projections on the Tower, on Friday and Saturday evenings Modena Cathedral is set to host two special events.
On Friday 2 October, at 8.00 pm and again at 9.15 pm, “Chominciamento di gioia” gets underway, a themed tour of the Cathedral and the sacristy led by Simona Roversi and Federico Manicardi, accompanied by medieval music from the Palamento ensemble in collaboration with the Armoniosamente festival. The one-hour event is free of charge, but booking is essential via visitmodena.it.
On Saturday 3 October at 8.30 pm, the naves of the cathedral – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – will resound with “Resonantia Saxa – The Stones Sing”. The concert, lasting an hour and a half, features the Modena Cathedral Brass Quintet (Francesco Gibellini, trumpet, Alberto Brini, trumpet, Benedetto dall’Aglio, horn, and Valentino Spaggiari, trombone), organists Stefano Pellini and Davide Zanasi, and the Cathedral Choir conducted by Francesco Saguatti. Admission is free, subject to availability.
