Conflicting Interpretations of Antiquity at the Syracuse Festival during its Early Years (1913–1939)

This article investigates the contradictory and often antithetical perceptions of antiquity that shaped the identity of the Syracuse Festival during its first pre-war period (1913–1939). The institution's creation began with a proposal by Gabriele D’Annunzio (1908), but was realized through the persistence of Count Mario Tommaso Gargallo (1914), whose vision was to promote the local Greco-Sicilian culture through ancient drama and to restore the dignity of the Italian South in the eyes of the rest of the world. Initially, the dominant narrative connected the Festival with the glorious history of Greek Syracuse. However, figures such as the politician Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and the Hellenist and Artistic Director of the Festival Ettore Romagnoli, from the beginning of the 1920s, promoted the idea of an autonomous Greco-Sicilian civilization, equal to the metropolitan Greek one, in an effort to redefine the uniqueness of the Sicilian identity. With the rise of Fascism (1925), although the Festival of Syracuse was transformed into a non-profit organization (INDA), it managed to defend its localistic character against Fascist Romanism until 1938, when the country adopted the Nazi laws. At the performances of the Ninth Cycle in 1939, not only did the previous contradictions surface, but a new international, pacifist message was also added. Despite the fluidity of its ideological foundation, the Festival survived, utilizing the ‘polyphony’ of ancient Greek tragedy as a means of constructive dialogue.