The new audio guide of the Chapel and the Treasury of San Gennaro is here. Toni Servillo, Patrizio Rispo, Nunzia Schiano, Maurizio De Giovanni, Don Riccardo Carafa d’Andria and monsignor Vincenzo de Gregorio they are the narrative voices in the Italian and Neapolitan version of “Un Tesoro di audioguida” produced by D’Uva for the Deputation of the Real Cappella del Tesoro. Accompanied by the original compositions by Antonio Fresawith the extraordinary participation of Raiz, Montercorvino stone, Eugenio Bennato, Vincenzo de Gregorio, Maurizio Capone, Marco Zurzolo and the Sanitansamble Youth Orchestra. A project carried out with the patronage of Rai Campania.
The story thus joins the beauty and richness of the artistic heritage of the Chapel and the Treasury of San Gennaro, in a suggestive story between voices and music. That of the Real Cappella is a completely unique story that is based on the relationship between the people of Naples and their patron saint. The new audio guide will reveal details and nuances of this story and many others kept in this unique place.
The project of narration and enhancement of the Treasury and the Chapel of San Gennaro is part of the new management of the museum activities curated for the Deputation of the Royal Chapel of the Treasury of San Gennaro da D’Uva, a company operating since 1959 in the sector of heritage interpretation cultural, service management and museum enhancement, which has developed an unusual way of understanding the visit through new forms of storytelling and music. The Deputation has kept for about 500 years the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, the relics of the Saint and the collection of objects and works of art, without forgetting the priceless jewels kept in the spaces dedicated to the Treasure of San Gennaro, now renovated by D’Uva both internally and in the new ticket office.
The idea of an audio guide comes from D’Uva’s awareness that telling the Chapel and the Treasury with the creation of renewed contents, the participation of contemporary actors and artists and the composition of original music dedicated to the visit, will arouse a double curiosity in the visitor, allowing this heritage to live and be interpreted in a completely unusual way, starting from the narration. It is a story that reveals the stories of all the people who over the centuries have contributed to the construction of the Treasury of San Gennaro: deputies, popes, kings, queens, princes and people of the people, all linked by devotion to the Saint. The texts were co-written by Ilaria D’Uva and Francesca Ummarino.
In the case of Naples and San Gennaro, in particular, it was necessary to find a really special interpretation in the narration, starting with the voices: the new audio path is interpreted by Neapolitan artists and characters closely linked to the city, who belong to the Neapolitan culture and who illuminated / told the story of the Saint and his Treasure with great sensitivity and participation.
The actors Toni Servillo, Nunzia Schiano and Patrizio Rispo, the playwright and writer Maurizio de Giovanni, the Duke Don Riccardo Carafa d’Andria – Vice President of the Deputation of the Royal Chapel of the Treasury of San Gennaro and the Abbot of the Chapel joined with enthusiasm. of the Treasury of San Gennaro, Monsignor Vincenzo de Gregorio.Each of them contributed strongly with the sound of their own charismatic, warm and suggestive voice to represent 500 years of participation, faith and devotion to San Gennaro.
And if an important voice accompanies us on the discovery of a place, we can certainly add beauty and emotion to our knowledge. To testify the desire to fully adhere to the enhancement of tradition, the new audio guide will also be available exclusively in Neapolitan, with the voices of Patrizio Rispo and Nunzia Schiano. A treasure trove of audio guides can also be heard in English, French, German and Spanish.
“From today, the Treasury of San Gennaro is equipped with an instrument that projects it towards a different narrative: on the one hand more rooted in the territory, thanks to the authoritative voices of the interpreters, and on the other in an unprecedented dimension, the result of the new management of the museum and its usability “declared Paolo Jorio, director of the Treasury of San Gennaro
“A place so prodigious and full of spirituality and history, could not leave indifferent the sensitivity of a Neapolitan musician and composer like Antonio Fresa, known for his soundtracks made for cinema and TV, nominated for the David di Donatello and Nastri d ‘ Argento has always been a passionate author of evocative music for images.
Fresa allowed himself to be guided by his refined musical experience and the tradition of Neapolitan music, working on 12 original compositions that will resonate in the audio guide, never dominating the beauties observed by visitors and not even the special voices of the narrators, integrating instead as a powerful driving soundtrack. . It is no coincidence that this project is part of the Soundtrack Experience series that has already seen Fresa protagonist of the music composed for the audio tour of the Vatican Chapels and the Borgess Labirinto on the island of San Giorgio in Venice, produced by D’Uva with Adesiva Discografica.
The realization of the songs also involved very talented Neapolitan artists: Raiz, Pietra Montecorvino and Eugenio Bennato embraced the project with enthusiasm, offering their extraordinary voices to three of the 12 compositions. Actually becoming part of the most compelling history of their city, they interpret Bonasera Regina respectively, of which Raiz wrote a text as vibrant as her voice, “San Gennaro my user” with the passionate stamp of Pietra Montecorvin which calls together the relatives del Santo and “San Gennaro lo sa”, an engaging Neapolitan swing ballad with lyrics by Eugenio Bennato, who also composed the music in collaboration with Fresa. Directed by Maestro Paolo Acunzo, the Sanitansamble Orchestra also participates in the work, a group of young musicians from the Rione Sanità of Naples that promotes collective musical practice as a means of organizing and developing the community in difficult social areas and contexts.
He plays in “‘A prucessione” Maurizio Capone, known for his band Capone & BungtBangt, accompanies the piano of Fresa in the song “‘ O rre scugnizzo”, a metaphorical journey between people and rulers, piano and percussion made from recycled materials ( milk, carpentry tools, polystyrene boxes …), valueless objects that become splendid instruments with a unique sound.
Marco Zurzoloci leads to the alleys of Naples with the alto sax in “San Gennaro lo sa”. Artist able to invent his own personal fusion point between jazz and popular music, also in this piece he alternates solos and melodic melodic tones of Carosonian flavor.And it was an honor to host in the piece 1527 Monsignor Vincenzo de Gregorio who immediately welcomed the project playing the organ of the Cathedral of Naples: a circle is thus ideally closed with the Abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro. published on CD and on all digital streaming and download platforms.
With the original compositions by Antonio Fresa and the songs with Raiz, Pietra Montecorvino and Eugenio Bennato, it was recorded in May 2022 by Andrea Cutillo at Splash Studio, The Writing Room, Apogeo Records, Naples; mixed and mastered in the Milanese studios of Adesiva Discografica, the label of Paolo Iafelice that publishes the record and which stands out for the care it dedicates to the selection and production of its titles.
The executive production is by Ilaria D’Uva and Paolo Iafelice, cover design and all graphics are by Vanni del Gaudio. The CD of the new audio guide will be available from 21 June 2022 in the bookshop of the Treasury and in the record shops thanks to Self Distribuzione. “The Deputation of the Royal Chapel of the Treasury of San Gennaro has enthusiastically promoted the D’Uva project that supports the” view “of the treasures exposed to the listening” of the voice of Naples, which over the centuries has regularly accompanied the life of the city devoted to its saint. The contemporaneity of the figure of San Gennaro is also manifested through the words of his brilliant sons who sing narrating the story of the works donated by the poorest to the richest as a sign of devotion “, declares the Deputation.
“” How many things do I have to put in this soundtrack? “, I asked myself for more than a year – says Antonio Fresa – San Gennaro, the miracle, the relatives, the painting, the gold and silver, the sacred music they wrote the various chapel masters, succeeding one another from 600 to early 800 for the liturgical calendar and beyond. And then Naples, cosmopolitan culture, folklore, contaminations, processions, dialect, anecdotes, the goldsmiths village, the deputation, the devotees exhausted by the heat of September 19 and the crowds, the cardinals who turn the ampoule. And then the necklace that each precious stone is a story to tell, the relics of San Gennaro brought from Montevergine to Naples by Carafa, the king of Poggioreale, the contract with a saint who died more than a thousand years earlier. In short, it was not easy to sew all these stories with a needle, quarter notes and a few flats. But I asked for help, obviously from San Gennaro. He, I don’t know how, I he made it known that I absolutely did not owe me forget about relatives. So I did and writing I also enjoyed writing. To my father, Gennaro “.
“We live in an era of multiple and refined solicitations and it is increasingly difficult to reach the emotions of the visitor to a museum, a church, a monument, a park, a labyrinth; also because most of them are already satisfied by visit itself: the desire for beauty, cultural expectations, the fact of having traveled to have arrived there, the perception of the architectural space and the artistic dimension. Therefore, audio contents and original soundtracks have the aim of enriching the perception of the works by increasing the emotions, without covering the original message that the artist, the architect, the designer have entrusted to their project. San Gennaro. I’m sure that together we will do beautiful things “, says Ilaria D’Uva, manager of the company that bears his name (and of his father, the inventor of audiog uide), new manager of the Treasury of San Gennaro, the ticket office and all the services related to the visit.
San Gennaro, an audio guide with the voices of Servillo and De Giovanni