Montemaggio is a hill in the Montagnola Senese, located in the municipality of Monteriggioni in the province of Siena. On 28 March 1944, the Republican National Guard captured and killed 19 partisans who had taken refuge here inside a cottage called Casa Giubileo. Since 2014, the Valdelsa ANPI sections have been organising the Montemaggio Festival Resistente at Casa Giubileo: three days of debates, music and other events to keep the memory of the place alive and continue to resist also in memory of those who left their lives here.
Francesco Corsi, president of ANPI Val d’Elsa, joined our project Music & Resilience two years ago. He took part in the 2024 trip to Lebanon and on this occasion, in collaboration with Dario Gentili, a historical member and founder of M&R, he produced the documentary THIS IS OUR RESISTENCE, which bears witness to our work and gives a very careful and sensitive view of the conditions of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the land of cedars.
Hence, Music & Resilience’s participation in this year’s Resistente festival, which took place from 6 to 8 June, came about quite naturally. We participated not only actively as volunteers, but also in the field where we naturally operate, music. On Friday evening, it was M&R member Samuele Strufaldi who first participated in a lecture entitled Art, Bodies, Activism and then presented his project Davorio in a beautiful concert.
Saturday evening saw our own Chiara Trapanese on the Montemaggio stage, who with her Kissenefolk project led the audience on an enthralling journey through traditional music and dance. The closing of the festival was held by Emiliano Nigi, also a member of M&R, who, with Echi di Brigata: testimonianze elettroniche partigiane (Echoes of the Brigade: partisan electronic testimonies), took a journey through the testimonies of a number of partisans, contaminating them with electronic music interventions.
The theme of this year’s festival was Let’s liberate the future and to make this possible, we believe it is necessary to create synergies, collaborations, friendships, walking together. The encounter between Music & Resilience and the ANPI Val d’Elsa has only just begun and has already produced many wonderful things, a fine way to start liberating our future together.
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