"Perché Sanremo è Sanremo"... but what lies behind Italy's most beloved festival and how many stories are hidden within the walls of the Ariston Theater? Walter Vacchino, owner of the Ariston, and Luca Ammirati, responsible for its press office, will tell us on stage. The authors, accompanied by Carlo Conti, will present the book Ariston. La scatola magica di Sanremo (Salani).

The book:

The Ariston theater is the most iconic place in Italian entertainment and music. An almost sacred place, where for six decades the greatest artists have performed, from Domenico Modugno to Måneskin, from Dario Fo to Rudolf Nureyev, and where since 1977 the most beloved event, the most debated ritual that makes us feel Italian, is celebrated, which everyone wants to participate in, even just to criticize it: the Sanremo Festival.

But what lies at the origin of every great endeavor, if not the dream, the vision, of a person going against the current? In the fifties, Sanremo is one of the many cities struggling to recover from the ruins of war. Aristide Vacchino, with cinema in his blood, designs an unprecedented structure – a multiscreen cinema capable of hosting all kinds of performances – to bring joy and entertainment back to his fellow citizens. It takes him ten years to complete the construction, amidst bureaucratic slowdowns and hostility from competitors, but in 1963 he finally manages to inaugurate his jewel. It is the beginning of the "magic box," a space of creativity that, season after season, continues to give emotions and a sense of human wonder.

Walter Vacchino, who was six years old when his father laid the first brick of the Ariston, now manages it with his sister Carla, and tells us all the stages of a family epic that has become a national myth. A story lived behind the scenes, in contact with the truest part of entertainment and artists.

The authors:

Walter Vacchino (Sanremo, 1947), along with his sister Carla, is the owner of the Ariston cinema-theater, which has hosted the Sanremo Festival and Albenga since 1977. He has written and produced theatrical shows, TV programs, festivals, and has held numerous positions in the public sector, sports sector, and entertainment sector. Since 1982, he has been a Knight of the Republic.

Luca Ammirati (Sanremo, 1983) has been the head of the press office at the Ariston theater for several years. He is the author of three novels: Se i pesci guardassero le stelle, L’inizio di ogni cosa and Tutti i colori tranne uno.