The play “Bartali in Hell” depicts the clash between two opposing and irreconcilable worldviews, recounting an episode from Gino Bartali’s life linked to the Italian Resistance. The play, written by Sergio Pierattini and directed by Manuela Mandracchia, recounts the dramatic confrontation with Major Mario Carità, a Nazi-Fascist torturer, inside the villa known as Villa Triste in Florence.
The story takes place in 1943. The Florentine champion is summoned by Carità to one of the cells used to interrogate and torture partisans. The cyclist, who had never joined the Fascist Party and had always refused to dedicate his victories to the Duce, was considered a suspicious figure because of his frequent trips between Florence and Assisi, which took place despite the suspension of races due to the war. These suspicions are confirmed by the fact that Bartali, under the guise of training, was transporting forged documents to help Jewish families on the run and was hiding the Goldberg family in his home.
In the interrogation as reconstructed by Pierattini, Carità, with her daughter’s help, attempts to force the athlete to reveal his role in the Resistance and the names of his accomplices. The play explores the conflict between opposing values, evoking the tension of Greek tragedy.
