Il Girasole

«Let’s open the book, at random». This is the translation of the words Caproni said as he, between 1972 and 1975, left the microphone of the radio broadcast «Il girasole» to someone else. It was a column for disclosure, broadcast in the country’s peak listening times, with the aim of offering a wide and diverse audience a sort of literary 'textbook' which would provide the educated with the pleasure of re-reading, and the younger and naive with the pleasure of discovery. A great poet, Giorgio Caproni, had the task of choosing the passages from texts of every time and country (poetry, fiction, theatre plays...) and of connecting them with a few introductory words in order to create an environment, an era, or whatever is around a work of art and makes it understandable, human for everyone. After the loss or destruction of the radio materials, it is finally possible to get to know this peculiar adventure thanks to Giada Baragli’s skilful care. Starting from often incomplete scripts, she has reconstructed the compendium of a hundred songs which not only offer a valuable comparative literary anthology, but also convey the preferences and readings of an extraordinary, unforgettable author who also happened to collaborate with radio.