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Partitura per un futuro ritorno (Score for a Future Return) is an artistic project spread across the center of Macchiagodena and three of its hamlets—Caporio, Incoronata, and Santa Maria in Pantano—that connects the desires of the current community with the emotional memory of the territory. The project emerged from an ongoing dialogue with the local area and its community spread across the differents hamlets, activated through three collective rewriting workshops centered on the song Lu Molisano in America, composed in the 1960s by local musician Antonio Perrella. During these sessions, the artist invited participants to imagine a possible return, constructing a counter-narrative to the silence left behind by depopulation.
Three distinct musical sections—rhythm, melody, and voice—emerged from the workshops and were translated into three site-specific works installed in the hamlets: a brazier accompanied by three sound sculptures represents the rhythm; a poster reinterprets the melody on paper; a table hosts the rewritten lyrics. These functional and meaningful objects are scattered across the peripheral landscape of Macchiagodena serving as clues in a collective narrative.
At the heart of the project, in Villaggio San Nicola—the oldest part of the town, now nearly uninhabited—the new version of the song resounds. Fragmented into three sections, the piece emanates from three different houses, each illuminated by green light and newly furnished. The score, now dispersed, can only be heard in full when the people who recorded it reunite to play it again.
Gathering and preserving the entire experience is a book, kept in the town’s medieval tower. More than a simple record, it is an artwork in its own right: within it live the voices, gestures, and traces of the creative process. An open score, ready to be taken up by anyone. The book becomes a living tool for connection—a space where the memory of the project becomes a shared resource for imagining new forms of community, creativity, and care.
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Artwork:
01. Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno (Ritmo), 2025, brazier, engraved musical sculptures in brass, iron and steel, variable dimensions.
Santa Maria In Pantano, Macchiagodena (IS)
The brazier can be used, and visitors are invited to interact with the sculptures, which can be played.
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02. Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno (Melodia), 2025, digital print on paper, aluminum frame.
Bar Valleverde, Contrada Incoronata, 22, Macchiagodena (IS)
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03. Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno (Voce), 2025, table, wood and engraved steel.
Caporio, Macchiagodena (IS)
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04. Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno (Libro), 2025, artist’s book, 22 x 17 cm.
Medieval Tower – Casa del Libro, Via Alfredo Notte, Macchiagodena (IS)
The book can be consulted by contacting the Casa del Libro directly.
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05. Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, 2025, site-specific installation, LED lights, speakers, sound, variable dimensions.San Nicola Village, between Via XI Febbraio and Via XXIV Maggio. The work is accessible only from the outside: visitors are invited to listen to the sounds coming from the three selected houses and to freely walk through the historic village of San Nicola, guided by its voices.
THE SONG CAN ONLY BE HEARD IN FULL WHEN THOSE WHO RECORDED IT COME TOGETHER TO PLAY IT AS ONE. THE WORK IS MADE OF FRAGMENTS—AN INVITATION TO POTENTIAL UNITY. IT IS UP TO THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD TO REUNITE THEM, TO MAKE IMAGINATION A PRACTICE.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Roberto Casti (Iglesias, Italy, 1992) is an artist and musician based in Milan, where he studied Painting and Visual Cultures at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. His practice spans sound, performance, video, installation, and drawing. Rather than focusing on formal coherence, his work revolves around an ongoing theoretical and interpretative investigation of reality as a space of relationships and coexistence. Since 2014, he has been part of The Boys and Kifer, a transdisciplinary collective originally founded as a fictional music band, through which he explores new forms of community-making via music, collaborating with artists, musicians, and theorists.
He has exhibited and collaborated with several institutions and art spaces, including MACRO, Rome (IT); Casa degli Artisti, Milan (IT); Museo Nivola, Orani (IT); MAN, Nuoro (IT); FRAC Corsica (FR); Marsèlleria, Milan (IT); PAV – Parco Arte Vivente, Turin (IT); OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin (IT); and Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan (IT). He has published critical essays and theoretical texts in various magazines and, in 2023, took part in Soft Crash, a collective book project published by MACRO, Rome. In 2024, he participated in artist residencies at Hangar in Lisbon (PT) and CBI – Communities Between Islands, a collaborative project with Archipelago Network (Syros, GR), Providenza (Corsica, FR), and Cherimus (Sardinia, IT).
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Alessandro Pace.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Alessandro Pace.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Alessandro Pace.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Roberto Casti.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Andrea Elia Zanini.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Alessandro Pace.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Alessandro Pace.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Alessandro Pace.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Andrea Elia Zanini.
Roberto Casti, Partitura per un futuro ritorno, Macchiagodena (IS), Molise. Ph Amanda Servadio.
Perched on a rocky spur over 800 meters high, Macchiagodena overlooks the Biferno Valley, offering stunning views of the Mainarde and Matese mountains. Known as “the balcony of Molise,” the village dates back to the Middle Ages, once a fief of the Counts of Molise and the Di Capua family. Its Lombardic castle, once a noble residence, now hosts cultural and tourist events.Wandering through its historic alleys, visitors find stone houses, old churches, and charming views. The Church of San Nicola, with its fine portal and decorated interior, holds relevants works of art. Macchiagodena is included in the trail of the Cammino di San Francesco Caracciolo, drawing pilgrims and travelers seeking unspoiled nature, silence, and authenticity. Its cultural vocation is reinforced by the project Una panchina per i libri, with the castle becoming the place for reading and gathering. Local festivals like the feast of San Nicola and Madonna della Macchia keep traditions alive. Local cousine talks about the agricultural history of the land: caciocavallo cheese, salami, and truffle-based dishes represent the genuine rural identity.
Alessia Delli Rocioli (1998) is a researcher in artistic and cultural practices whose investigations take shape through curatorial projects, critical writing, and storytelling. She holds a degree in Art History, with a thesis exploring the relationship between 'poetic action and political action' in Italy during the 1970s. Over the years, she has developed a deep sensitivity toward performative acts, workshop activities, and editorial practices, collaborating as a curator and art producer with various artistic projects and museums. Since 2021, she has been the curator of Unpae, a non-profit artistic project aimed at supporting and connecting artists, curators, and researchers, fostering a free and inclusive space for discussion at the margins of the art system.