Bruscello Poliziano 2025 in Montepulciano

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The Historic Compagnia Popolare del Bruscello Poliziano is ready to present the 86th edition to the public. It will be staged in Piazza Grande in Montepulciano from 12 to 15 August 2025, with a special preview during the closed-door dress rehearsals to be held on Sunday 11 August. The Bruscello Poliziano has reached an incredible historical and cultural milestone, handing down the tradition of a particular form of popular theater, with singing and acting, which involves the staging of dozens of extras in the splendid stage of the churchyard of the Cathedral of Montepulciano.

Bruscello has its tradition in ancient times. The name can be traced back to the sapling, the tree under which the song of the old storytellers recounted the deeds of characters dear to the memory of the people of the countryside and the villages that hosted popular festivals. In Montepulciano there is memory of Bruscello dating back to the 1800s; in the twenties we find it in a more spectacular form by some young Poliziani and in 1939 it was precisely that group that managed to involve the entire people of Poliziano in a spectacular Bruscello: “Pia de’ Tolomei”, conceived and created in the large natural stage of Piazza Grande: the churchyard of the Cathedral. The natural scene of the old villages and countryside is transformed into large castles and colonnades specially built by the craftsmen of Poliziani. The natural light of the sun is reproduced with lighting systems that recreate the settings necessary for the stories that are represented. The basket containing the rags is replaced by costumes specially made by local seamstresses, giving greater depth to the show that was evolving. The monotonous hendecasyllables in ottava rima, underlined by the sound of an accordion, are modernized, becoming quatrains of septenaries or verses in a leaner meter, capable of giving greater rhythm to the show with the accompaniment of an orchestra. The music, arrhythmic and atonal, becomes melody, stornello, serenade. The stories that are represented are those known to the people: stories related to the Royals of France and the dramas of the characters told by Dante in his Comedy; stories of characters of our tradition and legends, but also farce, joke and mockery soon find space in the Bruscello Poliziano, dramatized and divided into scenes and acts, as in the great popular operas.