In Rome, the opening of Benvenuto Cellini's cell
Prisoners were distinguished as Benvenuto Cellini, Giordano Bruno, Beatrice Cenci and Giuseppe Balsamo, better known as Count Cagliostro.
On the occasion of Easter week, until Monday, April 1, the Prisons Historical Castel Sant’Angelo are extraordinarily open to the public, so that they will have access to atmospheric basement made during different periods, from Hadrian (135 AD) through the Middle Ages up to the 1503, when the dungeons were enlarged, probably by the will of Alexander VI Borgia, at the end of his pontificate.
Among the rooms open to visitors there is also the narrow cell where he was imprisoned for nearly a year Benvenuto Cellini and from which the artist executed, possibly descending through a latrine.
On a wall during the hours of captivity, he created a design, still visible under a glass cover, which depicts God the Father with the Risen Christ.
Act I
Pope Clement VII wants to go down in history as a generous patron and collector. The pontiff commissioned Benvenuto Cellini, an impetuous but brilliant Florentine sculptor and goldsmith, to create a statue of Perseus killing Medusa.
Balducci, the Pope’s treasurer, does not trust Cellini, preferring a local (and mediocre) sculptor, Fieramosca, to whom he has promised his beautiful daughter, Teresa, who is in love with Cellini, among other things.
It’s Carnival. Teresa looks from her window at the masked people celebrating and hopes to glimpse her beloved Cellini. Balducci, suspicious, hastens to meet the Pope to convince him to support the more reliable and obsequious Fieramosca, instead of Cellini, a rebellious genius.
Teresa is a devoted daughter and is upset to suddenly discover Cellini’s presence in the house. Between fear and hope, the two celebrate their love for each other and express their contempt for Fieramosca, without realizing that he has sneaked into the house and is eavesdropping on their conversations.
Cellini reveals to Teresa his plan to escape to Florence. The plan provides that, while Balducci is at the theater and attends a performance, Cellini and his assistant Ascanio, disguised as monks, kidnap Teresa.
Although Teresa fears making her father angry, she accepts. Fieramosca, who is spying on them, vows to mess up their plans.
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