On Saturday, October 3, 2026, at 4:00 p.m., the theatrical performance “L’Appello” will take place at the Rocca Gardens in Bertinoro. The play focuses on the innocent victims of the Mafia and will be performed by third-year students from the lower secondary school in Santa Maria Nuova (Bertinoro, Forlì-Cesena).

The play was written and directed by Denio Derni, with Roberta Godoli as assistant director. The music was composed by Ivan Bratti and Elisa Nanni and will be performed live by young musicians from the “Dante Alighieri” Music School of Bertinoro.

The event will be attended by Franca Castellese, the mother of Giuseppe Di Matteo.

The performance was conceived and produced in 2024 by the Andrea Canevaro Comprehensive School of Bertinoro to mark the naming of the Santa Maria Nuova Primary School after Giuseppe Di Matteo. It was subsequently performed in Sicily on May 7, 2025, at the Anfiteatro della Memoria in San Giuseppe Jato (Palermo), where Giuseppe was killed.

ADMISSION IS FREE. In case of rain, the performance will be held at the Novelli Theatre.

The story is that of Giuseppe Di Matteo, who was born in Palermo on January 19, 1981. On the afternoon of November 23, 1993, at the age of twelve, he was kidnapped at a riding stable in Villabate, near Palermo.

After 779 days in captivity, he was killed in San Giuseppe Jato, and his body was made to disappear.

The performance is loosely based on the book Il Giardino della Memoria – I 779 giorni del sequestro Di Matteo by Martino Lo Cascio, published by Mesogea, and La classe dei banchi vuoti by Luigi Ciotti, published by Gruppo Abele.