" data-original-title="" title="">Roberto Bonati and his orchestra chose to celebrate their sacrifice in 2024, a century after the events. It is surely no accident that they have done so at a time when the country once again has an avowedly fascist prime minister. For Bonati, the citizens of Parma did not fail, despite the fascists' final victory, and they cannot fail as long as we take their courage on ourselves and act against tyranny. Whether Bonati is an optimist or a pessimist we do not know, but suspect the former. Either way, Gramsci's words are pertinent, "I am a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will."

The above perhaps suggests a programmatic intention on Bonati's part with Si erano vestiti dalla festa. Bonati certainly does appear to seek to represent musically the street battles that took place in Parma in 1922, notably on "Marionette nere." The latter title translates as "black puppets" or better "black stooges," the word "black" referring here to the fascists' attire. The track is pivotal, after all, to the suite, appearing at the mid-point of the record. It opens with a repeat of the massive discord that peppered the opening track, "Prelude," but here it is twisted into a sneer. One hears martial drums but there are also moments of quite gorgeous lyricism on "Marionette nere" that suggest the need for a less narrow interpretation of Bonati's compositional goals.

In a way, the gorgeously lyrical "Oltretorrente" seems to delineate Bonati's aims with this record. It was this Bohemian district of Parma that saw much of the fighting and the citizens of which drove the fascists back. Bonati's primary intention may well have been to celebrate the courage and dignity of those who said, "They shall not pass!" "Barricate" features an interview with Orazio Bortesi, a protagonist in these events, and a poem by Guido Picelli, sung beautifully by