“Spettacolo is a ravishing Tuscan tale set in a picture-postcard hill town called Monticchiello—a place where the citizens struggle to keep alive a decades-old tradition that dwindles as the population ages and wealthy foreigners buy up the land. But the villagers, ages 6 to 90, reclaim Monticchiello every summer when they play themselves in an original ‘autodrama’ staged in the town piazza. All the while, the cameras capture moments both intimate and grand as ordinary people turn the stuff of life into sublime art.” –Kathy Bonomi, Film Programmer

Once upon a time, villagers in a tiny hill town in Tuscany came up with a remarkable way to confront their issues: they turned their lives into a play. Monticchiello’s annual tradition has attracted worldwide attention for decades, but the town’s 50th anniversary performance just might be its last. Spettacolo tells the story of Teatro Povero di Monticchiello, interweaving episodes from its past with its modern-day process as the villagers turn a series of devastating blows into a new play about the end of their world.