Author’s notes

It is not an easy task to introduce the musical “Pact of Light”. Leo Amici (who passed away in 1986) was the founder of the “Little Village of the Lake” in the Rimini countryside: a place where the human values of peace, love and brotherhood are lived and spread. He was the first one to talk about the pact of light. He mentioned it in one of his writings and the words he wrote would also resonate in the scenes as a voice-over:

“Here, in a hut made of gorse, took place the most boundless and overwhelming meeting that the experienced Eternity remembers”.

Mysterious words that resound unequivocally in the echo of another dimension. In order to write such words he, in fact, imagined himself in another dimension , so that all those people, including the ones living in eternity can talk and interact .

Believing in God, it would be natural to believe that He was the first one to remember the stretch of experienced eternity of that ancient event. He Himself belongs to Eternity, He could be compared to a circle that has neither a beginning nor an end. Contained in the words “experienced eternity” there is also a life that had, instead, a beginning.

The above is addressed to that Eternity which was started for us by God or, even better, started by Him so that we could achieve it. An Eternity, which is part of what God has conceived, modelled and started including the universe and our bodily life, with a beginning and an end, but with a soul which is eternal.

How deep were Leo Amici’s words and what a mystery in the eyes, that I could never forget, of this wise and good man, while his life, his deeds were simple and transparent!

Let us try to unveil the mystery and greatness contained in his words and in “Pact of Light”, the legend of the Lake of Piediluco.

Traces of these ancient events can be found in the flat ground of the Lake of Piediluco, beside the Marmore Falls. “Piediluco” means at the bottom of the holy woods but, in Latin “pie lux” also means “feet of light”, referring to a popular belief, the legend from which the lake was given its name.

The image is of angels, power or bright heavenly creatures who, in a night many centuries ago, descended from the sky, showing their “feet of light” to those ancient people before touching the ground, . .

The music of this show is captivating, strong, tender and violent, like the waterfall in nature that sweeps every residue away with it, like the Marmore waterfall.

The dances, the songs sometimes lyrical, resound in nature like the song of the leading character of this story, the shepherdess. Like an echo it resounds from one mountain top to another until it reaches the far distance, fading away, from human hearing but being heard by other entities who, in another dimension, are following and supporting our efforts towards the Truth and the Absolute.
It is therefore a … wonderful legend, Pact of Light, where I have concentrated my imagination, knowledge, poetry, art, which I believe to be a gift that I, sometimes inadequately have made mine, but which I have always expressed and let grow, sometimes with sacrifice, aiming at sharing and donating it. A magnificent legend, in which I have presented the personality of my master of art and life, Leo Amici, the wonderful legend of his life, of his words as well as the personality of the gentle and strong Maria Di Gregorio, so important in my life, from whom I drew inspiration for the leading character, the shepherdess.

Beside the shepherdess, other characters are: the animals, which assist and comment amongst themselves on the most curious happenings, singing and dancing often in a funny way; nature, always present in the sounds, the noises, the scents and in the rising sun, to which the shepherdess’ first song is addressed: “Tell me o sun, tell me what it is… what is there behind you… why is there so much evil around me?”

Thanks to the shepherdess, her spirit, her going beyond conventions as well as beyond the tribe’s law to overcome their primitive mentality, the story of the Pact of Light begins. This wonderful legend will kindle in the consciences of the primitive humans the first spark of consciousness about human rights through a pact with the Supreme Lord: God.

The characters are: a shepherdess, who probably lived 12,000 years ago; a shaman, who lived in a hut made of gorse. He brought peace to the villages, which had been hostile to each other; a shepherd, found in the forest and raised by the shaman; a tiger, that decided on the life or death of convicted people abandoned in the forest; the primordio and the primordia, tribal chiefs of the shepherdess’ village; the spies who, scene after scene, followed the shepherdess to report on her “diversity”; the tribal chiefs of many villages, who, in their clothes, attitudes, lifestyle, hunting and war strategies were inspired by the effigies of the chosen animal which they venerated as spirit guides of nature: the Lion, Woodpecker, Hawk, Snake, Peacock, Swallow, Owl, Cat and Butterfly
At the curtain’s opening, the musical will let you live some ancient moments which also reflect the present. Since human rights and that spark, which was brought to life in the wonderful legend of the Pact of Light, is the same spark which is still alive in us, it must absolutely continue to be kept alive.

Carlo Tedeschi