Govi Gianni

He lives in the “Bassa”, but in the “Bassa Sissese” in the province of Parma, which is part of “that slice of land” that is the “Mondo Piccolo”, of which Giovannino Guareschi speaks; Fontanelle, his birthplace, and Sissa are villages opposite each other, separated by the course of the Taro river.
He has been retired for many years now, after having been employed for years at Eridania, a national sugar refinery. For the past two years he has been a member of the “Friends of Guareschi” group, based in Fontanelle.
Since he was 20 years old, however, he has been in the “Compagnia Dialettale Sissese”, an idea born more for fun than by choice, but which has been nurtured, allowed to grow, and is today, more than 50 years later, a splendid reality of Parmesan dialectal theatre. With their 31 comedies “in lengua”, as they say in the Bassa, they have tried and still try to keep dialect alive, which today, unfortunately, is no longer spoken in families and is therefore often unknown to many young people. And reciting it allows them to remember, laughing, where they came from and why they are the way they are today.