De Castelli Headquarters
After the success of the previous year, De Castelli once again opened its doors to the public for a theatre performance held within the framework of the Combinazioni Festival. The evening featured the production R.R., written and performed by Marco Duse, under the direction and dramaturgy of Giammarco Busetto.
The performance, staged on September 13, recounts the story of Rolandina Roncaglia — a person assigned male at birth in 1327 in the province of Padua, who moved to Venice at the age of 19 to live in alignment with her female identity. An egg seller and sex worker, Rolandina courageously navigated the fragile boundary between masculine and feminine, doing so in solitude and against the grain of her time. In an era where civil power and religious authority were deeply intertwined, her choice was a radical act, one that still provokes reflection on stigma, exclusion, and judgment.
Her story resonates powerfully with the theme chosen for the 2025 edition of the CombinAzioni Festival, Who’s Afraid of Equality?, which seeks to place equality back at the heart of public discourse, not only as a foundational principle, but as a call to recognize diversity and to imagine a fairer, more inclusive future.
The event of CombinAzioni took place inside the De Castelli workshops — a space typically devoted to artisanal craftsmanship and the creation of products and custom-made project solutions. For that occasion, it was transformed into a place of gathering and active community engagement, opening its doors to dialogue, reflection, and shared experience.
The fourth edition of Homo Faber in Venice will once again see the collaboration of De Castelli, the company which brings innovation to metal for architecture and design.
