Tuscan, born in 1952, he worked for ten years at the National Library of Florence. Artistically he was born with the generation of singer-songwriters of the Seventies: he published records and composed songs that were quite well-known in those years, such as “La canzone dei piedi” and “Ci ho un rapporto”. Very young (1975) he made his debut at the Zelig theater in Milan and began a professional career that led him to explore almost all forms of communication. Having escaped the most common artistic clichés thanks to his versatility, he defines the intellectual as “a physical person, who communicates, who participates, who knows how to transform his experience into something that is also useful to others, who does not transform knowledge into power, who has a sentimental idea of communicating” and is looking for a new language, “the perfect mix of music, writing and drawing”. The latest shows created by Riondino increasingly represent the choice of a theatre characterised by the mix of genres between poetry, satire, more or less well-known classical texts and live music (also performed with bands or groups of jazz or classical instrumentalists): we can mention among these the “Trombettiere di Custer”, with Antonio Catania Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani, “l’Inferno” produced by Magazzini with Sandro Lombardi, “La buona novella” by Fabrizio De Andrè, or again “Il poema di Garibaldi” from the autobiography in verse of Giuseppe Garibaldi. His latest efforts, always in the name of mixing genres, are the show “Dedicato a Ernesto Ragazzoni”, with readings by the poet and “Il Pittore e la modello”, a show-conference with David Riondino and Milo Manara, with Manara’s drawings projected on a big screen, the operetta “La cantata dei pastori immobili” together with Stefano Bollani and the recital “Fermata provvisoria”. Since 1999 he has been involved in special projects with the bands, staging some shows of national interest such as “La buona novella” by Fabrizio De Andrè, “Il Corsaro Nero” by Verne, “poema di Garibaldi” to be performed together with the band of the various places where the show is staged. It is on this line of meeting between genres and artists of different origins that his activity as director and artistic consultant also develops.
Since the 1999-2000 season he has been the artistic consultant of the Teatro degli Illuminati in Città di Castello, where he takes care of the theatre seasons and related events. Furthermore, since 1997 he has been the Artistic Director of the summer festival “Il Giardino della Poesia”, a contemporary poetry festival in San Mauro Pascoli and from 1999 to 2006 he has been the Artistic Director of the “Festival del Mare” event which takes place in various locations on the Riviera Romagnola. Since 2003 he has been the artistic director of the “Teatro all’improvvisa” at the Teatro delle Rocce in Gavorrano. Since 2003 he has also been the artistic director of the “Fossombrone teatro Festival”. Since 2006 he has been the Artistic Director of the Francigena Festival. Since 2006 he has also founded “L’Accademia dell’Ottava”, a project which aims to recover the Tuscan oral tradition. In 1997 he began a fruitful partnership with Dario Vergassola which saw them on stage together in: “I Cavalieri del Tornio – Recital per due”, directed by Pepi Morgia, “Todos Caballeros” and “Riondino accompanies Vergassola to meet Flaubert”.
