We are conditioned to keep the ‘classic’ separate from history and to mummify the past. But this is our problem, not that of the American director. Indeed, there should be no contradiction – and there isn’t – between enjoying The Odyssey and the Valla Foundation’s six-volume critical edition of the poem

Whilst awaiting the new translation of the Odyssey by Emily Wilson, a thought: what if, in criticising Nolan, the scholar had actually grasped precisely that nuance of the character which she had previously missed?

 Ulysses, faced with the sight of his happy and forgetful companions on the island of the Lotophagi, reacts violently: he forcibly herds them onto the ship and compels them to resume their journey. “Let no one ever forget the past, their homeland and their native tongue!” “Reading this dazzling episode years ago filled me with such enthusiasm that I fell in love with Ulysses to the point of wanting to turn him into a musical work,” writes the composer

The summer film season has lived up to its finest traditions, from the days when people rarely went on holiday and only the wealthy had air conditioning at home. Things are looking worse from a production perspective, as the industry has so far capitalised on the summer for its longer daylight hours and mild climate

Guido’s “Odyssey ’85” was called “Nobody”. Calypso was a record producer, Penelope another Valentina. And Nolan’s version? “He would have liked it very much”

The former Five Star Movement prime minister is a disaster. However, he can boast some significant achievements, from locking down Italy at the right time to the smooth introduction of the Citizenship Income

In the first half of the year, sales of the poem in Italy saw an overall increase of 25 per cent, spread across 43 different editions. The reprints by Einaudi and Ippocampo, which, as reported in Il Foglio, state: “The film has brought back into the limelight one of the seminal works of our literary culture, all too often confined to the confines of the classroom.”

In 2004, ‘Odysseus’ was released, Guccini’s take on the Odyssey. Rather than recounting the return to Ithaca, the song tells the story of a ‘peasant’ Odysseus driven out to sea by a desire for knowledge. It is a reflection on the constant tension between the desire to set out and the desire to return, on nostalgia, on restlessness and on the impossibility of finding a permanent home. “From a lyrical point of view, one of the best songs I’ve ever written,” said Guccini