“Io quella volta lì avevo 25 anni” (“That Time I Was 25”) is the last prose text written by Giorgio Gaber and Sandro Luporini in the late 1990s. After a decade devoted entirely to Teatro Canzone, the authors intended to return to their earlier “Theater of Evocation,” which in the 1980s had made them leading figures in Italian dramaturgy with works such as Il caso di Alessandro e Maria, Parlami d’amore Mariù, and Il Grigio.
The protagonist of this monologue — always, in spirit, twenty-five years old — lives through and recalls events he personally experienced across different eras. What unfolds is a chaptered journey through recent history, stopping at the early 2000s: Bella Ciao (1940s), Garden Manila (1950s), Attento al tram (1960s), Il filosofo (1970s), L’amico (1980s), and Il creativo (1990s).
This final reflection — sadly their last — sees Gaber and Luporini using Italy’s recent past as a lens for their intelligent, lucid, illuminating, and ironic observations on the human condition, both individual and collective.
Following a series of staged readings performed by Claudio Bisio and directed by Giorgio Gallione at the Teatro Strehler in 2010, the work is now performed by Francesco Centorame, accompanied on piano by Laura Baldassarre. After its debut at the Piccolo Teatro Grassi in 2023, the production is now presented nationwide as a testament to the final dramaturgical effort of Giorgio Gaber and Sandro Luporini.

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