Farewell to Dario Fo

We are all very saddened to hear that the Nobel prize winning playwright and actor Dario Fo has died.

We have all lost a great protagonist of the theatre, of culture, of the civic life of Italy. LDS team feels much more involved since the incredible opportunity we had to personally meet him last May.

Dario Fo and Franca Rame – his wife, muse and leading actor – captured the hearts and minds of Italians, writing and performing for stage, radio and television, and regularly skewering political leaders with deft dialogue.

 

Art, he said, had to have a “very strong relation to the facts of life”, and this was also demonstrated by his interest to our work. Thank you Maestro, for the enthusiasm you had in supporting the research on DDX3 inhibitors both through economic support and by giving us the strength and the courage to carry on the project.  We will remember you with affection and admiration.

http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2016/10/13/news/addio_a_dario_fo_premio_nobel_per_la_letteratura_uomo_delle_arti_a_tutto_tondo-149664086/

Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo meets Maurizio Botta research group

Maurizio Botta, and researchers from University of Siena and LDS, were really honoured they had the chance to tell their story about DDX3 to the Italian Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.

The Italian recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature, Dario Fo, and his wife Franca Rame, privately contributed to support the DDX3-inhibitor project through the Rame-Fo Foundation. Soon after the publication of the important results achieved in the project, and published in PNAS publication, Dario Fo expressed his enthusiasm about it in his web page:

http://www.dariofo.it/content/comunicato-stampa-lettera-di-dario-fo-su-scoperta-delluniversit%C3%A0-di-siena-e-del-cnr

Unfortunately, Franca Rame passed away before learning the results of her efforts but the researchers working on DDX3 are all incredibly grateful for her support and for believing in this pioneering project.

On 6th May, Dario Fo invited the researchers working in the DDX3 Project for a meeting at the “Libera Università di Alcatraz” founded by his son Jacopo Fo and they spent a wonderful day they’ll never forget with him. Here is a video about the interview.

 

All the DDX3 researchers would like to express a huge thank you to Dario Fo and to his group for all the effort and the great support to this work, which LDS is also actively contributing to. This is a really precious endorsement for all of them.