"... It was soon discovered that every light[house] had a story—not every light was a story, and the flashes themselves were the stories going out over the waves, as markers and guides and comfort and warning..."

(Janette Winterson, Lighthousekeeping)

Is there a place where the horizon is so far away and magical to appear next? A place where it is possible to admire the vast sea trying to remember an emotion? Where at the San Lorenzo night the shooting stars seem to pass before the desire gets lost in the waves of the sea?

Imponent, immovable, the lighthouse of Punta Imperatore is solitary as if it was suspended between land and sea to rule over the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its presence is discreet, but at the same time with its imposing size and its white light arms, it instills security, and not only to sailors.

In the past but also nowadays this is the most ancient lighthouse of the whole Mediterranean Sea. A piece of our island' story, rich in anecdotes that characterized the story of a Forian family on an island, wilder and more natural than now, where the new technology didn't exist and many fishermen ventured for days among the dangers on the open sea without the certainty of coming back home.

During the 1930's the local population was living in a pleasant place surrounded by lush and unspoiled greenery, a small natural paradise that charmed the first guests who soon would have discovered the green island completely. At that time, in the Bay of Citara, from a white small house a stream of light stand out the waves of the sea: it was the Punta Imperatore lighthouse.

Since its activation day in 1884, every five seconds, this continue and dazzling light of the lantern, from a height of 60 meters, helps the sailors when the route is lost.

Francesco De Falco was the lighthouse keeper, and in that small house he lived with his wife Lucia and his sons. Prior to this important assignment, Francesco was a docker who used to handle barrels at the port of Forio and on that stretch of beach occurred the first meeting with Lucia who was fascinated by that young man who sailed the open sea every day with jets of red wine on his face making him so funny and charming. During their marriage, they had seven children and after they

moved to Punta Imperatore. The life on the lighthouse was made of so much solitude, but surrounded by love of this large family and Francesco believed to be the happiest man in the world. There were real romantic suggestions with the small white building, an extraordinary vegetation grown on the sea, inaccessible beyond a gate, the most absolute isolation, interrupted only by the songs of seabirds, and in winter from the stormy sea.

Twice a week people went down to the village (it takes about two hours to get the center) to buy the necessities when the echoes of the bombing could be heard clearly from Punta Imperatore.

Hard years when Mamma Lucia always made sure her children had everything they needed thanks to the help of a husband who cared so sparingly that space as if it were his home. And it was because of too sparingly that on November 25, 1937 Francesco passed away as a consequence of a shock during the repair of a sudden failure of the lighthouse.

In 2008, Lucianna De Falco famous playwright actress, Lucia and Francesco's granddaughter, staged a thrilling show titled "Lucì: voci e volti dal faro", set in the lobby of the lighthouse in a magical July evening to commemorate this beautiful and sad story, nowadays turned into a play that has performed everyday scenes of life in Punta Imperatore with the protagonist Grandma Lucia Capuano, well-known as Lucì.

Below is the monologue that evokes the new of the Francesco's death:

"I did not know anything yet, because nothing they had told me ... a morning like any other, with the children to send to school, the ribbons to be tied to the collar of the aprons, ink stains to disappear at the last moment, with the fingers stained with saliva ... I did not know anything ... "There is no water in the bucket, it is necessary to go down ... and remember to tie the string to the door, because last night was windy and we have not slept a wink" ... nothing I know ... but out the door, on the stairs, there was a rumble: "So how does he do it?", "So how does he do it?"

Eh ... .. now how does she do it?! But the indomitable Lucì doesn't lose heart and with firmness and pride of the women of that time, asked the authorities to take charge of her husband. In an age where equal opportunities were unknown, a certain woman, Lucia Capuano, becomes the guardian of the lighthouse, the first woman lighthouse keeper.

Hard days but for Lucì it was almost a duty to make sure that the memory of Francesco lived forever every five seconds...

Since that moment, Lucì is a symbol, an anti-hero, a courageous woman that goes beyond convention, who imagines something unimaginable in '37, but perhaps even today, she is part of the island's identity. A human being denies his destiny in order to make his life not only alive and floating, considering the value of the respect that at that time was the prerogative of men alone.

Thanks to the granddaughter, Lucianna, and her beautiful spectacle staged in 2008, the memory of an entire country is still alive with dreams and fantasies of generations lived in the shadow of the lighthouse. There are memories of those who have worked over the years, where they have lived, the fishermen for whom the lighthouse has never ceased to be the reference point, memories, gathered in a series of invaluable interviews.

It had been nearly seventy years, and every night, every five seconds, the lighthouse is there that illuminates the nights of the Citara Bay, and even today that the white small house is uninhabited, it has always its magical charm and wild landscapes with endless viewpoints and absolute isolation, interrupted only by the songs of seabirds, and in winter by the stormy sea...

PS Special thanks to my dear friend Lucianna De Falco for her help in finding information and curiosities about the show in 2008, in the hope that it may get a sequel, because the historical memory is a present that never ends.