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The history
The cinema was founded in
1953 by the will of Alessandro Albano, at the time the owner
of a small bookstore downtown - who decided to build an
outdoor cinema in the area located between the three local
streets named Via Abruzzo, Via Toscana and Via Emilia, a
land of his property. The project originally expected to be
a cinema with more than six hundred seats, and his project
engineer was Nicola Capriulo. In 1958 a first design is
approved for the Arena Albano, at the time with half
of the planned seats.In the same year Alessandro decides to
cover the arena with a ceiling to get a new indoor cinema,
but unsuccessfully...
The
arena keeps therefore opened up to 1965 when he dies and the
company is taken over by his sons Domenico and Oscar. It was
this last who joined a partnership with Cataldo Pulpo in
1970 and the two appointed a new project engineer -
Francesco Lorusso - to design a new cover for the cinema,
with an expected wider capacity of more than five hundred
seats and without any gallery.
In 1973 the new cinema called Ariston
is completed under the management of Cataldo Pulpo and in
1979 he becomes the final owner.
At the time of the Pulpo's the cinema is of a
first viewing .....and throughout the time up to the year
2004 when Cataldo's two sons Gianni and Enzo become the
present owner keeping the same company mission.
(Source:
Valentina Ieva, Francesco Maggiore "Territori
del cinema: Stanze, luoghi, paesaggi. Un sistema per la Puglia" Ed.
Gangemi, 2013)
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Bud Spencer
was guest at the Ariston during the show "They kept calling
him Trinity" |
In 1985 Cataldo Pulpo opened the Cinema again
after a closing time
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"The Last
Chance" was the first movie under the Pulpo's
management in 1973 |
Cataldo Pulpo
From the
article "A
piece of our tradition is gone with him"
Special, special and special. If you
repeat this word more and more times you wouldn’t get any real dimension
of this man, Cataldo Pulpo.
We have once more realized his special
character and originality yesterday afternoon, when sides of a crowd
from all over the town – the local organizations or the people living
downtown, and his beloved brothers - have given him the last greeting.
The ceremony for the funeral of this genial manager among a river of
people come to the church of San Domenico has been the last grateful
homage to this good and benevolent man. «What a lot of people you
helped! » you can hear people whispering tightly among the seats of the
church dedicated to Saint Domenico - the mother place of the Holy Week
ceremonies during Easter time – which suddenly seems too narrow and
small to host this river of crowd and friends……. «You are good and help,
then forget about that!» – was his motto, little pills of humanity in a
world that seems to forget the word peace… One order for himself
and his beloved family – his wife Lena, his son Enzo and his daughter
Lalla, the daughter-in-law Carmela, the son-in-law Gianni and his
grandchildren : a very close family.
He has been a life-model, getting what he spread out: love.
Dino Pulpo was born in Taranto in 1931, in the old town, in a famous
little square called Castello,
the
reason why maybe he called Al
Castellino his first little restaurant, founded in 1959.
Who did not eat a pizza there …… Who
among us has not been hosted there ? or felt beloved as at home, even
for only an evening or an hour ? Dino was an intelligent man and an
enlightened manager; after the success of the restaurant he found
different movie theaters, the Ariston, the Daniela – and
the Satyrion club, one of the nicest along the seaside out.
«Such
a good man – people whispered during the ceremony – would never die, to
continue being ax example to everybody». Up to the tears on the
faces and the notes of the funeral march of the local Easter tradition
……the last “nazzicata” (the name of the typical stride during
procession) for Dino …
Photo:
Cataldo Pulpo’s name is
forever tied to his beloved Holy Week and local Easter
traditions.
The building
The structure is very simply inside: at the
entrance there is the central hall, with a bar on the right
and the ticket office on the left, and two side doors to the
main room.
In 1990's the building has been restored,
with a larger capacity up to four hundred seats, a wider
stage and different fitting rooms. This theatre host
sometimes several amateur companies.
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