Departures of note

Gianfranco Pedullà was an Italian theater director and a leading figure in Tuscan theater. He founded the Mascarà Teatro company, which later became the Teatro Popolare d'Arte, and served as its historic director, building a career devoted to bringing theater to the community and to civil society.

From 2010 he directed the Teatro delle Arti di Lastra e Signa, and he was deeply engaged in social theater and theater in prison, notably through the project Il teatro del Mare at the Gorgona prison. He was also active as a writer and intellectual, and contributed to theater scholarship, including editorial work on the legacy of Edward Gordon Craig.

Pedullà died in 2026 at the age of 69, following the consequences of a serious road accident he had suffered in July 2025. He was remembered by colleagues and by the president of the Tuscany region as a reference point for all Tuscan theaters and a grave loss for Tuscan culture.