Menotti Lerro

The Empathic Movement / Empathism (Italian: La Scuola Empatica / Empatismo) is a literary, artistic, philosophical and cultural movement born in Italy in 2020 within the ‘New Cultural Triangle of Ancient Cilento’: (Omignano – "The Aphorisms Village", Salento – "The Poetry Village", Vallo della Lucania – "Seat of Contemporary Arts Centre"). Starting with the values and ideas expressed in the New Manifesto of Arts written by Menotti Lerro and Antonello Pelliccia in 2018, this manifesto places empathy, the need to feel close, at the centre of the self, in contrast to previous views as isolated artists. It follows that any creative or didactic experimentation cannot be separated from a process of identification with other's life stories. This horizon of meaning implies a civil promotion of the artistic society pouring from individual and community growth according to ethical purposes mediated by an aesthetic dimension: namely, that of art.

One of his dramas has been the subject of a degree dissertation by Sara Cudia from the University of Palermo. The same work became later the basis for a critical volume about the innovative figure of a female and bisexual Don Giovanni written by Lerro in 2015, first performed on 25 November 2017 at the Biblioteca Marucelliana. Donna Giovanna has been quickly perceived by critics as a brilliant character able to replace the outdated famous historical version that was, in fact, losing reasons to exist, due to profound changes occurring in our contemporary society's views of libertinism and seduction. The new figure became popular after some fascinating representations. Furthermore, distinguished artists have dedicated an opera at the new female libertine. In 2008 Mondadori’s important literary magazine Nuovi Argomenti selected Lerro as one of the poets to represent the new generation of poets born in the 1980s.

Lerro developed the Cilento Poetry Prize (Italian: Premio Cilento Poesia), an Italian literary prize founded in 2017 and awarded annually in Salento Cilento – "The Poetry Village". Some of the prize awardees include: 2017 – Davide Rondoni; 2018 – Milo de Angelis; 2019 – Franco Loi and Roberto Carifi (special winter edition at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera); 2019 – Giampiero Neri and Vivian Lamarque; 2020 – Elio Pecora; 2021 – Dacia Maraini; 2022 - Valerio Magrelli and Tiziano Rossi. Prizes for criticism have been awarded to: 2018 – Francesco D'Episcopo; 2019 – Umberto Curi; 2020 – Remo Bodei

Lerro has produced theater works such as: Donna Giovanna (Zona: 2015) – Preface by Francesco D'Episcopo and Augusto Orrel EAN 9788864385709, Il Dottor Faust (Zona: 2018) – Preface by Maria Rita Parsi ISBN 978-8864387543 and others.

He produced the music CD I Battiti della Notte (Lerro-Krezymon) (Zona: 2015) ISBN 978-8864385952. In 2015 three concerts have been performed in Poland: krakow, Warsaw and Gdańsk, organized by Italian Institute of Culture. In 2017 two concerts have been performed in Italy: Ascea and Salento. In 2019 the concert was given in Vallo della Lucania.

Lerro has written several books of poetry and prose. Several of his works have been translated into other languages such as Poeme Alese translated by Simona Samulescu (Genesi: 2013). A project coordinated by Lidia Vianu from the University of Bucharest. .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}ISBN 978-8874143764

According to Andrew Mangham "Menotti Lerro is one of the most interesting poets in modern-day Europe". In 2009, Mangham wrote that Lerro "was described by one of Italy’s most influential critics, Giorgio Bàrberi Squarotti, as a writer of no insignificant importance: [Lerro’s] new collection in verse, so dense and vigorous in the essential lucidity of images, memories, adventures of the senses and of the thought. His poetry has become rich, vital, always persuasive and forceful, often brilliant." Lerro earliest published poetry received widespread attention from literary critics, and many reviews were collected in a volume edited by Maria Rosaria La Marca. In addition Francesco D'Espiscopo from University of Naples Federico II has dedicated to Lerro two monographs: the first one about his poetry and a second volume about his novels and dramas.

Enrolled in the register of journalists since 2005, in 2022 he started writing opinion pieces for the Italian newspaper Affari Italiani.

Lerro studied English and Spanish languages and literatures at University of Salerno, starting in 2000, and received his degree in 2004. During this time he spent seven months in Oxford as an exchange student. In 2006, after working one year in Milan for Mondadori publishing house, he received a scholarship from the University of Salerno to study abroad and began his masters' degree in “The Body and Representation” at the University of Reading under the supervision of Carolyn Williams Lyle. He later received the expert status of “Cultore della Materia” at the University of Salerno and in 2010 became visiting scholar at the University of Reading, where he undertook postgraduate teaching. Later, after completing his PhD in English and Spanish literature at the University of Salerno, he became a visiting scholar at the University of Warwick (2014) and at the University of Edinburgh (2020). He taught English Culture and Civilization and English Literature at Ciels University of Milan for four years (2014–2018) before moving to Padua to teach the same subjects. In addition, he collaborated and taught lessons at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera and IULM University.

Menotti Augusto Serse Lerro (22 February 1980) is an Italian poet, writer, playwright, librettist and academic, born in Omignano, Salerno. His work explores matters of social alienation and existentialism, the physicality and vulnerability of the body, the interpretation of memories, the meaning of objects and the philosophical importance of human identity. In 2015 he published Donna Giovanna, l'ingannatrice di Salerno, an innovative feminine and bisexual version of the mythical figure of Don Juan, El Burlador de Sevilla, while in 2018 he wrote Il Dottor Faust, an original version of the character of Faust. In addition he is the author of a New Manifesto of Arts and the founder of the Empathic movement (Empathism) that arose in the South of Italy at the beginning of 2020.