Actor, playwright and theatre director

Nini (Francesco) Sappia, actor, playwright and theatre director, was born in Sanremo on 23 February 1923.
A native of Sanremo, "U Maìstru" (the Master) is the key figure of the dialectal theatre that embraces the traditional and cultural heritage of our city. He was an actor, director, translator, set designer, but also a stage technician, electrician and factotum.

His passion had caught up with him when he was very young and he had made his debut, in minor roles, at the Principe Amedeo. After the war, he put his passion for drums aside for a while and devoted himself entirely to dialect theatre at the Federazione Operaia where, together with Nicoletta Semeria and all the other important Sanremo actors, he interpreted and brought to life the characters of our comedy, above all "Mastr' Antò u Basté".

In 1970 he fulfilled his dream of bringing the Compagnia Stabile from Via Corradi to the Ariston for the patronal feast of San Romolo, achieving great success. Since then and for another twenty-four years, that is until his death on March 3, 1994 in Sanremo, he tirelessly devoted himself to leading and developing the Company, which still represents a feather in the cap for our City.

Ninetto Silvano said of him: « Nini was a real old-fashioned leader of the theatre: he was a driving force on stage, a catalyst for the performances of others, generous with his companions and with the public. ... Nini was committed and culturally motivated, but he was also the last to leave and only after making sure that all the lights were turned off...».

(source Marco Mauro)