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Un viaje de ida y vuelta al otro mundo. El Cabaret del Diavolo de Gino Gori y Fortunato Depero en Roma (1922-1925)

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The Roman cabarets linked to Futurism were meeting places where the programme of the manifesto Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo was applied. Following the experiences of Bragaglia and Marchi at the Circolo delle Cronache d’Attualità and the setting by Giacomo Balla at the Bal Tic Tac, the entrepreneur and poet Gino Gori commissioned Fortunato Depero to decorate the Cabaret del Diavolo. Based on Dante’s Commedia, Depero would create an integral design of three spaces that configured an allegorical inverted reading of the Florentine poet’s journey to the afterworld. Its originality and careful advertising made the cabaret one of the representative spaces of the Roman nightlife which, despite its success, ended up closing in 1925 with the loss of most of its furnishings and decoration. This article reconstructs the Cabaret del Diavolo project based on the surviving set pieces and their graphic testimonies: photographs, sketches, press releases and archive material, vindicating its importance in Fortunato Depero’s career and in the Futurist programmes on theatre, decoration, and scenography.