Theater director Beppe Menegatti, husband of dance star Carla Fracci, who passed away in 2021, died in Rome at the age of 95. Menegatti had just been transferred to a hospice from the hospital where he was hospitalized and was near his 55-year-old son Francesco at the time of his death. Born in Florence, Menegatti had based his career on dance and theater. Carla Fracci, whom he married in 1964, was not only the woman of his life but also the muse who inspired his work as a director (he directed many productions for the star, from ‘Medea’ to ‘Turandot’).
He recently confessed that after his loss he had tried to “put back together the pieces that no longer belong together”: “The sublime woman who left me appears to me every now and then, she gives me a little consolation, but that smile that was my prerogative will never return”. A few months ago Menegatti had moved from Milan to Rome to follow his son Francesco and his grandchildren Giovanni and Ariele.
His career began as an assistant to Luchino Visconti and continued with the direction of plays and ballets. In the 1960s he began to focus almost exclusively on opera and dance, starting with the “Balletto del festival dei Due Mondi” in 1962. For his wife he created dramatic ballets (The Macbeths in 1969 and “Mourning Befits Elettra” in 1995) and drew on Opera (“Il vespro siciliano” in 1992). By consulting ancient texts he also recovered fragments of ballets that were thought to have disappeared. Between 1996 and 1997 Menegatti had assisted Carla Fracci in directing the Arena di Verona ballet company in 1996-97. In 2021 he had acted as a consultant for the biopic on Carla Fracci directed by Emanuele Imbucci.