Directed by Irene Dionisio (“Pawn Street,” “Shores”) and starring Tecla Insolia (“Familia,” “The Art of Joy”) and Romana Maggiora Vergano (“There’s Still Tomorrow,” “Portobello”), “Idda” is a portrait of two childhood friends who decide to climb Mount Etna, an active volcano on the Eastern Coast of Sicily.
Carefree Sofia and the more restrained Adele couldn’t be more different, but they share an unbreakable bond that is tested when confronted with bottled-up resentment, past secrets and the fear of change as they make their way up the treacherous volcano.
“Idda” was produced by Kino Produzioni, EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani, Andromeda Film and Wise Pictures. Rai Cinema International Distribution is handling international sales for the film.
Irene Dionisio. Photo credit: Paolo Properzi
What does Mount Etna represent in the film?
Irene Dionisio: In Sicilian dialect, “idda” means “she,” and it is also how people refer to Mount Etna: the she-volcano. I was drawn to the idea of Etna as a force capable of giving life and death simultaneously—something maternal, but also dangerous and unknowable.
The volcano also carries the idea of ancestral breath. Adele and Sofia have imagined since childhood that they would reach the crater together and listen to Etna breathe. That dream becomes a way of confronting everything they have left unspoken.
Why did you decide to tell this story for your sophomore feature?
Adele and Sofia are women in their thirties, and their lives reflect experiences that many people of their generation may recognize: postponing decisions, leaving home or returning to it, feeling divided between freedom and belonging, and wondering whether one has followed the life one once imagined.
Tecla Insolia and Romana Maggiora Vergano are said to be two of Italy’s most exciting rising actresses.
Tell me about the volcano images you used in the film.
Dionisio: Not all of the erupting-volcano images seen in the film were filmed during the 2026 eruption. I worked extensively on archival research, exploring approximately ten historical archives in Italy. Some of the materials we used come from the Home Movies archive in Bologna, together with other historical collections.
Can you tell me about Saint Agatha, the patron saint of Catania?
The connection between Saint Agatha and Etna is especially evocative because Catania lives in the presence of a volcano. Saint Agatha’s story, the procession, and the rituals surrounding her create a dialogue between faith, communal memory, protection, and the ever-present force of nature. I would be cautious, however, about reducing her meaning to a simple protective function. In the film, the festival is less an explanation of Etna than an atmosphere—a living expression of Catania and its relationship with danger, devotion, history, and renewal.
