2024 Il Signore Degli Anelli (Massimo Popolizio)

The Lord of the Rings

Release Dates: 2024.05.07, 2025.03.29
Reader: Massimo Popolizio
Language: Italian
Translator: Ottavio Fatica
Organization: Giunti Editore S.p.A.
Copyright: © 2024, 2025 Bompiani
ISBN: 9791221705690, 9791221705706, 9791221705713
Duration: 64 hours 57 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: Italy
Licenced: Yes

Produced by Audible in collaboration with Bompiani and the Italian Tolkien Studies Association (Associazione Italiana Studi Tolkieniani), it marks the first time the trilogy has received a high-budget, professional unabridged recording using the new translation.

Popolizio is one of Italy’s prestigious stage and film actors (known internationally for his roles in Il Divo and The Great Beauty). He stated in interviews that he treats the reading as an “athletic performance.” He doesn’t aim for a neutral reading; instead, he creates “close-ups” and “wide shots” with his voice, attempting to build a visual film inside the listener’s mind. Having never read the books before this project, Popolizio approached the text with fresh eyes, discovering it not as a “children’s story” but as something “visceral and violent.” This translates into a reading that is dark and intense.

This production uses the Ottavio Fatica translation (published by Bompiani starting in 2019). For decades, the Italian version by Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca was the only one available. Fatica’s new translation was controversial because it “de-mythologized” some of the flowery language of the old version in favour of a more direct, philologically accurate, and gritty tone. Listeners accustomed to the old names will hear the new ones. For example, the Rangers are no longer Raminghi but Forestali, and many place names have been tightened to reflect Tolkien’s linguistic intent more closely.

Release History:

Vol 1 La Compagnia dell’Anello9791221705690May 7, 202422h 42m
Vol 2 Le Due Torri9791221705706March 29, 202519h 32m
Vol 3 Il Ritorno del Re9791221705713March 29, 202522h 42m

© 1967 / 1954 / 1966 The Trustees of The JRR Tolkien Settlement.

Published by arrangement with HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB .

Scientific advice for the translation: Associazione Italiana Studi Tolkieniani .

Scientific advice for the audio version: Giampaolo Canzonieri (P) 2024 Giunti Editore SpA / Bompiani