The liturgical requiem “Dies Irae” by Tommaso da Celano (circa 1200CE) has been revised over the centuries through oral tradition and has become what we know today as “Dia Silla”. Secular women used to recite this text, for a fee, in cemeteries during the period of commemoration of the dead in November. The dialect prayer, like its original equivalent in Latin, refers to the Day of Judgment and is an omen of upcoming doom.

The documentary “Dia Silla - The Day of Anger” is a collection of interviews with survivors and images from the land of the earthquakes of 2016 and 2017 in Central Italy. Of particular importance is the 18th of January 2017, when a heavy snowstorm, several earthquakes and the consequential interruption of communication networks and transportation routes left a powerful mark on local residents. These events occurred in an area particularly ill-suited to deal with them. Acquasanta Terme is a large area, sparsely populated, with a predominantly elderly population.