ROME — In a country where silence is rarely just silence, Luca Vullo has made a career out of what Italians say without opening their mouths. Actor, director, author, and cultural ambassador, Vullo has spent years cataloguing, performing, and teaching the gestural language that runs beneath Italian speech like a second grammar.

His one-man show La Voce del Corpo has toured theatres, universities, and Italian cultural institutes from San Francisco to Sydney, often with his mother Angela alongside him on stage.

He sat down with Italy Now to talk about the hands, the history, and why he believes Italian gestural language deserves a place on the UNESCO intangible heritage list.

In a country where silence is rarely just silence, Luca Vullo has made a career out of what Italians say without opening their mouths. Actor, director, author, and cultural ambassador, Vullo has spent years cataloguing, performing, and teaching the gestural language that runs beneath Italian speech like a second grammar. His one-man show La Voce del Corpo has toured theatres, universities, and Italian cultural institutes from San Francisco to Sydney, often with his mother Angela alongside him on stage. He sat down with Italy Now to talk about the hands, the history, and why he believes Italian gestural language deserves a place on the UNESCO intangible heritage list.