As his name and surname might suggest, Davide was born in Italy. At a young age, he moved to Malta with his parents, and has made the island his base ever since, while jetting off at regular intervals for work and leisure purposes.
In 'Faith, Hope u Charity', which is part of this year's Malta Arts Festival, Davide plays Francesco Cavalli - an Italian pilot who, like many other Italian pilots during World War II - has a mission to defend the Italian and German bombers attacking Malta, which at the time was a very important British naval base.
At the beginning of the play, we see him right after he is shot down and wounded by British pilot William Timber Woods. He miraculously survives the plane crash.
"The biggest challenge of playing my character is trying to communicate to the audience the fear encountered by people during the war," he says, "I had many stories recounted to me from my grandparents in Italy... poverty and hunger were rife; a war was forced on the people of this newly formed nation. For a good part of Italians, Benito Mussolini's delusions of being the saviour of the Italian nation were unwelcome. War propaganda made it impossible to know what was really happening, and many were oblivious of reality."
Now, the character he plays, Francesco, finds himself in enemy territory - shot down, injured and desperately trying not to lose dignity, faith, or his life.
The cast of 'Faith, Hope u Charity' includes number of theatre veterans, including Karmen Azzopardi, Carlos Farrugia, Sarah Camilleri, Monica Attard and John Suda. The play, which is directed by Josette Ciappara, will be taking place at Fort St Elmo in Valletta.
"I absolutely love the location," smiles Davide, "It's very different from working in the national theatre or any other theatre... because it's not a theatre! Open air theatre is the way to go for Maltese summers. Since watching 'Il-Kappillan Ta Malta' last year I have fallen in love with the place and dreamed of being given the opportunity to perform here. Attending the Valletta Film Festival earlier this year only made my wish stronger!"
Apart from the location, Davide is also passionate about the theme of the play:
"I love history, particularly WW2, so being able to play a pilot from that era is just fantastic. The pilot is also Italian, so I can relate to him. There's a love story (or more than one), fighting, some flying, gliding, dancing, singing, fun moments and explosions. It's an original Maltese play written by the great Immanuel Mifsud with Dominic Galea's music, a fantastic team is behind it and there's plenty of action... there's a lot to make everyone happy!"
Davide has just closed off the television series 'Katrina' after a very good run of two years as Clyde Montaldo; this coming season will see him "in different clothes". Plus he had a small role on Michael Bay's movie "13 Hours" which he hopes will make the final cut.
He has had quite an intense year so far with lots of travelling between Malta, London and Rome for various projects. "But that's how the industry goes," he says knowingly, "Now it looks like work will be keeping me in Malta for a while. There is a project for local TV which I will be involved with but at this stage it's too early for me to say anything about it. I'm also patiently waiting to watch local film "Limestone Cowboy", which should be released sometime next year. And another theatre show planned for the beginning of next year."
In the meantime, you can catch Davide in 'Faith, Hope u Charity' at Fort St Elmo on the 22, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31 of July and 1, 2 of August, at 9.00pm. Tickets are available from: www.teatrumanoel.com.mt.
