Teatro Valle Reopens in Rome After 15 Years and €11.2 Million Restoration
After undergoing a restoration that commenced in March 2023 and cost over €11.2 million, Rome's Teatro Valle has reopened. The project, overseen by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali and the Ministero della Cultura, was unveiled by Mayor Roberto Gualtieri alongside superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce. Among the discoveries were 19th-century decorations on the proscenium arch, and various surfaces were restored, including Silvio Galimberti’s ceiling painting. Additionally, new fire suppression and electrical systems, along with improved accessibility features, were implemented. Slogans from a 2011 occupation remain intact. The venue will be managed by the Fondazione Teatro di Roma, with its first production being "La sera della prima" by Francesco Piccolo. The theatre originally opened in 1727.
Key facts
- Restoration cost exceeded €11.2 million and began in March 2023
- The theatre had been closed for 15 years
- A 19th-century "Danza delle Ore" decoration with gilded putti was found under a 20th-century layer on the proscenium arch
- Silvio Galimberti painted the ceiling canvas in 1936; the Bohemian lamps date to the same year
- Giuseppe Valadier designed the early-19th-century expansion, with decorations by Felice Giani
- Up to eighty workers were employed daily during peak phases
- Slogans from the 2011 occupation remain on the stairways
- Pirandello's "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore" premiered at the Valle on 9 May 1921
- The theatre opened in 1727 and passed to the Ente Teatrale Italiano in 1969
- The venue will become the Casa della Drammaturgia Contemporanea under the Fondazione Teatro di Roma
Entities
Artists
- Roberto Gualtieri
- Claudio Parisi Presicce
- Giuseppe Valadier
- Felice Giani
- Silvio Galimberti
- Domenico Cimarosa
- Gioachino Rossini
- Gaetano Donizetti
- Adelaide Ristori
- Eleonora Duse
- Eduardo Scarpetta
- Luigi Pirandello
- Francesco Piccolo
- Vittorio Gassman
- Luca Ronconi
- Luigi Squarzina
- Vito Pandolfi
- Luchino Visconti
- Anton Čechov
- Mimmo Paladino
- Tommaso Morelli
- Domenico Valle
- Camillo Capranica
Institutions
- Teatro Valle
- Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali
- Ministero della Cultura
- Fondazione Teatro di Roma
- Associazione Fondazione Teatro Valle Bene Comune
- Compagnia dei Giovani
- Teatro Stabile della Città di Roma
- Ente Teatrale Italiano
- Arte Magazine
- Teatro Argentina
- Teatro di Roma
- ANSA
- Commissione Cultura
- Movimento 5 Stelle
- ETI (Ente teatrale italiano)
- Artribune
Locations
- Rome
- Italy
- Europe
- Paduli
- Benevento
- Rione Sant'Eustachio
- Palazzo Capranica