Following an extensive and complex restoration project, launched in March 2023, the curtain has officially risen on the new Teatro Valle, the historic eighteenth-century theatre and one of the most significant venues in the history of Italian theatre.
Overseen by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali (Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage) and carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the works involved a total investment of more than €11 million. Professionals, technicians, conservators and skilled craftspeople were involved at every stage of the restoration, with the aim of returning a site of exceptional historical, artistic and cultural value to the public.
The works covered the entire monumental complex, from the auditorium and theatre boxes to the technical areas and underground spaces. Among the most striking discoveries was the “Danza delle ore” (Dance of the Hours), a nineteenth-century decorative feature uncovered beneath more recent layers of paint, depicting monochrome putti against a background of pure gold. Historic decorative features, the ceiling canvas and numerous artistic details have also been restored, bringing back some of the theatre’s former splendour.
The restoration has also preserved a more recent historical testimony: anti-discrimination messages left on the staircases during the 2011 occupation by actors and performing arts workers. These traces of civic memory highlight the Valle’s role as a space for participation and debate, as well as a venue for artistic production.
Alongside the preservation of its historic character, the theatre has been upgraded with new furnishings, dressing rooms, lifts and accessible routes. Its technical installations and safety systems have also been modernised, including water-mist fire suppression technology. New stage equipment for lighting, sound and video will enable the theatre to host contemporary productions, bringing tradition and innovation together.
Under the management of the Fondazione Teatro di Roma, the Valle is becoming the Casa della Drammaturgia Contemporanea (Home of Contemporary Playwriting), a space dedicated to writing, theatre production and dialogue between the dramatic works of the second half of the twentieth century and emerging voices on today’s stage.
The new season opened with Francesco Piccolo and La sera della prima. Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore al Teatro Valle (Opening Night: Six Characters in Search of an Author at the Teatro Valle), a production that revisits the tumultuous evening of 1921 when Luigi Pirandello’s play premiered on this very stage.
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