A Porte Aperte (theater, music, and dance festival)
Six months of theater, music, and dance at the Orsini-Naro Castle in Mompeo
About A Porte Aperte
A six-month cultural season in a Sabina village
A Porte Aperte is the theater, music, and dance festival that every year, from January to June, brings Mompeo to life—a small town in the Province of Rieti, in the heart of the Sabina region of Lazio. The initiative is promoted by the Municipality of Mompeo with the support of the Lazio Region and is under the artistic direction of Renato Giordano, a director and playwright who has shaped its identity since the very first edition.
The title perfectly captures the spirit of the project: opening the doors of places that have remained closed to the public for centuries. Performances are held in the interior spaces of the Orsini-Naro Castle, particularly in the Sala Fabrizio Naro, and in the San Carlo Auditorium—two historic venues that transform into concert halls and stages for six months.
A deliberately multidisciplinary program
The festival does not specialize in a single genre: the choice is to alternate different languages so that each event offers something new. During a typical season, you will find:
- World music concerts and Mediterranean music, with ensembles exploring the cross-pollination between East and West;
- Theatrical performances of prose and Roman tradition, often written by Renato Giordano himself;
- Short play evenings—the now-signature format of Schegge d'Autore—created in collaboration with the National Union of Playwrights (SNAD) and the Italian Dramaturgy Festival;
- Dance and movement performances, mime, and contemporary clowning;
- Chamber music and classical repertoire, performed by chamber ensembles.
Schegge d'Autore: the audience votes
Among the most anticipated events is the evening dedicated to short plays: four brief pieces, each lasting a maximum of twenty minutes, staged one after the other. At the end, the audience votes for their favorite, a participatory mechanism that has made this event one of the most popular in the entire festival. It is a formula that allows for the discovery of contemporary Italian dramaturgy in an intimate and direct setting.
Mompeo and the historic residences of Lazio
Mompeo has only a few hundred inhabitants and overlooks the hills of Sabina, a short distance from Rieti and less than an hour from Rome. The Orsini-Naro Castle dominates the town: built on a medieval foundation and transformed into a noble residence between the 16th and 17th centuries, it preserves frescoed rooms that now host the performances. The festival is part of a broader regional project to promote the historic residences of Lazio, which aims to restore a living function to palaces and castles that would otherwise be destined only for sightseeing.
A free, local initiative
All events have free admission until all available seats are filled. This is a deliberate choice: to make A Porte Aperte a cultural service for an area that, due to its size and location, would struggle to maintain a stable program. The result is a diverse audience, consisting of residents from nearby villages and visitors coming up from Rome or Rieti for the day, often combining the show with a walk through the historic center or a gastronomic stop in Sabina.
The times change with the season: in the winter months, performances start in the late afternoon, shifting later as the days grow longer, until the final evening in June, which traditionally coincides with the Festa della Musica (Music Day).
A Porte Aperte — edition 2026
The fourth edition
2026 marked the 4th edition of A Porte Aperte, confirming the well-established formula: six months of programming, bi-weekly frequency, free admission, and constant alternation between music, theater, and dance in the spaces of the Orsini-Naro Castle and the San Carlo Auditorium in Mompeo.
The edition opened on January 31 with the Pejman Tadayon Ensemble and closed on June 21, the day of the Festa della Musica, with a 19th-century chamber music concert. In between, a journey that traversed the Mediterranean, cinema, contemporary dramaturgy, and physical theater.
Schedule
From January 31 to March 14, performances began at 5:00 PM; from March 28 to June 21, the time shifted to 6:00 PM, with the exception of the final concert, scheduled for 9:00 PM.
Institutional support
The festival is organized by the Municipality of Mompeo with the support of the Lazio Region, as part of the regional historic residence enhancement project, and under the artistic direction of Renato Giordano.
Programme A Porte Aperte 2026
The 2026 program (4th edition)
- Saturday, January 31, 5:00 PM — Sufi Music and Poetry, Pejman Tadayon Ensemble: a sonic journey along the Silk Road through India, Persia, Mesopotamia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, inspired by Rumi, Hafez, and Omar Khayyam. With Pejman Tadayon (oud, vocals, saz, ney), Barbara Eramo (vocals, ukulele, guitar), and Simone Pulvano (dumbek, darabouka, riq, daf).
- Saturday, February 28, 5:00 PM — Mediterranima – The Song of Sabir, San Carlo Auditorium. Stefano Saletti and Banda Ikona: original songs in Sabir, the ancient lingua franca of Mediterranean ports. With Stefano Saletti (vocals, bouzouki, oud, saz, chitarra battente), Gabriella Aiello (vocals), and Mario Rivera (acoustic bass and double bass).
- Saturday, March 28, 5:30 PM — The Art of Wonder, Sala Fabrizio Naro of Orsini-Naro Castle. Interactive show by French mime and clown Emmanuel Gallot-Lavallée, trained at the Jacques Lecoq school: a poetic journey drawing from Pierrot, Shakespeare, and Tibetan fables.
- Saturday, May 2, 6:00 PM — Lights, Camera, Music!, San Carlo Auditorium. Alessandro Gwis (piano and electronics), Pierpaolo Ranieri (bass and live electronics), and Marco Rovinelli (drums) reinterpret famous soundtracks, from La Dolce Vita to Blade Runner, from Spartacus to Cinema Paradiso, and Disney classics, interspersing music with anecdotes and historical references.
- Sunday, May 17, 6:00 PM — Schegge d'Autore: short plays on stage, San Carlo Auditorium, in collaboration with the National Union of Playwrights (SNAD) and the Italian Dramaturgy Festival. Four short plays of up to twenty minutes: Quella mattina di settembre by Salvatore Scirè, Francesco Giuseppe by Massimiliano Perrotta, Mi dovrete uccidere by Marco Sani, and La colpa by Raffaele Aufiero. At the end, the audience voted for their favorite.
- Sunday, June 21, 9:00 PM — Light Classical, Sala Fabrizio Naro. Final concert dedicated to the chamber music of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti, as part of the 2026 Festa della Musica celebrations. Ensemble Crescendo: Roberto Baldinelli and Caterina Bono (violins), Paola Emanuele (viola), Adriano Ancarani (cello), Carla Tutino (double bass).
Highlights A Porte Aperte 2026
- Sufi music and poetry by the Pejman Tadayon Ensemble: the inaugural concert on January 31, featuring some of the most authoritative voices in Persian and Sufi music in Italy.
- Stefano Saletti and Banda Ikona with The Song of Sabir, sung in the lingua franca of Mediterranean ports.
- Schegge d'Autore: four contemporary short plays and the final audience vote, the most participatory event of the festival.
- Lights, Camera, Music!: Alessandro Gwis's trio performing music from La Dolce Vita to Blade Runner.
- Light Classical: the June 21 closing with Rossini and Donizetti in the castle's Sala Fabrizio Naro, for the Festa della Musica.
Prices A Porte Aperte 2026
Practical information — A Porte Aperte
How to get there
Mompeo can be reached by car from Rome in about an hour: take the A1 to Fiano Romano, then the SS4 Salaria and the provincial roads of Sabina. From Rieti, it is about 40 minutes. By train, the reference station is Poggio Mirteto (FL1 Rome-Orte line), from which you must continue by car or Cotral bus.
Performance venues
Orsini-Naro Castle, Sala Fabrizio Naro, and San Carlo Auditorium, both in the historic center of Mompeo. The village is small and easily explored on foot.
Admission and reservations
Free admission to all events, subject to availability. Given the limited capacity of the rooms, it is advisable to arrive well before the start time.
Information
Municipality of Mompeo (Province of Rieti). The updated calendar is released by the local Rieti press and the official channels of the Municipality.
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Where does it take place — A Porte Aperte
Castello Orsini-Naro (Sala Fabrizio Naro) e Auditorium San Carlo