An Ancient Present – Classici in Scaena

When the classics come home

An Ancient Present – Classici in Scaena is the theatre festival that transforms the Libarna Archaeological Area in Serravalle Scrivia (Province of Alessandria, Piedmont) into an open-air stage every spring. Among the ruins of the ancient Roman city—the amphitheatre, the theatre, and the domus with their mosaics—the tragedies and comedies of the Greek and Latin world find their most natural setting: a space where the audience sits in close contact with the actors, and ancient voices still resonate among the stones.

A project born from the classroom

The festival is the result of the passion of volunteers from the Libarna Arteventi Association and the educational commitment of Liceo Amaldi in Novi Ligure, with the goal of making classical culture known and loved by a wide audience in an engaging and immersive way. The absolute protagonists are the student-actors from local high school drama workshops, who perform texts by Aristophanes, Euripides, Petronius, Ovid, and other great authors of antiquity every year.

The charm of the Roman amphitheatre

What makes this event special is its setting. The Libarna Archaeological Area preserves the remains of an important Roman center along the Via Postumia: visitors can admire the amphitheatre, the theatre, the layout of urban streets, and two residential districts with decorated domus, including the notable large mosaic depicting the myth of Lycurgus and Ambrosia. Performing the classics here means restoring the ancient words to their original context, in an emotional dialogue between archaeology and live performance.

A growing festival

Reaching its sixth edition in 2026, the festival has seen the number of participating institutions grow over the years, bringing together high schools from across lower Piedmont and Liguria. Admission to the performances is free, confirming the educational mission and the dedication to heritage preservation that drives the entire initiative, organized in collaboration with the Regional Museum Directorate of Piedmont, which has managed the site since 2022.