Arena Spartacus Festival

The festival in the amphitheater of Spartacus

Every summer, the Anfiteatro Campano in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, in the province of Caserta, comes alive with audiences. As the second-largest Roman amphitheater in Italy after the Colosseum and a site steeped in the memory of the gladiator Spartacus, it hosts the Arena Spartacus Festival: an open-air showcase of cinema, music, and theater that enlivens one of Campania's most significant archaeological sites throughout July.

Twelfth edition: "Myth, Sounds, and Visions"

The 2026 edition, scheduled from July 1st to 30th, marks the festival's twelfth year and upholds its core theme, "Myth, Sounds, and Visions." Over twenty evenings will unfold in the area set up in front of the amphitheater, following a well-established format: film screenings at 9:00 PM and concerts at 9:30 PM, with the venue opening at 8:00 PM to allow visitors to explore the monument and the Gladiator Museum before the show.

Cinema under the stars, with free admission

The backbone of the festival is its film program, always free of charge, structured into thematic cycles of three evenings each.

• Cinema for kids (early July): How the Toys Saved Christmas by Enzo D'Alò, Toy Story by John Lasseter, and Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki.
• Legend (July 8-10): Casablanca by Michael Curtiz, Sabrina by Billy Wilder, and An Affair to Remember by Leo McCarey.
• The history of Italy on the big screen (July 15-17), produced in collaboration with the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli."
• Tribute to Charlie Chaplin (July 21-23): Modern Times, City Lights with live musical accompaniment, and The Great Dictator.
• Myth (July 28-30): three films directed by Clint Eastwood: Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, and Mystic River.

The music section

The concert series kicks off on Tuesday, July 7th with the Yellowjackets, the Grammy Award-winning American ensemble and one of the most influential groups in contemporary jazz over the last fifty years. On July 13th, singer Denise King takes the stage, accompanied by the Elio Coppola Trio, with a repertoire spanning jazz, soul, rhythm and blues, and gospel. On July 22nd, the festival presents an evening bridging music and cinema: Chaplin's City Lights will be accompanied live by Leonardo Andersen on guitar, Andrea Russo on accordion, and Vincenzo Faraldo on double bass.

Cinema and civic engagement

A signature feature of the festival is the link between the screenings and the public discussions that follow. The cycle dedicated to Italian republican history, curated in partnership with the Law Department of the University of Campania, features La cura by Francesco Patierno, Il Divo by Paolo Sorrentino—serving as a springboard for a debate on the Tangentopoli scandal—and Il muro di gomma by Marco Risi, with the director in attendance to discuss the Ustica massacre. There will also be an evening dedicated to the memory of Giancarlo Siani, the journalist killed by the Camorra, a theme that was central to the previous edition.

An independent model

The Arena Spartacus Festival is produced without public funding, thanks to the patronage of the organic agricultural group Amico Bio and the support of the Regional Directorate of Campania Museums; production is managed by Bruno Zarzaca. The "Amico Bio Arena Spartacus" restaurant, active since 2013, operates within the archaeological area and is open before, during, and after the shows.

Why it's worth the trip

Few Italian festivals can boast a setting like the amphitheater of Santa Maria Capua Vetere: the brick arches, the underground chambers, the Gladiator Museum, and the nearby Mithraeum make this town in Caserta a premier cultural destination. Watching a film or a concert in such a context, on a summer evening in Campania, is an experience that blends archaeology and live performance like few others in the region. Furthermore, the fact that almost the entire film program is free makes the festival one of the most accessible and democratic events of the Caserta summer.