Bombetta d'Oro - National Comedy Theatre Festival
The festival of laughter at the Teatro Mercadante in Altamura
About Bombetta d'Oro
A festival dedicated to live comedy
The Bombetta d'Oro is one of Italy's longest-running festivals entirely dedicated to comedy theatre. Founded in 2003 in Altamura, a city in the Province of Bari in the heart of the Apulian Alta Murgia, the event has grown into a national benchmark for quality comedy, cabaret, and humor. Every season, from October to April, the Teatro Mercadante hosts seven competing shows, brought to the stage by companies and artists from across Italy.
The challenge of laughter
The heart of the festival is its competitive nature: at the end of the season, the best production receives the festival's iconic award, the Bombetta d'Oro. The winner is decided by the audience itself, together with a jury, in a ritual that turns every evening into a moment of celebration and participation. Alongside the competing shows, each edition is enhanced by a guest of honour—a well-known face from the Italian comedy and television scene—who brings a highly anticipated non-competitive performance to Altamura.
Artistic direction and organization
The festival is conceived and directed by Silvano Picerno with the local Altamura company La Banda degli Onesti, a historic fixture of the city's theatre scene. The Bombetta d'Oro is part of the broader theatrical and musical season of the Teatro Mercadante, which offers various programmes dedicated to prose, music, and live performance every year.
Altamura and the Teatro Mercadante
The festival takes place in the Municipality of Altamura, famous throughout Italy for its PDO bread, its Frederickian Cathedral, and the paleontological findings of the Altamura Man. The Teatro Mercadante, the city's cultural heart, offers an intimate and welcoming setting that enhances the direct relationship between actors and spectators, typical of the best theatrical comedy. For audiences in Apulia and the Bari hinterland, the Bombetta d'Oro represents an opportunity every winter to rediscover the joy of laughing together live.
Why attend
- Seven comedy shows in competition from October to April
- A guest of honour outside the competition every season
- The Bombetta d'Oro award decided by audience vote
- A national programme in the heart of the Alta Murgia
- The historic setting of the Teatro Mercadante in Altamura
Bombetta d'Oro — edition 2026
The 22nd edition of the National Comedy Theatre Festival Bombetta d'Oro was held as part of the "Imagine, we can!" theatrical and musical season at the Teatro Mercadante in Altamura, from October 2025 to April 2026. Under the artistic direction of Silvano Picerno, the festival featured seven comedy shows in competition, with actor Sergio Assisi as the season's guest of honour.
The festival was part of a larger programme of 23 shows organized into five series, covering prose, comedy, music, and concert seasons. As per tradition, the Bombetta d'Oro award was presented to the show most appreciated by the audience and the festival jury.
Programme Bombetta d'Oro 2026
Highlights Bombetta d'Oro 2026
Prices Bombetta d'Oro 2026
Practical information — Bombetta d'Oro
Location
Teatro Mercadante, Via Teatro Mercadante 37, 70022 Altamura (BA), Apulia.
How to get there
By car: Altamura can be reached via the SS96 Bari-Altamura road and the SS99 from Matera. By train: the Altamura station is served by the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane on the Bari-Matera line. Nearest airport: Bari-Palese (Karol Wojtyla), approximately 60 km away.
Tickets
Tickets and season passes are on sale at the Teatro Mercadante box office at Via dei Mille 159 in Altamura. For information, call 080 3101222 or email [email protected].
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Where does it take place — Bombetta d'Oro
Teatro Mercadante
Via Teatro Mercadante 37, 70022 Altamura