Comedy Night - Comedy Festival

A comedy festival by the sea

The Comedy Night - Comedy Festival is the summer event series that transforms the Porticciolo of Santa Marinella into an open-air theater dedicated to cabaret and stand-up comedy. For four consecutive nights in the heart of August, a large stage set up right on the water hosts some of the most beloved names in Italian comedy, in front of hundreds of spectators seated just a few steps from the moored boats. The formula is simple and successful: shows at 9:00 PM, a seaside atmosphere, and a mix of free-entry evenings and affordable ticketed performances.

The origins: the 2025 summer debut

The festival was born in the summer of 2025 as a brand-new addition to the event calendar promoted by the Municipality of Santa Marinella, at the initiative of the Department of Culture. The first edition, held from August 3 to 6, 2025, brought four stars of the national comedy scene to the Porticciolo: Gianluca Fubelli, a historical face of Colorado, with the show «Lo chiamavano Scintilla»; Roman comedian Marco Capretti; the improv duo Pablo e Pedro, known from Zelig; and, for the finale, Sabina Guzzanti with «Liberidì Liberidà». The public success convinced the administration to confirm the festival for the following summer.

The Porticciolo stage

The Porticciolo is one of the iconic landmarks of Santa Marinella: a small tourist harbor nestled in the bay, which becomes the heart of the town's evening life in summer. For Comedy Night, a large stage with hundreds of seats is set up, creating a unique backdrop between the lights of the boats and the breeze of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The same space hosts concerts, jazz festivals, and other municipal events throughout the summer.

The 2026 edition

Comedy Night has been officially included in the 2026 Summer calendar of Santa Marinella, presented at the Town Hall in mid-July. The festival will return in August with four evenings on the Porticciolo stage, as part of a summer program featuring over thirty events, including live music, cabaret, festivals, and cinema. The exact dates and the names of the comedians for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced; updates will follow with the publication of the official program.

Santa Marinella, the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian

Known as the «Pearl of the Tyrrhenian», Santa Marinella is one of the most popular seaside resorts on the Lazio coast, within the Metropolitan City of Rome. Less than an hour by train from the capital, it combines beaches, Art Nouveau villas, and the nearby Castle of Santa Severa. The comedy festival fits perfectly into this tourist vocation: an evening of laughter by the sea is the ideal complement to a vacation day on the coast north of Rome.