ERP Fest – Circus in the Courtyard

A contemporary circus festival in the courtyards of Centocelle

ERP Fest – Circus in the Courtyard is one of the most original cultural experiences to emerge in recent years in the eastern suburbs of Rome, in the Lazio region. The acronym ERP stands for Edilizia Residenziale Pubblica (Public Residential Housing): the festival was born from the idea of bringing performances where they usually don't reach—the open spaces and courtyards of the social housing complexes in Municipio V, between Centocelle and the Prenestino area. The stage is not a theatre hall, but Largo delle Terme Gordiane and the archaeological lawns of Villa Gordiani, with Roman ruins in the background and the neighborhood's apartment blocks all around.

Organizers

The festival is conceived and produced by the youth association MeltingPot, a Roman organization working on the intersection of performing arts and local communities, under the artistic direction of Leonardo Varriale. The artistic vision is clear: to provide a platform for under-35 artists and collectives from the world of street theatre and contemporary circus—a generation of emerging companies that rarely find programming opportunities in the suburbs. The project has grown step by step: the first edition in 2024 already attracted nearly two thousand attendees, a remarkable result for a grassroots event.

What to expect

The program alternates between performances and workshops over several consecutive days, usually in the late afternoon when the neighborhood comes to life. Artistically, it showcases the typical languages of the new circus:

• Clowning and physical comedy, with routines built on everyday objects and balance;
• Juggling and acrobatics, often accompanied by live music;
• Puppetry and storytelling, featuring contemporary reinterpretations of classic fairy tales;
• Variety and show-concerts, more festive formats designed for public squares.

Alongside the performances, a fundamental part of the offering consists of circus skills workshops, open to children, teenagers, and adults: juggling balls, Chinese plates, flowersticks, and stilts. These are moments where the audience stops watching and starts trying, and they have consistently sold out with waiting lists for every session in recent years.

A cultural and social project

ERP Fest is not just a performance festival: it is a cultural intervention in a specific part of the city. Bringing contemporary circus into a social housing courtyard means choosing an audience that often does not frequent city-center theatres and building a relationship of trust with them, edition after edition. The festival has always been designed to be free and intergenerational: grandparents, parents, and children watch the same shows, and more than once, the stage has opened up to delicate themes, such as gender-based violence, addressed through the poetic language of the circus.

Over the years, the project has received support from various institutions: the Per Chi Crea grant from the Ministry of Culture and SIAE for the early editions, the contribution of the Lazio Region for the most recent one, with the patronage of Municipio Roma V as a constant.

The setting: Villa Gordiani and Municipio V

Visitors coming from outside Rome will discover a corner of the city rarely visited by tourists but of great interest. Villa Gordiani is a public park that preserves the remains of a large Roman imperial villa along the Via Prenestina, with a mausoleum and thermal structures still visible; the Centocelle neighborhood, not far away, is one of the most vibrant in contemporary Rome for its street art, bars, and street life. Watching a circus show in front of a 3rd-century ruin, amidst social housing, is exactly the kind of contrast that ERP Fest seeks.

Who it is for

It is an ideal festival for families with children, for those who love street arts, and for those who want to see a different side of Rome beyond the postcards. The performances are largely non-verbal or have very little dialogue, making them perfectly accessible to international audiences. Participation is free, but online booking is almost always required for shows and workshops because space is limited.