Sipario d'Autore

A theatre festival at the foot of the Itri castle

In Itri, a village in the province of Latina overlooking the valley that connects the Ulysses Riviera to the Aurunci hinterland, summer brings a tradition: Sipario d'Autore, an art and performance festival hosted in the Brigandage Museum Arena, on Corso Appio Claudio. The evenings take place outdoors, in an intimate space filled with families, curious visitors, and theatre enthusiasts, with the silhouette of the medieval castle and the old town as a backdrop.

Amateur theatre at the heart of the project

The festival was born with a precise goal: to offer a real stage to amateur theatre companies from the region, groups driven by passion, heart, and creative generosity that rarely find suitable spaces. The artistic direction is entrusted to Claudio Musetti, who over the years has built a programme capable of alternating brilliant comedy, musicals, dialect theatre, and original scripts. The event has developed into a double annual appointment — a winter season in the museum foyer and a summer one in the arena — reaching over fourteen editions in total, with only a 2020 interruption due to the health emergency.

What to expect on stage

• Brilliant comedies of original production, often written and directed within the companies themselves
• Musicals and shows with live accompaniment
• Dialect theatre and texts drawing from the popular tradition of lower Lazio
• Monologues and acting showcases by emerging groups from the province of Latina and the nearby Caserta area

A summer edition marked by August Sundays

The established format features evening shows spread across several Sundays in August, starting after sunset — usually around 9:15 PM — to take advantage of the evening cool. Each evening is dedicated to a different company, with a presentation of the group and a greeting to the audience at the end of the performance: a simple formula that has created a direct relationship between artists and spectators over the years.

The Brigandage Museum, a unique setting

The Brigandage Museum of Itri is the only Italian museum entirely dedicated to the phenomenon of southern brigandage, housed in the spaces of the ancient convent of Sant'Antonio and included in the DEMOS system of demo-ethno-anthropological museums of the Lazio Region. Itri is, after all, the home of Michele Pezza, the famous Fra Diavolo: the memory of that historical period is an integral part of the town's identity. Hosting a theatre festival in the museum's arena means linking live performance to a place with a strong identity.

Itri and the southern Pontine area in summer

The festival is part of a particularly rich summer calendar in the Gulf of Gaeta and the southern Pontine area, where August is a month of food festivals, patronal feasts, and cultural events. Itri is famous for its Itrana olive and the extra virgin olive oil derived from it, products that naturally accompany a gastronomic stop before or after the show. The medieval village, with its castle, tower, and uphill alleys, is worth a visit at sunset, while the beaches of Sperlonga, Gaeta, and Formia can be reached in a few minutes by car.

Why it's worth it

Sipario d'Autore is not a showcase for big names: it is a community project that restores theatre to its most direct and popular dimension. Affordable prices, a family atmosphere, artisanal quality of the sets, and a historical setting of great charm make it one of the most authentic cultural offerings of the summer in the province of Latina.