Theater and Dance at the Castle (Summer in Naples)
Ten nights of drama and contemporary dance in the courtyard of Maschio Angioino
About Theater and Dance at the Castle
Ten nights of performance inside the Maschio Angioino
Theater and Dance at the Castle is the drama and dance festival that enlivens the monumental courtyard of Castel Nuovo every summer—the castle that Neapolitans have called Maschio Angioino for centuries, overlooking Piazza Municipio and the gulf. For ten consecutive evenings, between late July and early August, the Angevin and Aragonese walls become the natural backdrop for an open-air stage: all events begin at 9:00 PM, with completely free admission until all available seats are taken.
A section of Summer in Naples
The festival does not stand alone: it is one of the recurring sections of Summer in Naples, the major summer cultural program promoted and funded by the Municipality of Naples, spread every year across dozens of city locations, from hillside parks to historic villas, from the squares of the old town to the city beaches. Within this program, the Castel Nuovo courtyard hosts several cycles in succession—open-air cinema, live music, comedy, drama, and dance—with Theater and Dance at the Castle representing the chapter dedicated to the contemporary scene. The companies in the lineup are selected through a public call by the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Municipality.
A deliberately multidisciplinary program
The formula is that of a journey weaving together different languages, with a different company each night. The lineup usually features:
- musical theater and tributes to the great Neapolitan musical tradition;
- contemporary dance and auteur choreography, with companies from Campania and national guests;
- rewritings of classics, from Shakespeare to Sartre, often with an ironic or civic twist;
- videomapping and visual arts projected onto the castle walls themselves;
- storytelling and civic theater, with evenings dedicated to symbolic figures of Neapolitan and Italian history;
- live music performed on stage, often with original scores.
Castel Nuovo, a setting that is history itself
The added value of the festival is the venue. Commissioned by Charles I of Anjou at the end of the 13th century and transformed into a Renaissance fortress by the Aragonese, Castel Nuovo houses the marble Triumphal Arch, the Palatine Chapel, and the Hall of the Barons. Attending a show in its courtyard means seeing the stage and the monument in the same gaze: the illuminated towers, the summer sky, the distant sound of the harbor. It is no coincidence that more than one production has built its script specifically on the memory of the castle.
The audience and the atmosphere
Free admission and the location just a stone's throw from the subway station make the festival one of the most popular events of the Neapolitan summer: families, young people, tourists, and residents of the San Ferdinando district fill the courtyard well before the start. The atmosphere is that typical of summer evenings outdoors in the city: informal, participatory, with applause bouncing off the walls.
Naples and Campania in summer
Visitors from out of town will find the festival an excellent starting point to discover the summer programming of the capital of Campania and its Metropolitan City: during the same weeks, Summer in Naples offers cinema arenas, concerts, neighborhood festivals, and initiatives spread throughout museums and parks. However, the Maschio Angioino courtyard remains the symbolic heart of the entire event, the place where the municipal program meets the city's monumental heritage.
Theater and Dance at the Castle — edition 2026
The 2026 edition
From July 30 to August 8, 2026, the monumental courtyard of Castel Nuovo hosts ten consecutive evenings of theater and dance, selected by the Municipality of Naples as part of the Summer in Naples 2026 program and the Cultura Napoli 2026 public call. The lineup is entirely composed of original productions by companies active in the Campania region and nationally, spanning drama, visual arts, contemporary dance, live music, and civic engagement.
The journey begins on July 30 with a tribute to Renato Carosone and closes on August 8 with Sartre: in between, a progression that touches on silent cinema reworked into video art, auteur dance, the baroque fairy tale of Giambattista Basile, tango, civic theater, and the history of the castle itself. Each evening is entrusted to a different company, starting at 9:00 PM.
Admission
All shows have free admission until all available seats are taken. Given the limited capacity of the courtyard, it is advisable to arrive well in advance or to book through the contact indicated by the company for the evening.
Programme Theater and Dance at the Castle 2026
Program night by night — 9:00 PM, Monumental courtyard of Castel Nuovo
- Thursday, July 30 — Rivoluzione Carosone (Associazione Airots), dramaturgy and direction by Alessandro D'Auria, choreography by Franky Capuano: a musical theater work paying tribute to the king of Italian swing, set in a dystopian Naples where music is prohibited.
- Friday, July 31 — Napol→OZ. Canto per un regno usurpato (Baba Yaga Teatro), directed by Rosalba Di Girolamo, video art by Alessandra Carchedi, live music by Pier Paolo Polcari and Antonio Della Ragione, featuring Sara Vanderwert and Rosalba Di Girolamo: a contemporary reinterpretation of the 1925 silent film The Wizard of Oz.
- Saturday, August 1 — Enrico VIII (Associazione La Dramaturgie), adaptation and direction by Matteo Bertolotti, Gian Maria Cervo, and PierLuca Mariti: an irreverent rewriting of the Shakespearean text, between classical drama and stand-up comedy aesthetics.
- Sunday, August 2 — Generati dal disordine, noi siamo Caos (Con.Cor.D.A. — Consorzio Coreografi Danza d'Autore / Movimentoinactor), choreography by Flavia Bucciero: a contemporary dance performance, a regional exclusive, on the crises of our time.
- Monday, August 3 — Tetralogia di Castel Nuovo (Teatro Stabile delle Arti Medioevali), texts by Gian Maria Cervo and Peppe Lanzetta, directed by Gian Maria Cervo and Riccardo Ciccarelli, with Gian Maria Cervo, Peppe Lanzetta, Eugenio Castaldo, and Angel Italia: four short texts giving voice to the souls, real and metaphorical, that have crossed the castle's history.
- Tuesday, August 4 — Alla Corte dei Cunti (Akerusia Danza), directed by Patrizia Di Martino, choreography by Elena D'Aguanno, Sabrina D'Aguanno, and Sonia Di Gennaro, with Francesca Rondinella, Amelia Rondinella, and Simone Mastragostino: a national premiere inspired by Lo Cunto de li Cunti by Giambattista Basile, set to the music of Le Sette Cotenelle, the last unpublished work by maestro Aladino Di Martino.
- Wednesday, August 5 — Baobab (Inbilico), an immersive performance blending drama, dance, and videomapping: narrating voices of Lino Guanciale and Ramona Tripodi, aerial movements by acrobat Marco Mannucci, featuring Giovanna Sannino, Nunzia Schiano, Mario Autore, Agostino Chiummariello, Niko Mucci, Domenico Pinelli, Arduino Speranza, and Raffaele Ausiello.
- Thursday, August 6 — Tango Mystique (Crown Production), choreography by Luigi Ferrone, Corona Paone, and Massimo Morricone, with actors Ernesto Lama and Cristina Donadio and Cristina Donadio, illusionist Dion Van Rijt, principal dancers Marianna Suriano and Giacomo Castellana of the Rome Opera House, and live music by the Quintetto Jazz Mediterranè directed by Angelo Caldarelli.
- Friday, August 7 — Il coraggio della verità. Omaggio a Giancarlo Siani (Suoni & Scene), text by Giovanni Taranto, directed by Annamaria Russo, original music by Marco Zurzolo, with Paolo Cresta, Peppe Miale, Alfredo Mundo, and Viviana Curcio: a show dedicated to the journalist killed by the Camorra in 1985.
- Saturday, August 8 — I sequestrati di Altona (Associazione Stati Teatrali), from Jean-Paul Sartre, adaptation and direction by Riccardo De Luca, with Riccardo Festa, Annalisa Renzulli, Riccardo De Luca, Salvatore Veneruso, Serena Cino, and Michele Romano.
Highlights Theater and Dance at the Castle 2026
- Ten companies in ten nights, all with original productions selected from the Cultura Napoli 2026 public call.
- Rivoluzione Carosone at the opening: musical theater meets the repertoire of the king of Italian swing.
- Napol→OZ: the 1925 silent film reinterpreted in video art with live music.
- Tetralogia di Castel Nuovo: a show written for the venue that hosts it.
- Alla Corte dei Cunti in national premiere, with unpublished music by Aladino Di Martino.
- Baobab with the voices of Lino Guanciale and Ramona Tripodi and videomapping on the castle walls.
- Tango Mystique with principal dancers from the Rome Opera House and a live jazz quintet.
- Il coraggio della verità: civic theater in memory of Giancarlo Siani.
- All evenings are free, in the monumental courtyard of Maschio Angioino.
Prices Theater and Dance at the Castle 2026
Practical information — Theater and Dance at the Castle
Where it takes place
Monumental courtyard of Castel Nuovo — Maschio Angioino, Piazza Municipio, 80133 Naples (San Ferdinando district).
How to get there
- Subway: Line 1, Municipio stop (a few meters from the entrance); Line 6, Municipio stop.
- Train: from Napoli Centrale, take Subway Line 1 towards the center, about 10 minutes.
- Ship: Molo Beverello and the Maritime Station are a few minutes' walk away.
- Car: high-traffic area with limited parking; public transport or guarded parking in the port area is strongly recommended.
Hours and admission
All shows start at 9:00 PM. Admission is free until all available seats are taken; since the courtyard's capacity is limited, several companies provide a contact for booking the evening, and it is always advisable to arrive well in advance.
Tips
The courtyard is outdoors and uncovered: in case of bad weather, it is worth checking for any changes on the Municipality of Naples channels. Bring water and plan for an evening stroll along the waterfront or in Piazza del Plebiscito after the show.
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Where does it take place — Theater and Dance at the Castle
Cortile monumentale di Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino)
Piazza Municipio, 80133 Napoli