Napoli Teatro Festival Italia

The Napoli Teatro Festival Italia is an international festival which takes place every year during the month of June in Naples, Italy. The Festival’s organization selects, produces and commissions plays, exhibitions and artistic performances, involving artists from all over the world for the elaboration and representation of international and multicultural creations. Along with the artistic activities, the Festival also offers the possibility of creating new planning and production partnerships with national and international institutions, it promotes training courses and enhances historical monuments, which are used as the plays’ locations. Moreover, the Festival promotes and produces the European Theatre Company, the first company whose members are professional actors from the European Union.

In 2006 the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities published a project announcement with the idea of realizing an International theatre festival that could compare with established European models such as The Edinburgh International Festival and the Festival d'Avignon. Many Italian cities with great performing tradition such as Milan, Venice and Genoa participated, but in the end the city of Naples was chosen. In August 2007, the Region of Campania created the Campania Festival Foundation, with Rachele Furfaro as the chairman, with the aim of realizing the project of the first theatrical festival in Naples. Renato Quaglia, who had been the organizing director of the Venice Biennale was chosen as the artistic and organizing director.

More than 2000 artists from 17 countries have been involved in the first edition, in June 2008. The original works, created expressively for the Festival, were 17 out of 40 total debuts. The second edition of the Festival, in June 2009, was enriched with the institution of the “Over the seas Festival” (in collaboration with the San Carlo Theatre) and of the Fringe Festival. Eighty-three plays were performed with the support of artists from 24 countries and more than 70.000 people in the audience.

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