Italy: Rome’s Cinema Barberini to reopen after two years

Rome: Rome’s Cinema Barberini in the central piazza of the same name is scheduled to reopen to the public on 20 October after being closed for more than two years.

The historic cinema, shut since June 2020, has undergone renovation and will have a room dedicated to the celebrated Roman actor and comedian Carlo Verdone, reports Rome newspaper Il Messaggero.

The multiplex cinema, known for showing English-language movies, will host six screens equipped with the latest technology, with a seventh screen reportedly to be added over the next year.

“They didn’t wait until I was dead to dedicate this tribute to me, so I can enjoy it while I’m alive” – Verdone told Il Messaggero – “I’m happy to be part of a project that will help get people out of the house after the pandemic; rediscovering human contact is fundamental”.

In addition to screening blockbusters, original-language movies and art-house films, the revamped cinema is set to host concerts, exhibitions, stand-up comedy and shows.

The venue, which first opened as a cinema in 1930, will also have a restaurant and will be open every day from 10.00 until midnight, reports AGI news agency.

The reopening of the Barberini movie theatre follows the closure of more than 100 cinemas in the Italian capital over the last decade.

However it is not all doom and gloom for Roman cinemas: together with the Barberini, the long-closed Fiamma – located on nearby Via Bissolati – is set to reopen next year in a project speaheaded by Italy’s culture ministry.

A refurbished, state-of-the-art Cinema Troisi reopened in Trastevere a year ago in an ambitious venture by the Ragazzi del Cinema America, the collective of young cinema aficionados best known for the summer film festival in Piazza S. Cosimato.