Piccolo Teatro di Milano -Teatro d'Europa

The Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa

Chief Executive Officer Lanfranco Li Cauli

Artistic Director Claudio Longhi

The Piccolo Teatro di Milano was founded on 14 May 1947 by Giorgio Strehler and Paolo Grassi, together with Nina Vinchi. “An Art Theatre for All” is the motto and underlying principle that has accompanied the Piccolo ever since it was founded, and that continues to express its mission: staging quality shows aimed at the most wide-ranging of audiences possible. With support from the State and local administration – first and foremost the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardy Region – the Piccolo currently runs three auditoriums: the original location in Via Rovello, renamed the Teatro Grassi, that since 2009 also includes the magnificent Renaissance Cloister named in honour of Nina Vinchi; the Teatro Strehler, the main venue, inaugurated in January 1998 to the music of Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the last production to be directed by the great director after whom it is named; the Teatro Studio Melato, an experimental theatrical space dedicated to research and education and named in honour of the actress Mariangela Melato since 2014. The building also houses the “Luca Ronconi” School of theatre, founded by Giorgio Strehler in 1987. The Piccolo Teatro has produced more than 450 shows – many of which were directed by Giorgio Strehler –, offering major productions of both classic and contemporary writers that have over time become part of international theatrical history. With regard to Strehler’s works alone, these productions include: William Shakespeare (King Lear and The Tempest), Carlo Goldoni (Harlequin, servant of two masters, Brawling in Chioggia, The little square), Anton Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard), Bertolt Brecht (Threepenny Opera, Life of Galileo, The Good Person of Szechwan). Since 1991, the Piccolo Teatro has also been a “Theatre of Europe”, a status confirmed by article 47 of Italian Ministerial Decree 322 dated 27 July 2017, as amended. Strehler was the first to strongly promote a vision of openness and to seek a position in the international theatrical panorama, and this philosophy was carried forward under the directorship of Sergio Escobar – who headed the Foundation from 1998 to July 2020 – and of Luca Ronconi (artistic consultant and director of the School of Theatre until February 2015). During his time in Milan, Ronconi staged a number of extraordinary theatrical masterpieces during the dawn of the new millennium, which – among their many merits – celebrated the interdisciplinary nature of theatrical expression. This was the case with Infinities by the English mathematician John D. Barrow, or with Lehman Trilogy (2015), the last production to be directed by the maestro, based on the piece by Stefano Massini – who soon after was called on to take over as artistic consultant from 2015 to 2020. Since December 2020, Claudio Longhi has served as the Director of the Piccolo. Under his guidance, in addition to the traditional rich programme of in-house and guest productions, the cultural policy of the Theatre has focused on supporting contemporary playwriting, promoting young artists, internationalisation and the development of European

networks and programming. The theatre collaborates with fifteen Associate Artists from Italy and abroad, with the conviction that the theatre’s activities are not confined to the production of shows, but must also serve to favour processes of exchange, creation and cooperation, allowing spectators to connect not only with the performance themselves but also with the related processes. The 2021/22 season also saw the launch of the Festival Presente Indicativo, a grand expression of international theatre (May 2022, May 2024, May 2026). In light of the imminent reform of the network of Italian theatres announced by the Ministry of Culture, the end of 2024 saw the beginning of a process to restructure the governance of the Foundation. One of the first steps, on 1 December 2024, was the unanimous vote by the Board of Directors of the organisation to renew the mandate of the Director Claudio Longhi – who, as part of his role as artistic director of the theatre also took on the management of the “Luca Ronconi” School of Theatre – and to appoint Lanfranco Li Cauli as General Manager, responsible for technical and administrative operations. To underscore the educational vocation of its Maestros, the Piccolo also launched a specialised master’s course for actors, overseen by Andrea Chiodi.  At a later stage, implementing Italian Ministerial Decree 463 of 23 December 2024 and following a change in statute, in September 2025 the Fondazione Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa divided the directorate: Lanfranco Li Cauli was appointed to fill the role of Chief Executive Officer and Claudio Longhi was appointed as Artistic Director.