Founded in 1987 by Giorgio Strehler and directed by Luca Ronconi until his death in 2015, the Academy is now directed by Carmelo Rifici. The Academy carries out its activities in symbiosis with the Piccolo, the first example of a repertory theatre in Italy, founded in 1947 by Paolo Grassi and Giorgio Strehler and, as of today, one of the most important theatrical institutions in Europe. The Decree dated 27 July 2017 issued by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activity and Tourism recognises the autonomy and the international role of the Piccolo Teatro, which – in a position that is unique – has the obligation to run a specialist Academy of Theatre that is closely linked to the Theatre and identified as an integral part of the theatre’s activities. Recognised as an international excellence in the field of actor training, during the training period the Piccolo Academy of Theatre involves the students in the Piccolo’s productions, guaranteeing an on-going and profitable exchange between the classroom and the stage.
The Luca Ronconi Academy is a school for actors offering three-year courses for a total of approximately 4,500 hours of lessons. In order to gain a place on the course, it is necessary to take part in a competition that is organised every three years. The call for applicants for the 13th training course will be published in April 2024.
The necessary requirements to be admitted to the entrance exams are as follows:
- age between 18 and 25 years
- high school diploma
- excellent knowledge of the Italian language.
In order to access the Academy, prospective students have to pass an entrance exam. Each course has between 20 and 30 students. The Academy is completely free of charge. A contribution for registrar fees is requested in order to take the entrance exam. Attendance is obligatory. The missing of 25% or more of the total number of annual hours leads to expulsion from the Academy. The students are obliged to respect the rules in an extract of the stage regulations signed by them on enrolment.
The Luca Ronconi Academy for actors is accredited by Regione Lombardia, listed in the Regione Lombardia register for operators of professional training and instruction, and currently receives funding for the course Il lavoro sulla parola nel Teatro del presente (May 2022 - March 2023), organized as a part of the Regional Operational Program co-financed by the European Social Fund “Lombardia Plus - Linea Alta Formazione Cultura 2022”, supporting the development of integrated training and work policies (POR FSE 2014/2020 – ASSE III, AZIONE 10.4.1).
The courses
Each course is named after an important figure from modern theatre.
1st - 1987/1990, the Jacques Copeau course
650 candidates, 31 students admitted, 29 graduated:
Sara Alzetta, Sonia Bergamasco, Giorgio Bongiovanni, Paolo Calabresi, Maria Gabriella Campanile, Umberto Carmignani, Marta Comerio, Luca Criscuoli, Leonardo De Colle, Gaia De Laurentiis, Stefano De Luca, Simona Fais, Simona Ferraro, Mario Guariso, Stefano Guizzi, Sergio Leone, Nicoletta Maragno, Sara Masini, Paola Morales, Claudia Negrin, Ilaria Onorato, Laura Pasetti, Mace Perlman, Rossana Piano, Stefano Quatrosi, Federica Roberto, Victoria Salvador Villalba, Maria Teresa Sintoni, Laura Torelli, Silvano Torrieri
2nd - 1990/1993, the Eleonora Duse course
440 candidates, 19 students admitted, 18 graduated:
Paola Benocci, Vincenzo Bocciarelli, Francesco Cordella, Margherita Di Rauso, Cristina Ferrajoli, Pia Lanciotti, Maxmilian Mazzotta, Alessandro Mor, Maximilian Nisi, Rinaldo Rocco, Patrizia Romeo, Paola Roscioli, Luca Scaglia, Giorgia Senesi, Maria Grazia Solano, Marina Sorrenti, Maria Egle Spotorno, Matteo Verona
3rd - 1993/1996, the Konstantin Stanislavski course
420 candidates, 25 students admitted, 15 graduated:
Massimiliano Andrighetto, Roberto Andrioli, Biancamaria D’Amato, Giovanna Di Rauso, Marco Fubini, Ugo Giacomazzi, Alessandra Gigli, Diego Gueci, Mercedes Martini, Giulia Mombelli, Michele Nani, Carmen Panarello, Andrea Riva De Onestis, Silvia Soncini, Debora Zuin
4th - 1996/1999, the Louis Jouvet course
560 candidates, 26 students admitted, 24 graduated:
Elena Arvigo, Matteo Reza Azchirvani, Claudia Carlone, Serena Cazzola, Pierlugi Corallo, Luigi Distinto, Barbara Esposito, Elena Ferrari, Emanuele Fortunati, Giuseppe Fraccaro, Francesco Guidi, Francesca Inaudi, Francesco Italiano, Annachiara Mantovani, Tommaso Minniti, Candida Nieri, Enrico Petronio, Christian Poggioni, Michele Radice, Annamaria Rossano, Nicole Vignola, Lorenzo Volpi Lutteri, Greta Zamparini, Sara Zoia
5th - 1999/2002, the Vsevolod Mejerchold course
511 candidates, 24 students admitted, 24 graduated:
Federica Armillis, Benedetto Bianchi, Luca Carboni, Maurizio Ciccolella, Pasquale Di Filippo, Raffaele Esposito, Laura Gambarin, Rossana Giordano, Giada Lorusso, Diana Manea, Marco Mattiuzzo, Stefano Moretti, Nicola Orofino, Valentina Picello, Angela Rafanelli, Erika Renai Cappelli, Vladimiro Russo, Chiara Rivoli, Irene Serini, Mirko Soldano, Chiara Stoppa, Simone Toni, Sara Tosi, Francesco Vitale
6th - 2002/2005, the Sergio Tofano course
850 candidates, 27 students admitted, 26 graduated:
Alice Bachi, Valentina Bartolo, Marco Brinzi, Fausto Cabra, Angelo Campolo, Federica Castellini, Gabriele Ciavarra, Mirko Ciotta, Giorgio Consoli, Luigi Di Pietro, Tiziano Ferrari, Luca Fiorino, Maddalena Gessi, Michele Giaquinto, Silvia Grande, Silvia Masotti, Ilenia Porcarelli, Matteo Romoli, Camillo Rossi Barattini, Giorgio Sangati, Caterina Simonelli, Rosanna Sparapano, Giulia Valenti, Jacopo Veronese, Emilio Zanetti, Camilla Zorzi
7th - 2005/2008, the Bertolt Brecht course
1160 candidates, 28 students admitted, 27 graduated:
Ivan Alovisio, Caterina Bajetta, Emanuele Banchio, Clio Cipolletta, Ettore Colombo, Andrea Coppone, Silvia Degrandi, Laura Dell'Albani, Gabriele Falsetta, Marcella Favilla, Elisabetta Fusari, Paolo Garghentino, Andrea Germani, Andrea Luini, Fabrizio Martorelli, Antonio Mingarelli, Beatrice Niero, Luca Nucera, Eugenio Olivieri, Silvia Pernarella, Stella Piccioni, Silvia Pietta, Francesca Puglisi, Nicol Quaglia, Riccardo Ripani, Giuseppe Sartori, Camilla Semino Favro
8th - 2008/2011, the Evgenij Vachtangov course
920 candidates, 32 students admitted, 32 graduated:
Maria Blandolino, Sebastiano Bottari, Nastassia Calia, Carolina Cametti, Lisa Capaccioli, Valentina Cardinali, Walter Cerrotta, Martin Chishimba, Nicola Ciaffoni, Paola Crisostomo, Pierpaolo D'Alessandro, Matteo De Mojana, Marco Di Giorgio, Dora Di Mauro, Lorenza Fantoni, Ilaria Fratoni, Mauro Lamantia, Katia Mirabella, Davide Paciolla, Matthieu Pastore, Riccardo Pumpo, David Remondini, Filippo Renda, Federica Rosellini, Jeanne Santos, Mattia Sartoni, Elisabetta Scarano, Ivan Senin, Laura Serena, Simone Tangolo, Anahì Traversi, Valentina Violo
9th - 2011/2014, the Jean Louis Barrault course
871 candidates, 30 students admitted, 29 graduated:
Letizia Bravi, Valeria de Santis, Francesca Del Fa, Lorenzo Demaria, Elisa Fedrizzi, Maria Laila Fernandez, Domenico Florio, Ruggero Franceschini, Claudia Gambino, Davide Domenico Gasparro, Federica Gelosa, Gilberto Giuliani, Giusy Emanuela Iannone, Linda Macchi, Simone Marconi, Lucia Marinsalta, Lorenzo Massa, Federico Meccoli, David Amadeus Meden, Sylvia Katrina Milton, Daniele Molino, Maria Laura Palmeri, Nicolò Parodi, Andrea Preti, Livio Santiago Remuzzi, Roberta Rigano, Francesca Tripaldi, Giulia Vecchio, Marouane Zotti
10th - 2014/2017, the Luchino Visconti course
28 students admitted, 28 graduated:
Giuseppe Aceto, Alessandro Bandini,Roberta Bonora, Alfonso De Vreese, Aurelio Di Virgilio,Salvatore Drago, Caterina Filograno, Ugo Fiore, Matteo Gatta, Valentina Ghelfi, Yasmin Karam, Leda Kreider, Marta Malvestiti, Viola Marietti, Marica Mastromarino, Cristina Nurisso, Benedetto Patruno, Claudio Pellerito, Matteo Principi, Marco Risiglione, Elena Rivoltini, Walter Rizzuto, Livia Rossi, Martina Sammarco, Francesco Santagada, Jacopo Sorbini, Sacha Trapletti, Annapaola Trevenzuoli
11th - 2017/2021, the Giorgio Strehler course
26 students admitted, 26 graduated:
Catherine Bertoni, Gabriele Brunelli, Monica Mihaela Buzoianu, Flavio Capuzzo Dolcetta, Leonardo Castellani, Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi, Giovanni Drago, Anna Godina, Claudia Grassi, Jonathan Lazzini, Lucia Limonta, Sebastian Luque Herrera, Anna Manella, Alberto Marcello, Francesco Maruccia, Marco Mavaracchio, Francesca Osso, Antonio Perretta, Alberto Pirazzini, Roberta Ricciardi, Paolo Rovere, Aurora Spreafico, Emilia Tiburzi, Giacomo Toccaceli, Simone Tudda, Beatrice Verzotti
12th - 2021/2024, the Claudia Giannotti course
24 admitted students:
Giacomo Antonio Maria Albites Coen, Andrea Bezziccheri, Agnese Sofia Bonato, Clara Bortolotti, Stefano Carenza, Bianca Castanini, Simone Pietro Causa, Giada Francesca Ciabini, Miruna Cuc, Simona De Leo, Silvia Di Cesare, Daniele Di Pietro, Marco Divsic, Ion Donà, Ioana Miruna Drajneanu, Cecilia Fabris, Joshua Isaiah Maduro, Pasquale Montemurro, Sofia Amber Redway, Edoardo Sabato, Caterina Sanvi, Pietro Savoi, Simone Severini, Lorenzo Vio