The Luca Ronconi School of Theatre

Founded in 1987 by Giorgio Strehler and directed by Luca Ronconi until his death, the School of Theatre is now directed by Carmelo Rifici. The School carries out its activities in symbiosis with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d’Europa, 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 School 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, the Piccolo School of Theatre is particular in that during the training period it involves the students in the Piccolo’s productions, guaranteeing an on-going and profitable exchange between the classroom and the stage.

The Luca Ronconi School is a school for actors offering three-year courses for a total of approximately 4500 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. October 2017 saw the beginning of lessons for the eleventh course, which has been named after Giorgio Strehler (2017/2020). As on 23 February 2020 the crisis surrounding COVID-19 interrupted all possibilities of providing continuous training to the students, depriving them of the possibility to achieve their goal, in agreement with the Lombardy Region the School decided to extend the Giorgo Strehler course, which between May and July of 2021 will prepare the final show under the guidance of the director Carmelo Rifici. The call for applicants for the new three-year training course will therefore be published in January 2021.

In order to access the Course, prospective students have to pass an entrance exam. Each course has between 20 and 30 students.

The school 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 will lead to expulsion from the school.

The students are obliged to respect the rules in an extract of the stage regulations signed by them on enrolment.

The Luca Ronconi school for actors is accredited by the Lombardy Region, listed in the Lombardy Region register for operators of professional training and instruction, and currently receives funding for the course From the classroom to the stage (March 2017 - November 2021) , part of the “Lombardia Plus - Linea Cultura” initiative that forms part of the policies put into place in order to support activities aimed at the objectives and purposes of section I - POR FSE Lombardy 2014/2020, and in particular of Action 8.1.1 - “active policies with particular focus on sectors that offer increased possibilities for growth”.

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