Piccolo Teatro di Milano was the first in Italy permanent theatre and one of the most well-known and popular European theatres. Since 1991, it bears the honorable title of Teatro d’Europa. Director Serjio Escobar is in charge of the theatre. Director and dramatist Stefano Massini has been its artistic consultant since January 2015.
Piccolo Teatro was founded in 1947 by Giorgio Strehler, Paolo Grassi and Nina Vinchi. The first performance was Maxim Gorky’s Lower Depths in Strehler’s production. Its second performance was Goldoni’s comedy Harlequin, The Servant of Two Masters. It was exactly the Harlequin that became the theatre’s symbol and, as many other Strehler’s jobs, it became a part of the world stage’s gold pool. Today, Piccolo Theatre has three stages. Its major stage (968 seats) was commissioned in 1998 and named after Strehler. The historical stage was named after Grassi. The experimental stage got the name of actress Mariangela Melato. The Theatre School is also located here; it was established in 1986 and is presently named after Luca Ronconi who had been directing it since 1999 till his very death in February 2015. Since 1998, the time when Luca Ronconi and Sergio Escobar had come, Piccolo Theatre has significantly expanded its operation in international and inter-disciplinary sphere and started to position itself as an ideal European cultural center.
At the First Alexandrinsky Piccolo International Theater Festival, the Teatro di Milano presented the performances "Happy Days" (October 31 and November 1, 2006) and "That's What Everyone Does" (October 27 and 28, 2006) staged by Giorgio Strehler.
At the II Alexandrinsky Piccolo International Theater Festival, the Teatro di Milano presented a play based on the play by Carlo Goldoni "Harlequin-the Servant of Two Masters" (October 8 and 9, 2007) directed by Giorgio Strehler and the play "Fan" (October 30 and 31, 2007) directed by Luca Ronconi (together with the National Theater "Odeon", France).
At the Tenth International Alexandrinsky Theatre Festival, Piccolo Theatre di Milano will present its performance after Carlo Goldoni’s The Jealous Women in Giorgio Sangati’s production (October 4, 5, 6, 2016. Major Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre).
