Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello at Teatro Nino Manfredi, January 14-24, 2027

Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello, directed by Felice Della Corte, is on at Teatro Nino Manfredi in Ostia from January 14 to 24, 2027, at Via dei Pallottini 10, in Ostia Lido. There are nine performances: Thursday, January 14, Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th at 9 p.m., Sunday the 17th at 5:30 p.m., Thursday the 21st at 5:30 p.m., Friday the 22nd at 9 p.m., Saturday the 23rd at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Sunday the 24th at 5:30 p.m. The show is by the company Mania Teatro, with Roberto D'Alessandro, Stefania Graniero, Marika De Chiara and Andrea Garofoli, and is included in the season subscription. The prices listed by the theater are 25 euros full price, 23 euros reduced, 12 euros for under-25s and 17 euros per person for groups of at least 15. The Manfredi is reached by the Roma-Lido railway, which departs from Porta San Paolo next to the Piramide stop on metro line B, getting off at Lido Centro station, a short distance from the theater. Tickets are bought on the official website of Teatro Nino Manfredi, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the box office, by phone at 06 56324849.

Language: performed in Italian. No English version or English surtitles are announced.

Ferdinando is the best-known text by Ruccello, the playwright from Castellammare di Stabia who died at 30 in 1986: a decaying villa at the gates of Naples, a baroness, a young orphaned nephew of ambiguous beauty and a secret revealed only at the end. Below you will find the dates, the plot, the history of the text, the author, the company, the Ostia theater, how to get there and how to plan a day on the coast.

Ferdinando at Teatro Nino Manfredi: dates, times and prices

Ferdinando is on at Teatro Nino Manfredi from January 14 to 24, 2027, for nine performances spread over two long weekends. It is one of the subscription titles of the 2026/2027 season of the Ostia theater.

The calendar

First week: Thursday, January 14 at 9 p.m., Friday the 15th at 9 p.m., Saturday the 16th at 9 p.m., Sunday the 17th at 5:30 p.m. Second week: Thursday the 21st at 5:30 p.m., Friday the 22nd at 9 p.m., Saturday the 23rd double performance at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Sunday the 24th at 5:30 p.m., last performance.

The prices

Teatro Nino Manfredi lists for Ferdinando a full price of 25 euros, a reduced price of 23 euros, a ticket for under-25s at 12 euros and a rate of 17 euros for groups of at least 15.

The afternoon performances

The 5:30 p.m. performances are four: Sunday the 17th, Thursday the 21st, Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th. For those arriving from Rome by railway they are the most convenient, because they allow getting back to the city without a late night.

The plot of Ferdinando: a villa at the gates of Naples

Ferdinando is set in a decaying villa at the gates of Naples, the property of the baroness Donna Clotilde, where a young presumed nephew, orphaned, arrives.

Ferdinando's arrival

The boy, according to the theater's presentation, has a candid, ambiguous and disturbing beauty. He carries a notary's letter: the baroness, the only relative left, will have the honor and the burden of taking care of his education and his estate.

The seduction

Slowly and slyly the young man manages to seduce the protagonists of the story, weaving promiscuous relationships and setting off contradictions and dormant grudges. Jealousies, intrigues and desires surface, deliberately provoked by an unexpected guest.

The secret

Ferdinando hides a design that he will reveal only at the end. The presentation speaks of an intriguing and funny story, full of twists: it is best not to give away more.

The decadence

The text stages the contradictions of an epochal decadence, of manners, social and personal, which Ruccello highlights without discounts in what the theater calls one of his most brilliant and sarcastic works.

Dialect and Italian: the language of Ferdinando

One of the distinctive traits of Ferdinando is its language: the performers move between Neapolitan dialect and Italian, with different registers called for by the text.

An actor's test

The Manfredi's presentation defines the show an excellent actor's test for exactly this reason: the four performers have to untangle themselves among languages and registers, ambiguous and chameleonic, alternating expressions that represent the characters' contradictions.

Ruccello the language scholar

Ruccello was not only an author: he was a scholar of Neapolitan culture and language, with a degree in philosophy and a thesis in cultural anthropology on Andrea Perrucci's Cantata dei pastori (Cantata of the Shepherds), and took part in Roberto De Simone's research group on Campanian popular tradition. The language of Ferdinando is born from this expertise.

For those who don't speak Neapolitan

Roman audiences need not worry: theatrical Neapolitan is a language that Italian theater knows well, and the alternation with Italian is part of the meaning. When a character changes language, his relationship with the others changes too.

The history of the text: from Teatro Verdi in San Severo to Paris

Ferdinando won two IDI prizes: one in 1985 as a stage text and one in 1986 as best staging, the year of its world premiere at Teatro Verdi in San Severo, on February 28.

Isa Danieli

The first staging was mounted by Ruccello himself, with sets by Franco Autiero, and performed by Isa Danieli, inspiring muse and addressee of the text. The text was born for her.

An uncertain date

Sources do not agree on the year of writing: Ruccello's biography gives 1985, the list of works 1984. What is certain is that the text belongs to the author's full maturity, in the mid-1980s.

Fortune abroad

Ferdinando was performed in French in Paris in 2000, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, in Marcello Scuderi's staging with Adriana Asti, then in Liège, at the Théâtre Le Moderne, and in Brussels in 2008.

Who Annibale Ruccello was

Annibale Ruccello was born in Castellammare di Stabia on February 7, 1956 and died on September 12, 1986: a playwright, actor and director, he is considered one of the most original voices of Italian theater in the second half of the 20th century.

Training

He graduated in philosophy with top marks in 1977 from the Federico II University in Naples. He began acting in Torre del Greco, at Gennaro Vitiello's Teatro del Garage, where Mario Martone and Enzo Moscato, his future collaborator, also debuted.

Il Carro and Teatro Nuovo

In 1978 he founded the cooperative Il Carro and with Lello Guida began writing and staging his first works, inspired by popular culture. In 1980 he signed his first independent work, Le cinque rose di Jennifer (Jennifer's Five Roses). In 1982 the cooperative Teatro Nuovo Il Carro was born.

The works

In 1983 he wrote Weekend, with which he won the IDI under-35 prize, and Notturno di donna con ospiti (Night Piece of a Woman with Guests). Then came Ferdinando, a stage adaptation of Moravia's La Ciociara (Two Women), Anna Cappelli, performed by Benedetta Buccellato in September 1986, and Mamma: piccole tragedie minimali (Mamma: Small Minimal Tragedies).

Death and rediscovery

In September 1986, returning from Rome, he died in a road accident on the Rome-Naples motorway. In the following years his repertoire was rediscovered and valued, until Ruccello became a reference author of contemporary Italian theater.

Felice Della Corte and the company Mania Teatro

The direction of Ferdinando is by Felice Della Corte, artistic director of Teatro Nino Manfredi, the show is by the company Mania Teatro.

Felice Della Corte

A Neapolitan, Della Corte trained as an actor and then as a director on Eduardo's theater. With four partners he turned a former cinema in Ostia into the theater he directs, in 2015 he also opened Teatro Marconi and in 2019 he was elected president of the Unione dei Teatri di Roma. For him, directing Ruccello means returning to the Neapolitan dramaturgy that marked his training.

The cast

Onstage are Roberto D'Alessandro, Stefania Graniero, Marika De Chiara and Andrea Garofoli: four performers for a text built on few characters shut in the same house.

A chamber piece

With four actors and a single setting, Ferdinando is a chamber piece. It is the right scale for a hall like the Manfredi, in which even the back rows see the expressions on faces.

A curiosity about Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello at Teatro Nino Manfredi, January 14-24, 2027

The most significant curiosity concerns the origin of the text. Ferdinando was born for an actress: Isa Danieli, whom Ruccello considered his muse and for whom he destined the text. The world premiere did not take place in Naples, but at Teatro Verdi in San Severo, in Puglia, on February 28, 1986, directed by the author himself. A few months later, on September 12, Ruccello died at 30: Ferdinando thus became, against his will, the theatrical last will of an author who had only just begun. A second curiosity concerns the prizes: the text is one of the rare cases in which the same work wins the IDI prize twice, first as a written text and then as a staging. A third curiosity is linguistic and concerns Paris. A text so tied to Neapolitan, made of shifts of register and dialect nuances, was translated and performed in French in 2000 at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, with Adriana Asti: a sign that the dramaturgical mechanism works outside its own language. A fourth curiosity concerns the director from Ostia. Felice Della Corte trained on Eduardo's theater, and Ruccello was one of the authors of the generation critics called after-Eduardo: directing Ferdinando, for him, is a natural step along the same line.

Teatro Nino Manfredi in Ostia

Teatro Nino Manfredi is a 288-seat drama theater at Via dei Pallottini 10, in Ostia Lido, carved out of a former cinema-theater taken over in December 2004 by Felice Della Corte and four partners and inaugurated on September 30, 2005.

The naming

The theater bears the name of Nino Manfredi, who died a few months before the project began. At the opening night was Erminia Ferrari, the actor's widow: the theater was born with the blessing of his family.

The program

The Manfredi offers a drama season by subscription, shows for children and teens, matinees for schools and a theater school. The website mentions its own smartphone app, for Android and iOS.

The hall

With 288 seats it is a mid-sized theater: big enough for a real season, intimate enough for a chamber piece like Ferdinando, in which glances and pauses count as much as lines.

Something nobody tells you about Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello at Teatro Nino Manfredi, January 14-24, 2027

What is rarely said about Ferdinando is that it is a comedy, and it is funny. Ruccello's fame, tied to his early death and the depth of his themes, leads many spectators to expect a gloomy drama. The Manfredi's presentation speaks instead of an intriguing and funny story, and calls the text among the author's most brilliant and sarcastic. The laughter, in Ruccello, comes from sarcasm toward a society falling apart: the baroness shut in her villa, the dormant grudges, the restrained desires. Those who arrive ready to smile also catch the bitter undertone better. The second thing concerns the suitable audience. The official presentation speaks openly of promiscuous relationships, jealousies, desires and cravings provoked by an ambiguous guest: the text deals with desire without reticence, and it is good to know before choosing who to go with. The third thing is practical and concerns Ostia. The Roma-Lido railway is the simplest way to arrive from the center, but after the 9 p.m. performances the trip back requires checking the time of the last train. The 5:30 p.m. afternoon performances, four in all, solve the problem and let you spend the morning at Ostia Antica or on the seafront.

Tickets for Ferdinando

Tickets for Ferdinando are bought on the official website of Teatro Nino Manfredi, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the box office.

Contacts

The box office answers at 06 56324849 and at info@teatroninomanfredi.it, the theater also gives the number 388 0736402 for information.

The rates

Full price 25 euros, reduced 23 euros, under-25s 12 euros, groups of at least 15 people 17 euros. The under-25 rate makes the show accessible to university and high-school students.

The subscription

Ferdinando is listed by the theater as a subscription show: those who follow the Manfredi season already have their seat, and single tickets sell out sooner on the most requested nights.

The advice I give you for visiting Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello at Teatro Nino Manfredi, January 14-24, 2027

The advice is to turn Ferdinando into a day on the coast, choosing one of the four 5:30 p.m. afternoon performances. In the morning you get off the train at Ostia Antica station for the excavations, at lunch you continue to Lido Centro, in the early afternoon you stroll the winter seafront, empty and luminous, at 5:30 you go into the hall, and you return to Rome for dinner. In our view the Thursday, January 21 performance at 5:30 p.m. is the most interesting: a weekday afternoon, an audience of enthusiasts and subscribers, the hall intimate. Those who prefer the evening choose Saturday the 23rd, with the double performance, or Friday the 22nd at 9 p.m., taking care to check the time of the last train. On preparation, two things are worth knowing before going in: that the text alternates Neapolitan and Italian, and that the plot plays on a secret revealed only at the end. Nothing else is needed: better not to read complete summaries, so as not to spoil the twists. As for seats, in a 288-seat hall the view is good almost everywhere, for a text of glances and allusions, the central rows are best. Finally, for those under 25, the 12-euro ticket is one of the best deals of the Roman theater season.

How to get to Teatro Nino Manfredi

Teatro Nino Manfredi, at Via dei Pallottini 10 in Ostia Lido, is reached by the Roma-Lido railway to Lido Centro station, a short distance from the theater.

By the Roma-Lido railway

The railway departs from Porta San Paolo station, next to the Piramide stop on metro line B. From Termini you take metro line B to Piramide, change and get off at Lido Centro. For the 9 p.m. performances it is wise to check the time of the last return train beforehand.

By car

From Rome you arrive by Via del Mare or Via Cristoforo Colombo. In January, outside the beach season, parking on the streets of Ostia Lido is generally easier than in the central districts of the capital.

By bus

Ostia is served by city lines that connect the Roma-Lido stations with the coastal districts. Updated routes and times can be found on the ATAC route calculator.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

That Annibale Ruccello died very young almost everyone who knows his name knows. Less often cited is that he was, even before a playwright, an anthropologist of theater. His degree thesis, discussed in 1977, was an anthropological analysis of Andrea Perrucci's Cantata dei pastori, the Christmas text of the Neapolitan tradition, later published under the title Il sole e la maschera (The Sun and the Mask). Ruccello took part in Roberto De Simone's research group on Campanian popular tradition, and his first stage works, with the cooperative Il Carro, drew on materials of popular culture. This explains the precision with which in Ferdinando each character speaks his own language, and each switch between Neapolitan and Italian has a social meaning. A second fact, known to scholars and little remembered by audiences, concerns his generation. Ruccello trained at the Teatro del Garage in Torre del Greco, founded by Gennaro Vitiello, the same place where Mario Martone and Enzo Moscato debuted. It is the generation that critics gathered under the label of new Neapolitan dramaturgy after Eduardo, and that took the theater of Naples out of the groove of tradition. A third fact concerns Nino Manfredi, after whom the Ostia theater is named: before being a face of cinema, he graduated from the Accademia d'arte drammatica in 1947 and worked in theater with Eduardo, at the Eliseo, in the 1952-1953 season.

Ostia Lido around the theater

Teatro Nino Manfredi is in Ostia Lido, in Municipio X, the district of Rome on the sea. In January the coast is quiet, and the seafront is the classic walk of the locals.

Ostia Antica

One train stop away are the excavations of Ostia Antica, the port city of ancient Rome, and the village of Ostia Antica with Julius II's castle.

The pine forest and the coast

Toward the south opens the Pineta di Castel Fusano, one of Rome's great green spaces, and then the beaches of the Roman coast, as far as Capocotta.

The seafront in winter

Out of season the beach clubs are mostly closed, but the seaside walk stays pleasant on sunny days: before the 5:30 p.m. afternoon performance it is the right way to arrive at the theater.

How to plan a day in Ostia with Ferdinando

With the 5:30 p.m. afternoon performances, Ferdinando lends itself to closing a day on the coast organized entirely with the Roma-Lido railway, without a car.

The morning at the excavations

From Porta San Paolo you get off at Ostia Antica station for the excavations: the port city of ancient Rome, with its theater, shops and warehouses, easily fills an entire morning.

The afternoon at the Lido

On the same line you continue to Lido Centro, for lunch and a walk on the seafront. At 5:30 you go into the Manfredi, on the way out, the train takes you back to Piramide in time for dinner.

For those choosing the evening

For the 9 p.m. performances the order reverses: sea in the afternoon, an early dinner in Ostia, curtain, and the trip back after checking the time of the last train.

The right photo to take at Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello at Teatro Nino Manfredi, January 14-24, 2027

During the show no photos: in a text of allusions, pauses and twists, a lit phone breaks the tension for the whole hall and disturbs the actors. The first right photo is taken at the entrance of the theater on Via dei Pallottini, with the Ferdinando poster and the name of Nino Manfredi on the facade: two eras of Italian theater in the same frame. The second is taken on the Ostia seafront before an afternoon performance, in the low January light, with the winter sea: an open image, in contrast to the closed villa where Ferdinando takes place. The third is for those who do the full day: a photo at the Ostia Antica excavations in the morning, between the decumanus and the Roman theater, next to the ticket for the afternoon show. Two theaters 2,000 years apart, on the same day. Those who love details can photograph the show's official poster, displayed in the lobby. No flash and no video during the applause, unless the theater says otherwise.

Where to eat in Ostia before or after Ferdinando

Around Teatro Nino Manfredi and toward the seafront there are seafood restaurants, pizzerias and bars open even out of season.

Before the afternoon performance

A seafood lunch and then the theater at 5:30 p.m.: the most typical combination of the coast.

After the evening performance

On the way out of the 9 p.m. performances it is wise to head for pizzerias and venues in the central area of Ostia, keeping an eye on the train time for those returning to Rome.

Some important events that took place here in history

The history of Teatro Nino Manfredi begins in December 2004, when Felice Della Corte and four partners, Luciano, Enzo, Paolo and Salvatore, take over a former cinema-theater in Ostia Lido in precarious condition and decide to turn it into a 288-seat drama theater. On June 4 of that same year Nino Manfredi had died, born in Castro dei Volsci in 1921 and raised in Rome in the San Giovanni district: the new theater takes his name. On September 30, 2005 the hall is inaugurated with Josiane Balasko's Un grande grido d'amore (A Great Cry of Love), performed by Pamela Villoresi and Pietro Longhi, under the moved gaze of Erminia Ferrari, the actor's widow. The program draws inspiration from Manfredi's lesson, a dramatic actor who acted with irony. In the following years the theater becomes a stable presence on the coast, with subscription seasons, shows for kids, matinees for schools and a theater school. In October 2015 the same experience gives birth to Teatro Marconi, in Rome, in 2019 Della Corte is elected president of the Unione dei Teatri di Roma, the association of private theaters he helped found. In the 2024-2025 season the Manfredi opens with Pirandello's Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author), directed by Claudio Boccaccini. Ferdinando, directed by Della Corte himself in January 2027, adds to this history as a meeting between the theater's director and the Neapolitan dramaturgy on which he trained.

Accessibility, kids and practical information

For access by people with disabilities it is best to contact the Teatro Nino Manfredi box office before buying, at 06 56324849 or at 388 0736402.

With kids

Ferdinando suits adults and older teens, also thanks to the under-25 ticket. The text deals openly with desire and ambiguous relationships: it is not designed for children.

Arriving on time

Ostia Lido is flat and the walk from Lido Centro station to the theater is short. Those arriving by car can be dropped off in front of the entrance at Via dei Pallottini 10.

Who has passed through Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello at Teatro Nino Manfredi, January 14-24, 2027

On the stage of Teatro Nino Manfredi have passed, from the first night, performers such as Pamela Villoresi and Pietro Longhi, leads of the September 30, 2005 inauguration, and since then the hall has welcomed a long series of actors, directors and companies. Among the guests of recent seasons the local press has noted Nathalie Caldonazzo, lead with Felice Della Corte himself of a comedy directed by Claudio Boccaccini, and productions signed by Della Corte such as La cena di Vermeer (Vermeer's Dinner). Boccaccini, Silvia Brogi, Paolo Perinelli and Riccardo Barbera are the traveling companions the theater's director cites as indispensable. In October 2026 the Compagnia Mauri Sturno passed through the Manfredi with Amore non eri prevista (Love, You Weren't Expected). And there are those who passed without ever stepping on that stage: Nino Manfredi, lead of Garinei and Giovannini's Rugantino in 1962 next to Aldo Fabrizi and Bice Valori, inventor on Canzonissima in 1959 of the barman from Ceccano, present at Ostia in the name and in the spirit of the program. With Ferdinando now arrive Roberto D'Alessandro, Stefania Graniero, Marika De Chiara and Andrea Garofoli of the company Mania Teatro and, ideally, Annibale Ruccello and Isa Danieli, first performer and addressee of the text.

Frequently asked questions about Ferdinando at Teatro Nino Manfredi

When is Ferdinando on at Teatro Nino Manfredi?

Ferdinando is on at Teatro Nino Manfredi in Ostia from January 14 to 24, 2027: Thursday the 14th, Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th at 9 p.m., Sunday the 17th at 5:30 p.m., Thursday the 21st at 5:30 p.m., Friday the 22nd at 9 p.m., Saturday the 23rd at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Sunday the 24th at 5:30 p.m.

How much do Ferdinando tickets cost in Ostia?

For Ferdinando Teatro Nino Manfredi lists a full price of 25 euros, a reduced price of 23 euros, an under-25 ticket at 12 euros and 17 euros for groups of at least 15.

Who acts in Ruccello's Ferdinando?

In Ferdinando at Teatro Nino Manfredi the actors are Roberto D'Alessandro, Stefania Graniero, Marika De Chiara and Andrea Garofoli, of the company Mania Teatro. The direction is by Felice Della Corte, artistic director of the theater.

What is Ferdinando about?

Annibale Ruccello's Ferdinando tells of the arrival of a young orphaned nephew in the decaying villa of the baroness Donna Clotilde, at the gates of Naples. The boy seduces the protagonists, brings out jealousies and grudges and hides a design revealed only at the end.

How do you get to Teatro Nino Manfredi?

Teatro Nino Manfredi, at Via dei Pallottini 10 in Ostia Lido, is reached by the Roma-Lido railway from Porta San Paolo, next to the Piramide stop on metro line B, to Lido Centro station. By car you arrive by Via del Mare or Via Cristoforo Colombo.

Is Ferdinando in Neapolitan dialect?

Ferdinando alternates Neapolitan dialect and Italian, with different registers called for by Ruccello's text. The alternation is part of the work's meaning and is understandable even to those who do not speak Neapolitan.

Who was Annibale Ruccello?

Annibale Ruccello was a playwright, actor and director born in Castellammare di Stabia in 1956 and died in 1986. A scholar of Neapolitan popular culture, he wrote Weekend, Notturno di donna con ospiti, Ferdinando and Anna Cappelli.

The final advice on Ferdinando at Teatro Nino Manfredi

Ferdinando is one of the most important texts of 1980s Italian theater, and seeing it in an intimate hall like the Manfredi, with a director trained in Neapolitan dramaturgy, is an opportunity to seize. In our view it is best to arrive ready to laugh and be caught by surprise by the ending, without reading summaries. The practical advice is to choose an afternoon performance, combine the show with a morning at Ostia Antica and a lunch by the sea, and take advantage of the 12-euro ticket if you are under 25.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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