Il Babysitter with Paolo Ruffini at the Teatro Brancaccio, December 21 and 22, 2026

Il Babysitter, the show written by and starring Paolo Ruffini, born from his podcast, plays at the Teatro Brancaccio in Rome, at Via Merulana 244, on Monday, December 21, and Tuesday, December 22, 2026, at 9 p.m., with a running time of 110 minutes. The theater is reachable on foot from the Vittorio Emanuele stop on Metro Line A, or by lines 16, 75, 714, 717, and C3, which stop on Via Merulana. The prices published by the theater range from 27 euros in the second balcony B to 45 euros in Poltronissima A. Tickets are bought at the theater box office and through the presale network authorized by the organizers, reachable from the Buy button on the show's official page. Direction and live piano are by Claudia Campolongo, and the production is by Vera Produzione.

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

Il Babysitter at the Brancaccio at a glance: dates, times, prices

Two evening performances, Monday, December 21, and Tuesday, December 22, at 9 p.m., in the last week before Christmas: Il Babysitter is Paolo Ruffini's Christmas show, with three children on stage and the audience drawn in every night. The theater classifies it among the comedy titles for families in its 2026-2027 season.

The dates

Monday, December 21, at 9 p.m., and Tuesday, December 22, at 9 p.m. The show runs 110 minutes: you're out shortly before 11.

The billing

Il Babysitter, subtitled Quando diventerai piccolo capirai ("When You Become Little, You'll Understand"), is written by Paolo Ruffini and Claudia Campolongo. It is a show by and with Ruffini, with Campolongo at the piano and directing, produced by Vera Produzione.

The prices

The theater publishes these full prices: Poltronissima A 45 euros, Poltrona A 40 euros, Poltrona B 35 euros, first balcony A 35 euros, first balcony B 31 euros, second balcony A 31 euros, second balcony B 27 euros. Fees from the ticketing network may affect the total.

What Il Babysitter is: from podcast to theater

Il Babysitter grew out of the podcast of the same name created and hosted by Paolo Ruffini, and brings the same idea to the stage: giving the floor to children. On stage are three children, Isabel, Leonardo, and Nicholas, who take the audience on an ironic and unpredictable journey into the world of childhood.

Theater with children

The official presentation is clear: it is not theater for children, it is theater with children, and for everyone. It's a distinction that matters. The young protagonists are not extras there for applause, they are the center of the show, the ones who teach grown-ups how to play and how to believe.

Monologues, music, and video

The show alternates Ruffini's monologues, the live music of Claudia Campolongo's piano, and video inserts taken from the podcast. The result, in the creators' intention, is a time machine that carries you back to childhood, when it took very little to be happy.

Christmas

The theme of the December performances is Christmas: children's faith in Christmas, in love, in people. The subtitle, Quando diventerai piccolo capirai, turns around the sentence every adult heard as a child, and it says a lot about the tone of the evening.

Every performance is different: the audience on stage

Every night the Il Babysitter audience is drawn in: some bring a letter to Santa Claus and some go up on stage to tell, with modesty and tenderness, how babies are born. For this reason the two Rome performances will not be alike.

The letter

The practical advice, if you're going with your children, is to have them write a letter to Santa Claus at home and bring it to the theater. The show includes this moment, and for a child seeing their own letter become part of the evening is a memory that lasts.

Going up on stage

Anyone who goes up on stage to answer the children's questions has to be ready to be put to the test by interlocutors who give no discounts. It's the comic mechanism of the podcast brought live: the simple question that throws the adult into crisis.

Why two dates work

A show that changes every night makes sense even for someone who has already seen it in another city. The two Brancaccio performances are the last before the holidays: for many Roman families they are the official start of vacation.

Paolo Ruffini: biography

Paolo Ruffini was born in Livorno on November 26, 1978: actor, television host, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and comedian, he is one of the most popular faces of Italian comedy of the past 20 years. His path runs through music television, Christmas movies, directing, and long-running theater work on inclusion.

The beginnings in Livorno

After finishing classical high school at the Niccolini and Guerrazzi school in Livorno, he worked for years as an entertainer at tourist resorts and, for two years, as a municipal clerk after winning a civil-service competition. He made his debut in TV commercials and in Paolo Virzì's Ovosodo. In 2001 he founded the film association Nido del Cuculo, through which he organized screenings and festivals and produced theater shows and musicals.

MTV and television

In 2002 he won MTV's Cercasi VJ competition and for more than three years hosted programs such as MTV On the Beach and Hitlist Italia. With Marco Giusti he worked on Stracult, Matinée, and Soirée on Rai 2. From 2011 he hosted Colorado on Italia 1, with Belén Rodríguez and then with Diana Del Bufalo, for several seasons. In 2014 he presented the David di Donatello awards with Anna Foglietta. Since 2025 he has hosted Zelig On on Italia 1 with Lodovica Comello.

Cinema

In film he has acted in Natale a Miami, Natale a New York, Natale a Rio, Virzì's La prima cosa bella, C'è chi dice no, Maschi contro femmine, Natale col boss, L'agenzia dei bugiardi, and Modalità aereo. He made his directorial debut with Fuga di cervelli in 2013, one of the most-watched Italian films of that year, and then directed Tutto molto bello, Ragazzaccio, and Rido perché ti amo. As a voice actor he voiced Lucignolo in Enzo D'Alò's Pinocchio, Yax in Zootopia, and Balthazar Bratt in Despicable Me 3.

Ruffini, Up&Down, and the theater of inclusion

Since 2018 Paolo Ruffini has been staging Up&Down, a comedy show with actors with Down syndrome and an autistic actor from the Mayor Von Frinzius company, directed by Lamberto Giannini. It is the project that changed the public perception of his work.

From stage to screen

The show toured Italy's major theaters for two years. From it came the documentary Up&Down, un film normale, co-directed with Francesco Pacini and awarded the Kineo at the 75th Venice Film Festival, and a book, La sindrome di Up, published by Mondadori. The television version aired on Christmas night on Italia 1 three years in a row.

Vera and Up Impresa Sociale

In 2020 Ruffini founded Vera, a creative agency for theater production and talent management, the same one that produces Il Babysitter, and Vera Film. In 2023 he created Up Impresa Sociale, dedicated to events and shows on the theme of inclusion. As a theater director in recent years he has staged the shows of Vincenzo Schettini, Max Angioni, Herbert Ballerina, Giuseppe Cruciani, Casa Surace, and many others.

Recent theater

Among his shows as an actor are Io doppio, on stage since 2004, Quasi amici, Din Don Down with the Mayor von Frinzius, and, since 2024, Il Babysitter. In 2025 he played Cecco the photographer in Sapore di mare, il musical.

Claudia Campolongo, direction and piano

Claudia Campolongo co-writes the text of Il Babysitter with Ruffini, directs it, and plays the piano live in every scene. It is the discreet but ever-present soundtrack of the show, as the theater describes it.

A double role

Directing a show and playing in it at the same time means being able to change the rhythm of the evening in real time. In a show that depends on the children's answers and the audience's reactions, having the director at the piano is a practical advantage before it is an artistic one.

Live music

The piano accompanies every scene, every word, and the moments when people sing. Those sitting in the front rows of the orchestra section see her work up close: it's worth watching her, every now and then, instead of watching only Ruffini.

A curiosity about Il Babysitter with Paolo Ruffini at the Teatro Brancaccio, December 21 and 22, 2026

The curiosity is in the title. Before becoming a podcast and a show, babysitters had already passed through Paolo Ruffini's career: in 2016 he was among the cast of the film I babysitter by Giovanni Bognetti, produced by Colorado Film, alongside Francesco Mandelli and Andrea Pisani. It was a comedy in the plural, with adults struggling to look after children. Today's Il Babysitter is in the singular and has flipped the perspective: here it is the children who look after the adults, explain the world to them, and remind them what it meant to believe in Christmas.

There is a second curiosity, tied to the hall. The Brancaccio is the theater where Gigi Proietti worked as artistic director on behalf of the City from 2000 to 2007, and Ruffini belongs to a generation of comedians who also grew up with Christmas television, holiday movies, and Christmas Eve specials. On Christmas night itself, three years in a row, Italia 1 aired his Up&Down. Bringing a Christmas show to the stage on Via Merulana, three days before Christmas Eve, closes a fairly precise circle. And the hall, with its original 2,000 seats, is big enough to hold the cheer of an audience of families.

The Teatro Brancaccio: what the hall is like

The Teatro Brancaccio, at Via Merulana 244, has had its present layout since 1937: two foyers, a wide orchestra section, and two balcony levels, for about 2,000 seats at the time of its inauguration. It is the Roman hall of the great popular show.

The sections

The theater's booking system divides the hall into many tiers: in the orchestra, Poltronissima Gold and Gold VIP, Poltronissima A and B, Poltrona A and B, above, the first and second balconies, each in A and B. For Il Babysitter the theater publishes prices for seven sections, from Poltronissima A to the second balcony B.

Where to sit with children

Here the verdict is clear. In a show where the audience goes up on stage and the protagonists are children, closeness is everything: Poltronissima A and Poltrona A are the right seats. Children in the orchestra section see well and feel part of the evening. The first balcony suits groups who want to spend less, the second I'd recommend only to those who want to be there at all costs.

Via Merulana hub

Next to the main hall is the Brancaccino, a theater of about a hundred seats devoted to contemporary playwriting and children's theater, with a park area and a terrace on the street. The complex is also home to the Accademia STAP Brancaccio, the Brancaccio Musical Academy, and the Brancaccio Danza center. The listing for the venue is the one for the Teatro Brancaccio.

Something nobody tells you about Il Babysitter with Paolo Ruffini at the Teatro Brancaccio, December 21 and 22, 2026

What nobody says is that Il Babysitter works better with an adult ready to play along than with a child brought to see a show. The theater presents it as theater with children, and the difference shows in the structure: every night the audience takes part, brings letters, goes up on stage, and answers questions. Anyone expecting to sit and watch, as at a live cartoon, has picked the wrong night.

The second point concerns the hour. The performances are at 9 p.m. on a Monday and a Tuesday, and the show runs 110 minutes: you come out a little before 11, and then there's the trip home. With children under six it's a long evening, even if schools in those days are almost on vacation. It's best to bring kids eight and up, who understand the jokes aimed at adults, and save the youngest for another occasion.

The third point is the tone. The show laughs, but it also talks about faith in the broadest sense, children's faith in Christmas and in people. Anyone who knows Ruffini only from Colorado or the Christmas movies will find a tenderer register, closer to that of Up&Down.

How to get to the Teatro Brancaccio for Il Babysitter

The Brancaccio is less than a kilometer from Termini station and a few minutes' walk from the Vittorio Emanuele stop on Metro Line A. It is one of the best-served areas of Rome for public transport.

By metro

The most convenient stop is Vittorio Emanuele, on Line A: you exit onto Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and reach Via Merulana in a few minutes. Alternatively there is Cavour, on Line B, with a longer walk. From Termini you can do the whole thing on foot by way of Santa Maria Maggiore.

By bus and tram

The theater lists three stops. On Via Merulana, at the Merulana/Brancaccio and Merulana/Mecenate stops, lines 16, 75, 714, 717, and C3 pass. At the Labicana/Merulana stop pass lines 3, 53, 75, 85, 87, 186, 571, 810, C3, and the night line N10, useful for getting home after 11.

By taxi

The nearest taxi stands noted by the theater are Largo Brancaccio, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, Via Principe Amedeo, Via Giolitti, and Via Venosta. At the exit, with an audience of families all leaving together, the Largo Brancaccio stand empties in a few minutes: better to move to Piazza Vittorio or to book a ride.

By car

I advise against it. The theater lists no partner parking lots and the Esquilino, in the week before Christmas, has little free street parking. If you're coming from outside Rome, leave the car near a metro station.

The tip I give you for visiting Il Babysitter with Paolo Ruffini at the Teatro Brancaccio, December 21 and 22, 2026

The tip I give families is simple and practical: choose the Monday, December 21, performance, buy seats in the orchestra section, and have the children write the letter to Santa Claus before leaving home. The show includes that moment, and arriving prepared turns an evening at the theater into a small ritual.

Then plan the afternoon. The Brancaccio sits between Santa Maria Maggiore and Piazza Vittorio: if you arrive at 6:30 p.m. you have time for a walk to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is full of light during the Christmas days, and for a quick dinner before 8:15. Show up at the theater a good half hour early: the house rules ask you to arrive before the start, you can't enter once the show has begun, and umbrellas go to the coat check.

During the show keep your phones off. The house rules forbid photos and recording, and in a show where children go up on stage it is a basic form of respect. If your child is called on stage, let them go: those are the moments the audience remembers most, and the ones in which Ruffini is at his best.

Tickets for Il Babysitter: box office and presale

Tickets for Il Babysitter at the Brancaccio are bought at the theater box office at Via Merulana 244 or through the presale network authorized by the organizers, reachable from the Buy button on the show's official page. The page also has a booking form with a choice of date and section.

The box office

The box office is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m., it is closed on Monday, and on Sunday it opens only during show hours when a show is scheduled. Note: the first performance falls on a Monday, the box office's regular closing day. Anyone who wants to buy in person should stop by in the preceding days.

Discounts

The theater's rules provide that discounted tickets are valid only with a document proving entitlement to the discount. The applicable discounts are those set by the production and indicated by the box office.

Buy early

Only two performances, in the week before Christmas, with an audience of families who also buy tickets as gifts: if you want the orchestra section, don't wait until December.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

It's well known that Paolo Ruffini is a television comedian, the host of Colorado, the face of the Christmas movies. It's less often remembered how much theater there is in his career, and for how long. Io doppio, his longest-running show, has been on stage since 2004. In 2013 he was in the musical The Full Monty with Paolo Calabresi and Pietro Sermonti, in 2014 in Cercasi Cenerentola with Manuel Frattini for the Compagnia della Rancia, and in 2017 he was Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Massimiliano Bruno.

Even less cited is his behind-the-scenes work. With Vera, the company he founded in 2020 and which also produces Il Babysitter, Ruffini has become one of the most active directors and producers in Italian comedy theater: he has directed the shows of Vincenzo Schettini, Max Angioni, Herbert Ballerina, Teo Mammucari, Ubaldo Pantani, Casa Surace, and many others, often talents who came up on the web. It's the work of a capocomico, in the old sense of the term, and it explains why Il Babysitter, born from a podcast, has a solid theatrical structure: behind it is someone who in recent years has put dozens of creators and comedians on stage.

House rules at the Brancaccio

The Teatro Brancaccio's rules ask you to arrive before the start and forbid entry once the show has begun, photos and recording during the performance, and food in the hall. They apply to Il Babysitter as well.

Seats and checks

You occupy only your assigned seat, without moving even to empty seats. Hall staff may ask to see your ticket at any time.

Prohibited items

Umbrellas go to the coat check. It is forbidden to bring in plastic bottles larger than half a liter, glass, helmets, professional cameras, tripods, and selfie sticks. Food and drinks are consumed only at the bar.

Phones

The rules forbid photographing and recording the show, even with a cell phone. With children on stage, the rule counts double.

The right photo to take at Il Babysitter with Paolo Ruffini at the Teatro Brancaccio, December 21 and 22, 2026

In the hall you don't take photos, and with children on stage you shouldn't even try. The right photo is taken outside, before or after.

The first is in front of the Brancaccio's entrance on Via Merulana, with the show's poster and the children holding their letters, before going in. It's the photo that tells the story of the evening without breaking any rule, and years from now it will remind you how old they were that Christmas.

The second is for those who arrive early. Via Merulana runs straight between two major basilicas, Santa Maria Maggiore on one side and San Giovanni in Laterano on the other: looking up Via Merulana to the north, the illuminated basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore closes the perspective. On December evenings, with the holiday lights, it is one of the most successful shots of the Esquilino.

The third is for those who stay in the area after the show: the Alchemical Gate in the gardens of Piazza Vittorio. It has to be shot in daylight, before the show, but it's worth the detour.

Il Babysitter with children and teenagers

Il Babysitter is classified by the theater among comedy shows for families, and its protagonists are three children: it is designed for adults and young people together. The 9 p.m. start and the 110-minute running time, however, need to be factored in.

The right age

From age eight the show can be followed and enjoyed, older kids catch the jokes aimed at adults too. For the youngest, the evening ends late.

Preparing them

Explain that they may be called on stage, that there are other children on stage, and that you laugh but also listen. And have them write the letter.

A style choice

Comfortable clothes, no evening wear: it's a Christmas show for families, not an opera opening night.

Accessibility at the Teatro Brancaccio

The Teatro Brancaccio states that it has no architectural barriers to access the orchestra section: there is a ramp, an area for wheelchairs, and an accessible restroom on the ground floor, reachable from the foyer. The balconies are not wheelchair accessible, because there are no elevators.

Reserved seats

For performances organized by the operator, the theater reserves, while supplies last, four orchestra seats for wheelchair users with a companion and two seats for people with walking difficulties, bookable at the box office with the required form and the disability certificate or the Disability Card. For visiting companies, like this one, it's best to ask the box office for confirmation when booking.

Sensory disabilities and service dogs

For spectators with visual and hearing disabilities the theater reserves orchestra seats by reservation. Those with a service dog can request to enter with the animal by writing to the box office. For a show signed by someone who has made inclusion a theme of his work, it is information worth remembering.

Some important events that have happened here through history

The history of the Teatro Brancaccio begins in January 1916, when the hall was inaugurated under the name Teatro Morgana, built up against the embankment of the gardens of the palace of the Brancaccio princes. The name recalls Isabella Field, the prince's wife, and the link to the neighboring Palazzo Brancaccio is physical even before it is nominal.

The decisive step is 1937, when the hall took its present form, with two foyers, a wide orchestra section, and two balconies, and the name Teatro Brancaccio. Since then it has been considered one of Rome's quintessential theaters, the one for the great popular show. In 1985 it became the seat of the Fondazione dell'Opera di Roma, where it remained until 2000. The City of Rome took over, entrusting the direction to Gigi Proietti until 2007, the management of Maurizio Costanzo followed until 2010 and that of Stage Entertainment Italia until 2012. Since September 2012 the artistic direction has been Alessandro Longobardi's, with Viola Produzioni.

The most recent years are those of the transformation into a cultural hub, with the Brancaccino, the acting, musical, and dance academies, and, since 2014, the Spazio Impero with nine rehearsal rooms. Il Babysitter arrives in December after a season opened by comedy and the big fall musicals.

Around the Brancaccio: Esquilino, Monti, and Via Merulana

The Teatro Brancaccio is on Via Merulana, in the Esquilino, between Santa Maria Maggiore, the Colosseum, and San Giovanni in Laterano. Anyone who arrives an hour early has around them one of the densest areas of history in the city.

A few steps away

Via Merulana connects two major basilicas, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. John Lateran. On the same street are Palazzo Merulana, with its twentieth-century art collection, and a little farther on the Auditorium of Maecenas. To the west you descend into the Monti district.

Where to eat

Via Merulana and the nearby streets have neighborhood bars and restaurants for a quick meal before 8:30. Piazza Vittorio and its surroundings are the multiethnic Esquilino, with cuisines from half the world and modest prices, the Nuovo Mercato Esquilino conveys its character well, but it is a daytime market. Monti, a quarter of an hour's walk away, has trattorias and wine bars. In Christmas week always book ahead.

The Esquilino at night

Take your walk beforehand, not afterward: at 11 at night the neighborhood, for those who don't know it, is less welcoming than the historic center, and with tired children it's best to head straight home.

Who has passed through Il Babysitter with Paolo Ruffini at the Teatro Brancaccio, December 21 and 22, 2026

Some of the greatest names in Italian and international entertainment have passed across the Brancaccio's stage. The theater itself recalls a few: Totò, Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, and Gigi Proietti among the actors, Fabrizio De André, Louis Armstrong, and Jimi Hendrix among the musicians. It's a list that tells the nature of the hall: variety, Roman cinema, the singer-songwriter tradition, and rock all had a home here before the musical.

For a Christmas comedy show the name to mention is Proietti, who worked at the Brancaccio as an actor and as director from 2000 to 2007, a master of a popular theater able to be on television without losing the stage. After him came Maurizio Costanzo, with whom Ruffini himself had worked in 2008 in Portami tante rose.it, the show conceived by Costanzo with Enrico Vaime.

In December 2026 the Brancaccio also hosts concerts like that of Mario Biondi on December 14. Paolo Ruffini, Claudia Campolongo, and the young Isabel, Leonardo, and Nicholas thus enter a hall where Totò and Hendrix passed before them.

Rome before Christmas: the Il Babysitter season

The two Il Babysitter performances fall on December 21 and 22, in the days when Rome enters the thick of the holidays and schools close for vacation. It's the best moment for a family show.

The weather

December evenings are cool and often damp. The theater asks that umbrellas be left at the coat check: allow a few extra minutes at the entrance on rainy nights.

What to do on the same days

For an idea of the lights, the nativity scenes, and the season's events there is the guide to Christmas in Rome. With teenagers, an afternoon among the nativity scenes of the Esquilino churches and the show in the evening make a full day.

Frequently asked questions about Il Babysitter at the Brancaccio

When does Paolo Ruffini's Il Babysitter play in Rome?

Paolo Ruffini's Il Babysitter plays at the Teatro Brancaccio in Rome on Monday, December 21, and Tuesday, December 22, 2026, starting at 9 p.m. The show runs 110 minutes, so you're out shortly before 11. There are two evening performances in the week before Christmas.

How much are tickets for Il Babysitter at the Brancaccio?

For Il Babysitter the Teatro Brancaccio publishes full prices from 27 euros in the second balcony B to 45 euros in Poltronissima A, in between are Poltrona A at 40 euros, Poltrona B and first balcony A at 35 euros, first balcony B and second balcony A at 31 euros. Sales fees may be added.

Where do you buy tickets for Il Babysitter?

Tickets for Il Babysitter are bought at the box office of the Teatro Brancaccio at Via Merulana 244, open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m., or through the authorized presale network reachable from the Buy button on the show's official page. The box office is closed on Monday.

Is Il Babysitter a show for children?

Il Babysitter presents itself as theater with children and for everyone, not as theater for children: on stage are three children alongside Paolo Ruffini and the audience is drawn in every night. With the 9 p.m. start and 110-minute running time, it is better suited to kids eight and up.

Where does the show Il Babysitter come from?

Il Babysitter grew out of the podcast of the same name created and hosted by Paolo Ruffini. The stage show, written by Ruffini with Claudia Campolongo and produced by Vera Produzione, alternates monologues, live piano music, and video inserts taken from the podcast, and stars three children.

How do you get to the Teatro Brancaccio?

The Teatro Brancaccio is at Via Merulana 244, a few minutes' walk from the Vittorio Emanuele stop on Metro Line A. Lines 16, 75, 714, 717, and C3 run along Via Merulana, at the Labicana/Merulana stop there is also the night line N10, convenient for getting home after the show.

Do you need to bring anything to the show?

You can bring a letter to Santa Claus to Il Babysitter: the theater explains that every night the audience is drawn in, and some bring the letter and some go up on stage. Umbrellas must be left at the coat check and photos are not allowed in the hall.

The final tip on Il Babysitter

Il Babysitter is the right choice for anyone looking for a Christmas evening to share with kids who are already fairly big, without the solemnity of an opera house and with something more than a simple comedy show. Take the orchestra section, arrive early, bring the letter, and keep your phones in your pockets: the rest is done by three children and a comedian who has learned to stand one step back.

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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