Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia at Nuovo Teatro Orione, April 16, 2027

Il più grande tributo a Mina, the show in which Michela Borgia performs live the hits of the singer from Cremona, comes to Nuovo Teatro Orione on Friday, April 16, 2027 at 21:00. The theater is at Via Tortona 7 (00183 Rome), in the Appio Latino neighborhood, about 300 meters from the Re di Roma and Ponte Lungo stops of Metro A. On the presale network authorized by the organizers, full-price tickets cost €36 in the orchestra and €30 in the gallery, plus service fees. The show is organized by AR Live and brings Mina's songs to the stage in their original versions and keys, with costume, makeup and hairstyle changes inspired by the singer's.

The Mina tribute at Teatro Orione: date, time and tickets

Il più grande tributo a Mina is staged at Nuovo Teatro Orione for one night only, Friday, April 16, 2027 at 21:00.

One night in Rome

Michela Borgia's show has been touring Italy and abroad for several years, in theaters, squares and clubs. The Rome evening is in a theater of almost a thousand seats, with orchestra and gallery: a suitable size for a concert of songs many in the audience know by heart.

Prices

On the authorized presale network full-price tickets cost €36 in the orchestra and €30 in the gallery. The price includes the presale fee set by the organizer, and service fees are added at the time of purchase.

Where to buy them

Tickets are sold on the presale network authorized by the organizers, including by phone through its call center. For information about the hall you can contact Nuovo Teatro Orione at 06 83546662 or info@teatrorione.it.

What you'll see in Michela Borgia's tribute

Il più grande tributo a Mina offers Mina's greatest hits sung live, in their original versions and keys, with anecdotes about the singer's personal and artistic life and costume, makeup and hairstyle changes faithful to the originals.

The songs

The heart of the show is Mina's hits, performed in the keys she sang them in: a demanding choice, given the range of a voice critics consider one of the most gifted in Italian song. The set list is not published, but the repertoire to draw on spans more than 60 years of career.

The singer-songwriters

The show is enriched by songs of the great Italian singer-songwriters performed by Mina, from Luigi Tenco to Fabrizio De André, up to the pairing that, as the presentation says, got whole generations singing: Mina sings Battisti.

Costumes, makeup, anecdotes

Alongside the music, the tribute takes care of the image: stage costumes, makeup and hairstyles recalling those the singer wore in her performances. Between songs, anecdotes about Mina's life tie the pieces into a story.

A tribute, not an imitation

In our view the key to enjoying the evening is accepting its terms: nobody can replace Mina, who hasn't performed live since 1978. A tribute is a way to hear those songs again in a theater, with a real voice singing them live, in a shared experience records can't give.

Michela Borgia and the national tribute to Mina

Michela Borgia is the performer of Il più grande tributo a Mina, presented as the national tribute to the singer, which she has been taking around Italy and abroad for several years.

A traveling project

The tribute is designed to travel: its official presentation says it's available all over Italy and abroad at any time of year, for squares, theaters, clubs and beach venues. The show is also on the program of Area Zelig.

A celebration

In the presale network's description, the show is a celebration in homage to the great artist, with stage costumes, makeup and hairstyles that evoke magical atmospheres. Michela Borgia's name is linked almost exclusively to this project: no detailed biography of the performer has been published.

A musical journey

The official presentation describes the show as an engaging musical journey, made of emotions and indelible memories. It's the promise of every good tribute: to bring the audience back into an era through the songs that accompanied it, and to do so in a theater, with a voice singing live in front of the listeners, in the same hall.

Who Mina is: a career since 1958

Mina, the stage name of Mina Anna Mazzini, was born in Busto Arsizio on March 25, 1940. She has been active since 1958 and, with more than 150 million records sold according to estimates, she is the best-selling Italian music artist in the world, a record she shares with Adriano Celentano.

Cremona and the Bussola

At the beginning of 1943 the family moved to Cremona, her adopted city. In the summer of 1958, on vacation in Forte dei Marmi, friends dared her to get up on the stage of the Bussola in Marina di Pietrasanta: it was her first performance, improvised. A week later she offered herself as singer to a band in Cremona, and her career began.

The Tiger of Cremona

She was soon given the nickname Tigre di Cremona, the Tiger of Cremona, for her raspy, gripping voice. On January 16, 1960 Tintarella di luna, written by Franco Migliacci and Bruno De Filippi, reached the top of the singles chart for the first time and stayed there three weeks.

Television

In the 1960s and 1970s Mina hosted some of Rai's most popular programs: Studio Uno, Canzonissima, Senza rete and Milleluci, her last TV show, hosted in 1974 with Raffaella Carrà. In 1967 she founded the record label PDU in Lugano with her father, and from then on she recorded for it.

Mogol, Battisti and the 1970s

At the start of the 1970s she became one of the favorite performers of Mogol and Lucio Battisti, who gave her Insieme, Io e te da soli, Amor mio and La mente torna. In 1972 she sang Parole parole with Alberto Lupo, and the same year Grande grande grande came out.

The last concert

In 1978 Mina returned to live performance at the Bussoladomani tent theater in Lido di Camaiore. On August 23, 1978 she gave the last concert of her career. Since then she has sung only in the studio, releasing albums of new songs and tributes to other writers.

The numbers

Over her career she has released more than 1,500 tracks. Nine songs reached number one on the Italian weekly chart and 25 albums hit number one, an Italian record. She took part in the Sanremo Festival twice and received, among other honors, a Targa Tenco and the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Mina sings Battisti and the singer-songwriters

Mina has devoted entire albums to the writers she loved: she paid tribute to Lucio Battisti with Minacantalucio in 1975, Mazzini canta Battisti in 1994 and Paradiso in 2018.

The tributes

Besides Battisti, Mina's discography includes Mina canta i Beatles from 1993, Mina quasi Jannacci from 1977 and Canzoni d'autore from 1996, devoted to the great Italian singer-songwriters. Since the 1980s her output has alternated albums of new songs and monographs on genres and artists: Neapolitan song, sacred music, Frank Sinatra, Domenico Modugno, Renato Zero.

De André and Morricone

Among the singer-songwriter songs that have crossed her career is Fabrizio De André's Crêuza de mä, sung again in 2020 by 18 Italian artists, Mina among them, for the inauguration of Genoa's new San Giorgio viaduct. And there's Se telefonando, presented on Studio Uno, written by Maurizio Costanzo and Ghigo De Chiara with music by Ennio Morricone: in 2010 an online poll named it the public's favorite song.

Why the tribute focuses on Battisti

The show's presentation speaks of Mina canta Battisti as the pairing that got whole generations singing. It's probably the moment the Teatro Orione hall will sing loudest: songs like Insieme or Amor mio are shared heritage for those who lived through the 1970s and those who discovered them later.

Mina songs to listen to again before the tribute

Mina's songs span more than 60 years: to arrive prepared at Teatro Orione it's worth going over a few of them, decade by decade.

The Tiger years

Nessuno, sung on Canzonissima in 1959, and above all Tintarella di luna, the first number one of her career in January 1960, tell of the young "urlatrice," the shouter. In 1962 many of the songs presented on Studio Uno went into the album Moliendo café.

Studio Uno and the great writers

Se telefonando, written by Maurizio Costanzo and Ghigo De Chiara with music by Ennio Morricone, only reached 11th place in the charts, but over time it has become one of the best-known Italian songs of all. Il cielo in una stanza, from 1960, is another classic not to forget.

The 1970s

After the Mogol and Battisti songs came Grande grande grande, in 1972, E poi, in 1973, and the duet with Alberto Lupo Parole parole, theme of Teatro 10. The closing theme of Milleluci, Non gioco più, already seems to announce her retirement from the stage.

After 1978

From the 1990s and 2000s come Grande amore, Oggi sono io, a cover of a song by Alex Britti, and Adesso è facile, sung with Afterhours: proof that Mina's voice has kept speaking with different generations of musicians.

Mina live: the Bussola and the live albums

Mina tied most of her concerts to the Bussola, the Versilia club where she had debuted in 1958, and to its evolution into a tent theater, Bussoladomani.

The live albums

On April 20, 2024 Warner released the box set Live alla Bussola 1968-1978, in a limited numbered edition, with the four albums recorded live during her career. The third live album was taken from a sound check recording arranged by engineer Nuccio Rinaldis, in agreement with conductor Pino Presti, on the very night of the last concert, August 23, 1978.

Lugano 1970

Another document is Mina Live 1970, released for Record Store Day: eight tracks recorded during the Cabaret recital at the Auditorium of Radio Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, in October 1970. For anyone going to Teatro Orione, these records are the closest comparison to a real concert.

A curious fact about Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia at Nuovo Teatro Orione, April 16, 2027

The nicest curious fact about Mina concerns her debut, which happened on a dare. In the summer of 1958, 18-year-old Mina Mazzini was on vacation with her family in Forte dei Marmi when her friends dared her to get up on the stage of the Bussola in Marina di Pietrasanta, right after a performance by Cuban singer Don Marino Barreto Jr. She accepted. A week later, in Cremona, she showed up at the home of brothers Nino and Renzo Donzelli to offer herself as the singer of their band. The greatest career in Italian song began like this, with a dare among young people on a summer night.

The second curious fact concerns the circle closing. 20 years after that improvised debut, Mina gave her last concert in Versilia, at the Bussoladomani tent theater in Lido di Camaiore, on August 23, 1978. The evenings were introduced by monologues from comic actors, including Walter Chiari, Gino Bramieri and La Smorfia, with Massimo Troisi, Enzo Decaro and Lello Arena. From then on, anyone wanting to hear Mina's songs live, as at Teatro Orione on April 16, can do so only through other people's voices.

Nuovo Teatro Orione: the history of the venue

Teatro Orione was born in the early 1950s in the Appio Latino neighborhood and today, under the name Nuovo Teatro Orione, has 980 seats and a large stage.

Opera, operetta and marionettes

In its early years the hall was a cultural landmark of the neighborhood, with a program of opera and operetta and dance evenings with ballerina Ivana Gattei. In the 1960s came guest shows like I piccoli di Podrecca, Vittorio Podrecca's marionette company, while its use as a cinema grew. Next to the theater the Arena opened for summer screenings.

Film set and TV studios

In the 1970s Orione became a film studio and hosted the shooting of several films, including La pretora with Oreste Lionello and Edwige Fenech. In the 1980s the stage was used for rehearsals of big productions by Gigi Proietti and Ugo Tognazzi. In the 1990s, having left cinema behind, the hall hosted television productions, largely for the Mediaset networks.

Nuovo Teatro Orione

In the 2000s the hall became a reference point for dance. With the new management it presents itself as Nuovo Teatro Orione, with a large foyer designed for aperitivos with live music and exhibitions, a theater course and a stated policy: to host every form of performance and reward the new.

Something nobody tells you about Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia at Nuovo Teatro Orione, April 16, 2027

What is rarely said, when talking about Mina tributes, is how hard it is to sing her songs in their original keys. Mina's voice is described as having great breadth and range, with remarkable power and flexibility, supported by rock-solid technique. The presentation of Michela Borgia's tribute stresses the choice to sing those songs in their original versions and keys, without adapting them to a more comfortable voice. It's a detail the audience doesn't always notice, but it makes the difference between an evening of songs and a faithful homage.

The second thing concerns Rome. Mina has a bond with the city that the Orione audience can find in the songs: after the scandal caused by her pregnancy, it was the thunderous applause of the audience at Teatro delle Vittorie in Rome that showed her affection and support, and marked her definitive return. In 1976 she presented Colpa mia live from a recording studio in Rome for Swiss Italian television. Hearing those songs in a Roman theater has a special meaning.

My tip for Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia at Nuovo Teatro Orione, April 16, 2027

My advice is to listen again, in the days before the evening, to three moments of Mina's career that will very probably find room in the set list: the Tiger of Cremona years, with Tintarella di luna, the Studio Uno years and the great writers, with Morricone's Se telefonando, and the Mogol and Battisti years, with Insieme and Amor mio. Arriving in the hall with these songs in your ear lets you appreciate the care taken over arrangements and keys.

The second tip concerns your seat. The difference between orchestra and gallery is six euros: for a show in which costumes, makeup and hairstyles also count, in our view the orchestra is worth the difference, because it lets you see the details of the costume changes. The third concerns getting there: on a Friday evening Appio Latino is congested, and Metro A, Re di Roma or Ponte Lungo stop, is the calmest choice.

How to get to Nuovo Teatro Orione

Nuovo Teatro Orione, at Via Tortona 7, is reached by Metro A: the Re di Roma and Ponte Lungo stops are both about 300 meters away, a few minutes on foot. Via Tortona is about 150 meters from Via Appia Nuova.

By metro

From Termini, Line A toward Anagnina reaches Re di Roma in a few minutes, passing through San Giovanni. From Piazza dei Re di Roma you walk toward Via Appia Nuova and turn into Via Tortona. From the Ponte Lungo stop the walk is about the same length.

By train

Roma Tuscolana station is about 700 meters from the theater as the crow flies: it's convenient if you are coming from the surrounding province. In the evening trains are less frequent, so check your return beforehand.

By bus

Via Appia Nuova is served by several surface lines. In the evening frequencies drop: plan your route with the ATAC route planner before leaving, especially for the trip back.

By car

Appio Latino is outside the ZTL. Finding parking in the streets around Appia Nuova, narrow and densely populated, takes time: if you come by car, allow at least an extra quarter of an hour.

Another well-known fact, yet one rarely mentioned

It's well known that Mina stopped performing live in 1978. Less often mentioned is that she never stopped working: since then she has kept recording on her own label, PDU, founded in Lugano in 1967 with her father, and her albums have reached number one 25 times, the best result of all time in Italy, ahead of Vasco Rossi. Leaving the stage was not leaving music: Mina's voice has been present for more than 40 years without the public seeing her on a stage.

A second rarely mentioned fact concerns international acclaim. On the world stage the singer has won the admiration of artists like Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Liza Minnelli, Sarah Vaughan, Céline Dion, Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo. On February 3, 2022, at the Sanremo Festival, host Amadeus paid tribute to her to the notes of Grande grande grande played by the orchestra, recalling that the President of the Republic, present in the hall, had attended one of her last concerts in 1978.

The right photo to take at Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia at Nuovo Teatro Orione, April 16, 2027

The right photo is taken before the start, in front of the Nuovo Teatro Orione facade on Via Tortona, with the historic sign lit up above the entrance. It's a sign from another era, and its style matches the 1960s and 1970s songs you'll hear inside.

During the show, the rules on photos and filming are those set by the organizers and the venue. My advice is to take few shots and no flash: in a tribute where care for the image is part of the show, the best moment is a costume change, when the stage recomposes itself and the lights change.

The third photo is taken in the large foyer, ticket in hand: a souvenir for those who came to the theater with family or friends, perhaps with one generation that saw Mina on television and another that discovered her later.

Appio Latino, Teatro Orione's neighborhood

Via Tortona is in Appio Latino, the neighborhood between Via Appia Nuova and Via Latina, south of the Aurelian Walls: a dense residential neighborhood with lively street life.

Between Appia Nuova and Tuscolana

The theater is about 150 meters from Via Appia Nuova, the area's commercial spine, and a few hundred meters from Piazza dei Re di Roma. Farther east runs Via Tuscolana, with Roma Tuscolana station.

Green space nearby

South of the neighborhood opens Caffarella Park, part of the Appia Antica Park system. In mid-April, with the days already long, a late-afternoon walk is a good way to arrive at the show. It's best to leave before dark.

San Giovanni a few stops away

Metro A connects Orione to San Giovanni in a few minutes. If you arrive in the afternoon you can combine the show with a visit to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano and the Holy Stairs, checking the day's opening hours.

Some important events that happened here in history

The history of Teatro Orione begins in the early 1950s, when the hall opened in Appio Latino with a program of opera, operetta and dance evenings with ballerina Ivana Gattei. In the 1960s came I piccoli di Podrecca, while the hall worked more and more as a cinema and the Arena for summer screenings opened next door.

In the 1970s Orione became a film studio, where films like La pretora were shot. These were the same years in which Mina hosted Milleluci with Raffaella Carrà, in 1974, and gave, in 1978, the last concert of her career. In the 1980s the Orione stage hosted rehearsals of big productions by Gigi Proietti and Ugo Tognazzi.

With the 1990s the cinema era closed: the hall became home to television productions, mainly for Mediaset. In the 2000s it hosted mostly dance events, then came the Nuovo Teatro Orione phase, with a new management focused on drama, concerts, comedy and family shows. On April 16, 2027 the hall welcomes Mina's songs, born largely in the same decades in which Orione moved from operetta to cinema and television.

Who has passed through Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia at Nuovo Teatro Orione, April 16, 2027

Across the Orione stage passed, in the 1950s, ballerina Ivana Gattei and opera and operetta singers, in the 1960s the marionettes of I Piccoli di Podrecca, in the 1970s Oreste Lionello and Edwige Fenech for the shooting of La pretora, and in the 1980s Gigi Proietti and Ugo Tognazzi for the rehearsals of their shows. In the 2026 and 2027 season the program has lined up very different audiences: the family magic show Back to School, the dance crew Royal Family Europe and Arteteca with Operazione Cicogna.

Some of the biggest names in Italian music have passed through Mina's career, which the tribute tells: Mogol and Lucio Battisti, Ennio Morricone, Maurizio Costanzo, Lina Wertmüller, Alberto Lupo, Raffaella Carrà, Pino Presti, her arranger in the 1970s, and singer-songwriters Luigi Tenco and Fabrizio De André, mentioned in the show's presentation. On April 16, through Michela Borgia's voice, all of them pass through Via Tortona.

Where to eat near Teatro Orione

Appio Latino has a wide choice of pizzerias, neighborhood trattorias, bakeries and gelato shops, concentrated along Via Appia Nuova and around Piazza dei Re di Roma and Piazza Tuscolo.

Before the show

With a 21:00 start, dinner around 19:30 at a trattoria or pizzeria in the area leaves time to get to the theater without rushing. On a Friday night, book ahead.

After the show

On Friday night many places in the neighborhood stay open later than on weekdays. If you want to eat after the show you can also move toward San Giovanni by Metro A.

Accessibility and practical information

Nuovo Teatro Orione does not publish detailed information on the hall's accessibility: if you have particular needs, contact the theater at 06 83546662 or info@teatrorione.it before the show.

Punctuality

With almost a thousand seats and an audience that arrives all at once, getting in can take time. Arriving 20 minutes early lets you find your seat calmly. The length of the show is not published.

With the family

A Mina tribute is an evening suited to several generations: grandparents who remember her on television, parents who grew up with Battisti's songs, kids who discovered her later. For young children the 21:00 time is late.

Mid-April in Rome

The April 16 tribute falls on a spring Friday, when Roman evenings are mild and the city is full of visitors.

The weather

In mid-April evening temperatures are generally pleasant, but when you leave the theater a light layer is useful.

A weekend in the city

If you are coming from outside, you can make the evening the start of a Roman weekend: Caffarella and the Appia Antica on Saturday morning, San Giovanni in the afternoon. In spring, book trains and accommodation in good time.

Frequently asked questions about the Mina tribute at Teatro Orione

When is the Mina tribute at Teatro Orione?

Il più grande tributo a Mina with Michela Borgia is staged at Nuovo Teatro Orione, Via Tortona 7, on Friday, April 16, 2027 at 21:00. It is a single date, organized by AR Live.

How much are tickets for the Mina tribute?

Full-price tickets for the Mina tribute at Teatro Orione cost €36 in the orchestra and €30 in the gallery on the presale network authorized by the organizers, plus service fees.

Who sings in the Mina tribute?

In Il più grande tributo a Mina the singer is Michela Borgia, who has been taking the show around Italy and abroad for several years. She performs Mina's hits live in their original versions and keys, with costumes, makeup and hairstyles inspired by the singer's.

Which songs will you hear?

The Mina tribute offers the singer's greatest hits and the songs by the singer-songwriters she performed, from Tenco to De André, up to Mina sings Battisti. The full set list is not published.

Where is Nuovo Teatro Orione?

Nuovo Teatro Orione is at Via Tortona 7, in the Appio Latino neighborhood, about 300 meters from the Re di Roma and Ponte Lungo stops of Metro A and 150 meters from Via Appia Nuova.

Does Mina still perform live?

Mina hasn't performed live since August 23, 1978, the date of her last concert at Bussoladomani in Lido di Camaiore. Since then she has recorded only in the studio: that's why tributes like Michela Borgia's are the only way to hear her songs in a theater.

My final tip on the Mina tribute at Teatro Orione

Il più grande tributo a Mina is, in our view, an evening for people who love Italian songs and want to sing them in company: the original keys, the singer-songwriters, Battisti, the stage costumes. My advice is to choose the orchestra to enjoy the costume changes, take Metro A to Re di Roma and go with someone from another generation, to compare memories on the way out. Mina hasn't sung live for almost 50 years: for one night, Teatro Orione tries to give back the emotion of those songs heard in a full hall.

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

Planning a trip to Rome? The English-language guides for visiting the city are on ItalyPlanner.com.