Madri Costituenti at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, November 29, 2026

Madri Costituenti is on stage on Sunday, November 29, 2026, at 18:00 at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, Viale Rousseau 90, in the northeast of Rome, between Casal de' Pazzi and Ponte Mammolo. It's a song theater show dedicated to the 21 women elected to the Constituent Assembly, written by Silvia Mirabelli and produced by the Roman company Il NaufragarMèDolce, as part of the Prove Aperte di Civiltà 2026 series. Admission is free with mandatory booking, through the platform listed on the event page of the Culture di Roma Capitale portal. For information the company answers at 351 907 3887 and info@ilnaufragarmedolce.it. The villa that houses the Casa del Municipio can be reached on Metro B: the nearest stations are Ponte Mammolo and Rebibbia on the main line and Conca d'Oro on the B1 branch. For the last stretch by bus, use the Rome transit company's journey planner.

Language: a performance based on dance, music or visual acts; no English version is announced, any spoken parts are in Italian.

Madri Costituenti in Rome at a glance

Madri Costituenti is a show that weaves theater and music together to tell the story of the women who helped give birth to the Italian Constitution. The official presentation speaks of historical memory and contemporary vision, of storytelling, songs and testimonies in dialogue with the present.

Date, time and place

There's only one date: Sunday, November 29, 2026, at 18:00. The venue is the Casa del Municipio Roma IV named after Hypatia of Alexandria, at Viale Rousseau 90, the villa built in 1940 for the Fascist official Roberto Farinacci and given back to the neighborhood after a long restoration. The length of the show hasn't been published.

Admission and booking

Admission is free, but booking is mandatory. The booking link is published on the Madri Costituenti page of the Culture di Roma Capitale portal and on the series page of the company's website. The seats in a municipal hall aren't those of a big theater: book as soon as you decide to go.

Who's on stage

The Culture portal lists Chiara Casarico and Desirée Infascelli on stage. The program published by the company adds the author herself, Silvia Mirabelli, to the two actresses. The sources don't agree on the number of performers, but they agree on the script, by Mirabelli, and on the production by Il NaufragarMèDolce.

The context: Prove Aperte di Civiltà

The show is part of Prove Aperte di Civiltà, the series of theater, music and performing arts that Il NaufragarMèDolce brings from September 25 to December 17, 2026, to several venues in Municipi IV, VII, X and XI. The project won Roma Capitale's public call Lo spettacolo dal vivo fuori dal Centro 2026 and is supported by the Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with SIAE.

What you'll see in Madri Costituenti

Madri Costituenti is song theater: the spoken word alternates with music, and the story runs through the biographies of real women. The official page describes a show that gives voice back to the Mothers of the Constitution through storytelling, songs and testimonies, with the aim of helping new generations recognize the value of democracy, equality and civic engagement.

A script by an under-35 writer

The script is by Silvia Mirabelli, flagged by the program as an under-35 author. The detail isn't minor: the public call that funds the series values young artists, and the company built part of the lineup around new names. It's a generation that knows the Constituent Assembly from school textbooks and tries to bring it back to the stage in its own words.

Song theater

Song theater is a form the series returns to often: in the same lineup, in September, another show of storytelling and songs told the story of the 1970s. In Madri Costituenti the music has a precise role: the songs act as a bridge between the documents of 1946 and 1947 and the sensibility of today's audience.

Why now

2026 marks 80 years since the vote of June 2, 1946, the first by universal suffrage in Italy, and the election of the Constituent Assembly. A show about the women of the Constituent Assembly, in a municipal house named after a woman of science, is a coincidence worth noting.

Who the Madri Costituenti were

The Madri Costituenti, the Mothers of the Constitution, are the 21 women elected on June 2, 1946, to the Constituent Assembly, out of 556 members in total. It was the first national election in which women also voted, with the right to vote extended to all Italians aged at least 21.

The Assembly in numbers

The electoral law provided for 573 deputies, but voting couldn't take place in the province of Bolzano or in Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume and Zara: so 556 were elected. The Assembly first met on June 25, 1946, with Giuseppe Saragat as president, and three days later elected Enrico De Nicola provisional head of state.

From the Commission of 75 to the final vote

The text of the Charter was prepared by the Commission of 75, organized into subcommissions and coordinated by a smaller drafting committee. The Commission finished its work on January 12, 1947, and on March 4 the debate began in the chamber. The final text was approved on December 22, 1947, and published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on December 27.

Lina Merlin and Teresa Noce

Among the 21, some went down in history for the laws that bear their names. Lina Merlin, a teacher born in Pozzonovo in 1887, was also the first woman elected to the Senate of the Republic. Her name remains tied to law no. 75 of February 20, 1958. Teresa Noce, from Turin, one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party, is remembered for the bill protecting maternity, which became law 860 in 1950.

Maria Federici and Angela Gotelli

Maria Federici, born Anna Maria Agamben in L'Aquila in 1899 and died in Rome in 1984, an anti-Fascist and partisan, sat in the Constituent Assembly for the Christian Democrats and then in the Chamber of Deputies. Angela Gotelli, born in Albareto in 1905, also a partisan, is remembered as one of the 21 elected. She returned to die in her hometown, in 1996.

Ottavia Penna Buscemi and the others

Ottavia Penna, married name Buscemi, born in Caltagirone in 1907, is remembered as the first woman candidate for president of the Republic. Alongside her sat Nadia Gallico Spano, born in Tunis in 1916, Bianca Bianchi, a teacher and writer from Vicchio, and then Adele Bei, Laura Bianchini, Elisabetta Conci, Filomena Delli Castelli, Maria De Unterrichter Jervolino, Angela Maria Guidi Cingolani, Angiola Minella, Rita Montagnana, Maria Nicotra, Elettra Pollastrini, Maria Maddalena Rossi, Vittoria Titomanlio.

Il NaufragarMèDolce, the company behind Madri Costituenti

Il NaufragarMèDolce is a Roman cultural association founded in 1996, which in 2026 celebrates 30 years of activity, with Chiara Casarico as artistic director. It produces its own shows, organizes series and festivals and runs workshops.

Chiara Casarico

Chiara Casarico directs Prove Aperte di Civiltà and is on stage in much of the lineup: in the same season she performs in Misteri Buffoni e altre storie, the civic jester show inspired by Dario Fo's theater, in the roving show Venti secondi di meraviglia, in Pop Up, Sana e Robusta Costituzione and in the new production Macbeth Machine. In Madri Costituenti she's one of the performers.

The company's other series

Besides Prove Aperte di Civiltà, the company's website presents the Agorà 2026 series, with theater and music between Rome and the villages of Lazio, the Urgenze festival spread across several venues and the TOC TOC Teatro section. Among the most recent news are the show Sillabario Pasolini, which opened the Antimateria 2026 festival, and a first prize at the Cosa direbbe oggi Pasolini competition.

A theater that goes to the neighborhoods

What Il NaufragarMèDolce's projects have in common is movement: theater leaves the halls of the center and goes into senior centers, parks, neighborhood museums, municipal houses. In 2026 the venues of Prove Aperte di Civiltà are the Museo di Casal de' Pazzi, the Centro Culturale Gabriella Ferri, Teatro del Lido in Ostia, Teatro Furio Camillo, the Centro Culturale Artemia, the Centro Sociale Anziani Casal Tidei and the Casa del Municipio Ipazia di Alessandria.

Prove Aperte di Civiltà 2026, the lineup

Prove Aperte di Civiltà 2026 includes shows, concerts, street theater and workshops from September 25 to December 17, mostly with free admission. Madri Costituenti is the late November event at the Casa del Municipio.

Before and after November 29

The next day, Monday, November 30, at 17:00, the Centro Sociale Anziani Casal Tidei hosts the first date of Macbeth Machine, a contemporary tragicomedy about power inspired by Shakespeare. The same show returns to the Casa del Municipio Ipazia di Alessandria itself on December 11, 12 and 13, and closes the series on December 17 at Teatro del Lido in Ostia.

The other dates in the lineup

The lineup also includes concerts by Maria Moramarco with the traditional singing of the Alta Murgia, one of them at the Museo di Casal de' Pazzi, Luca Radaelli's song theater on Jannacci, Gaber and Fo and a dance workshop for primary school children. The full program is on the Il NaufragarMèDolce website.

A curious fact about Madri Costituenti at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, November 29, 2026

The curiosity lies in putting the two names together. A show about the women who wrote the Constitution is staged in a villa that for decades bore the name of a Fascist official and that since March 8, 2024, has been named after Hypatia of Alexandria, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher of the 4th century. The date of the naming isn't random: International Women's Day. And the name wasn't chosen by an office: according to the account published by Roma Capitale, it was chosen through a public poll, with the stated intention of rebalancing the street names of Casal de' Pazzi.

Arriving on Viale Rousseau, you understand the reason right away. The neighborhood's streets are named after philosophers, all men, starting with Viale Rousseau, where the villa stands. Hypatia is the first woman in the neighborhood's philosophical pantheon, and Madri Costituenti brings into that house 21 other women who, like her, worked in an almost entirely male world. In the 1946 Assembly they were 21 out of 556, less than four percent.

Then there's a third coincidence. The Constituent Assembly wrote the Charter between 1946 and 1947. Farinacci's villa had been built a few years earlier, in 1940, for the man who had been secretary of the Fascist party. Within the same walls, on November 29, the story is told of how that regime was replaced by the Republic.

Something nobody tells you about Madri Costituenti at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, November 29, 2026

What nobody tells you is that the Casa del Municipio isn't a theater. It's a villa from 1940, with a brick-faced tower, a patio, porticoes and marble floors, now used as a place where residents and the local administration meet and listen to each other, and where civil weddings are also held, in the hall named after architect Lorenzo Chiaraviglio. The show adapts to the space, and the space is part of the story: there are no red velvet seats or curtain, there's a house.

The second thing concerns booking. Free doesn't mean open access: the official page lists booking as mandatory. A seat booked and not used is a seat taken from someone else. If your plans change, cancel the booking on the same platform.

The third concerns the time. At 18:00 on a late November Sunday it's already fully dark: the sun sets before 17:00. The villa's park, which covers about 4,500 square meters, is best seen if you arrive early, in the last light. And the trip home, on a Sunday evening, needs planning around the holiday schedules of public transport, less frequent than on weekdays.

Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, the former Villa Farinacci

The Casa del Municipio Roma IV Ipazia di Alessandria is the former Villa Farinacci, at Viale Rousseau 90, built in 1940 within the Aguzzano farm estate and now close to Parco Petroselli. It's owned by Roma Capitale and since 2018 has been managed by Municipio IV.

A farmhouse that wasn't

The project was presented as a farm depot and rural house, and the Building Commission approved it in October 1940. Architect Lorenzo Chiaraviglio, who lived from 1910 to 1973, also oversaw the works that turned it into an elegant country residence, with elements of Roman rural building, including travertine. On the ground floor were the garage, the office and the grain store, on the first floor the living quarters, and in the tower, on several levels, the granary and the water tanks.

What it's like

The villa is made up of two main architectural blocks, with the brick tower, the patio and the porticoes that Roma Capitale's account describes as vaguely metaphysical in flavor. The building measures about 830 square meters, and the park surrounds it. The restoration brought the structure back to its original form, partly thanks to Chiaraviglio's drawings, made available by the architect's family.

Restoration and reopening

The works, approved by Roma Capitale in 2004, were completed in 2010 and lasted seven years. They removed architectural barriers and introduced geothermal climate control and a rainwater recycling system for the restrooms and for watering the park. Municipio IV took over the building in spring 2018 and opened it to the public in July of the same year.

Accessibility

The restoration paid special attention to accessibility, removing all architectural barriers according to the city's official account. For specific needs on the day of the show, contact the company at the details given on the event page.

My advice for Madri Costituenti at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, November 29, 2026

The advice is to book right away and arrive half an hour early, to look at the villa before the show starts. The brick tower, the patio and the porticoes tell on their own part of the story that Madri Costituenti stages: the Italy of the 1940s, before and after the war.

In our view a little revision is also worthwhile. The names of five or six of the 21 Constituent women are enough, Lina Merlin, Teresa Noce, Ottavia Penna Buscemi, Maria Federici, Angela Gotelli, to follow the stories told on stage more closely. The show is also meant for people who don't know the subject, but recognizing a name makes everything more vivid.

If you have teenage children, bring them. The official presentation states its goal of speaking to new generations, and an evening of theater with songs is a less schoolish way to approach the Constitution. If you come with friends or relatives, each person needs their own booking.

Last point, getting home. On Sunday evening public transport runs on the holiday schedule: before leaving home, check the return trips toward Metro B on the transit company's journey planner.

How to get to the Casa del Municipio IV for Madri Costituenti

The Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, at Viale Rousseau 90, is served by Metro B: the nearby stations are Ponte Mammolo and Rebibbia on the main line and Conca d'Oro on the B1 branch.

By metro

From Termini, line B toward Rebibbia reaches Ponte Mammolo. From the station continue on foot or by bus toward Viale Rousseau. If you're starting from Prati, Flaminio or Parioli you can use the B1 branch and get off at Conca d'Oro. For the right bus from your arrival stop, the Rome transit company's journey planner is the most reliable tool.

By car

The neighborhood is residential and on Sunday evening street parking is generally less difficult than in the historic center. The villa doesn't publish information on parking reserved for the public: better to look for a spot in the nearby streets and not in front of the gate.

From Tiburtina

If you arrive in Rome by train at Tiburtina station, take Metro B toward Rebibbia to reach Ponte Mammolo.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

Everyone knows that in 1946 Italian women voted for the first time in a national election. It's less often remembered how many women were elected: 21, out of 556 Constituent Assembly members, fewer than one in 25. And it's even less often remembered that many of them came from the Resistance: Maria Federici and Angela Gotelli had been partisans, and Teresa Noce was among the founders of the Italian Communist Party.

Behind every name is a biography that Madri Costituenti tries to bring back. Teresa Noce, who had been among the founders of the Italian Communist Party, signed the proposal that in 1950 became the law protecting maternity. Lina Merlin, an elementary school teacher, later entered the first Senate of the Republic as its first elected woman. Ottavia Penna Buscemi, a Sicilian from Caltagirone, was the first woman candidate for president of the Republic, at a time when the idea seemed unthinkable to many. Nadia Gallico Spano was born in Tunis, Maria Federici in L'Aquila, Bianca Bianchi in Vicchio, in Tuscany, Angela Gotelli in Albareto, in the Emilian Apennines.

The Constitution that came out of it, approved on December 22, 1947, is studied at school as a finished text. The show reminds us that someone, in a chamber full of men, had to write it, debate it and defend it, article by article.

The right photo to take at Madri Costituenti at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, November 29, 2026

The right photo is the tower. The brick-faced tower is the element you recognize from afar, and at dusk in late November, with the villa's lights on, it draws a sharp outline against the sky. Take it from the park, far enough away to include the portico.

The second image is the plaque with the name of Hypatia of Alexandria at the entrance: a small detail that says a lot about the building's recent history, which went from the name of the Fascist official to that of the philosopher.

During the show no photos or videos, out of respect for the performers and the audience. If the company allows it, a photo of the final applause is the most honest souvenir of the evening.

If you love architectural photography, you'll find the best details in the patio and the marble floors: the restoration put back exactly those finishes that tell of the taste of the 1940s.

Some important events that happened here in history

The villa's history begins in 1940, when Roberto Farinacci, former secretary of the National Fascist Party, had it built on his land in the Aguzzano estate. The project passed the Building Commission in October of that year as a rural house, but during construction it became more and more a prestige residence.

After the war the villa passed to the heirs, and in 1966 it was bought by the Armellini family. In the 1970s it became a restaurant, La Torre. Cinema used it for a famous scene: in Dove vai in vacanza?, in the episode Le vacanze intelligenti, Alberto Sordi and Anna Longhi take revenge on their children by stuffing themselves with pasta and sausages right in the restaurant's rooms.

In the following years the building passed to the city. The sources don't agree on the year: Roma Capitale's account gives 1977, other sources speak of an expropriation in 1975. Years of neglect and squatting followed, and in 1996 two arson fires. In April of that same year the villa was listed as a historic and artistic landmark. In 2002 an agreement with the Ministries of the Environment and of Cultural Heritage designated it as an environmental education center, and the works ended in 2010.

The rest is recent history: the handover to Municipio IV in 2018, the opening to the public in July of that year, the choice as Casa del Municipio and the naming after Hypatia of Alexandria on March 8, 2024, in the presence of Mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

Who has passed through Madri Costituenti at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, November 29, 2026

The first name is that of the client, Roberto Farinacci, for whom the villa was built in 1940. The second is that of the architect, Lorenzo Chiaraviglio, after whom the wedding hall is named today. Then there's cinema: Alberto Sordi and Anna Longhi, who in the years of the La Torre restaurant shot here the scene of the great feast in Dove vai in vacanza?.

The villa also enters literature: it's the backdrop to the events of the book Storia di mia vita by Janek Gorczyka, published by Sellerio in 2024.

In recent times Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and the president of Municipio IV, Massimiliano Umberti, came to the Casa del Municipio for the naming ceremony in March 2024, followed by the evening openings of the city program Felicittà, with music and theater shows. In 2026 the Il NaufragarMèDolce shows arrive: Madri Costituenti on November 29 and Macbeth Machine from December 11 to 13.

And there's, in a sense, Hypatia herself: the philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt, around 355 and died in 415, daughter of the mathematician Theon, head of the city's Neoplatonic school. She's the first woman mathematician whose life is known with some precision, and the neighborhood's house bears her name.

Hypatia of Alexandria, the name of the house

Hypatia of Alexandria was a Greek mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, who lived from around 355 to March 415, when the city was part of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The scholar

The daughter of the mathematician Theon, she taught philosophy and astronomy and led the city's Neoplatonic school. The Byzantine encyclopedia Suda, the only source listing her works, credits her with a commentary in 13 books on Diophantus's Arithmetica and a lost commentary on the Conics of Apollonius of Perga.

Why she matters for the show

In her lifetime Hypatia was recognized as a teacher and adviser, and over the centuries her figure has become a symbol of freedom of thought. Placing her beside the 21 Constituent women, on the same evening, draws a thread 16 centuries long: women who spoke up in places where speaking was reserved for men.

Around the Casa del Municipio: Casal de' Pazzi, Aguzzano, Ponte Mammolo

The Casa del Municipio is in the Casal de' Pazzi neighborhood, in Municipio IV, a short walk from Parco di Aguzzano and Parco Petroselli, in a part of Rome built mostly in the second half of the 20th century.

Parco di Aguzzano

The villa stood within the Aguzzano farm estate, and the countryside of that time is now Parco di Aguzzano, one of the green lungs of the northeast. In the early afternoon light it's a quiet walk before the show.

Museo di Casal de' Pazzi

In the same neighborhood is the Museo di Casal de' Pazzi, one of Municipio IV's cultural venues. The museum is also a Prove Aperte di Civiltà venue: in October it hosted the concert Trame di Vento e di Voce.

Toward the center

Metro B from Ponte Mammolo takes you back toward Tiburtina and Termini. If you want dinner in a livelier area, head to San Lorenzo, near the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura and the Verano Cemetery.

Where to eat before or after Madri Costituenti

Around Viale Rousseau and toward Ponte Mammolo there are pizzerias, bars and neighborhood trattorias, frequented mostly by residents. For a wider choice, take the metro toward San Lorenzo or the Tiburtina station area.

Before the show

At 18:00 on Sunday it's early for dinner: the easiest option is a snack or an aperitivo in a neighborhood bar and dinner after the show.

After the show

On Sunday evening in residential neighborhoods many places close early or take their weekly day off. Book ahead, especially if you're a group, and check when the kitchen closes.

Late November in Rome

In late November Rome enters the season of theaters and concerts, with short days and cool evenings. It's a good time for neighborhood theater: the audience is made up of residents, the halls are intimate, the shows often free. The same weekend the center gets ready for the December holidays. If you have time you can pair the show with a walk in Villa Torlonia, on Via Nomentana, or a visit to MAXXI over the weekend.

Frequently asked questions about Madri Costituenti

When is Madri Costituenti on in Rome?

Madri Costituenti is on Sunday, November 29, 2026, at 18:00 at Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, Viale Rousseau 90. It's a single date, part of the Prove Aperte di Civiltà 2026 series by the company Il NaufragarMèDolce.

How much is a ticket for Madri Costituenti?

Madri Costituenti is free, but booking is mandatory. You book through the link published on the event page of the Culture di Roma Capitale portal. For information the company answers at 351 907 3887 and info@ilnaufragarmedolce.it.

Who are the performers of Madri Costituenti?

Madri Costituenti is written by Silvia Mirabelli. The Culture portal lists Chiara Casarico and Desirée Infascelli on stage, while the company's program adds Mirabelli herself. The production is by Il NaufragarMèDolce, a Roman company active since 1996.

Who were the Madri Costituenti?

The Madri Costituenti are the 21 women elected in 1946 to the Constituent Assembly, out of 556 members. Among them were Lina Merlin, Teresa Noce, Ottavia Penna Buscemi, Maria Federici and Angela Gotelli. The Constitution was approved on December 22, 1947.

How do you get to Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria?

Casa del Municipio IV Ipazia di Alessandria, at Viale Rousseau 90, can be reached on Metro B, Ponte Mammolo or Rebibbia stations, or on the B1 branch to Conca d'Oro. For the last stretch by bus, use the transit company's journey planner.

What is Casa del Municipio Ipazia di Alessandria?

Casa del Municipio Ipazia di Alessandria is the former Villa Farinacci, built in 1940 and restored until 2010. Since 2018 it has been managed by Municipio IV and since March 8, 2024, it has borne the name of the philosopher and mathematician of Alexandria.

Is the show suitable for young people?

Madri Costituenti is also meant for new generations, according to the official presentation, which speaks of inspiring young people to recognize the value of democracy and equality. No recommended age range is published: for younger children, ask the company.

Final advice on Madri Costituenti

Madri Costituenti is one of those shows worth more than their ticket, partly because there's no ticket. On a late November Sunday, in a villa that has been through Fascism, Sordi's cinema and years of neglect, a company that for 30 years has been taking theater out of the center tells the story of the women who wrote the Republic. The advice is to book right away, arrive in daylight to see the tower and the patio, and leave with a few more names to remember: Teresa Noce, Lina Merlin, Maria Federici, Ottavia Penna Buscemi. In our view it's the simplest and fairest way to mark 80 years since the Constituent Assembly.

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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