Sfidati di me, Paolo Kessisoglu at Teatro Sala Umberto, April 1 to 4, 2027

Paolo Kessisoglu brings “Sfidati di me” to the stage at Teatro Sala Umberto, Via della Mercede 50 (00187 Rome), from April 1 to 4, 2027: Thursday, April 1, Friday, April 2 and Saturday, April 3 at 20:30, Sunday, April 4 at 16:00. It's the new monologue written by Kessisoglu with Giorgio Terruzzi and directed by Gioele Dix, produced by itc2000: a tragicomic and intimate tale of the relationship between a father and his teenage son. The full prices published by the theater are €34 in poltronissima, €28 in poltrona A and €22 in poltrona B. The hall is in the Colonna district, between Piazza di Spagna and the Trevi Fountain, about 10 minutes on foot from the Spagna and Barberini stops of Metro Line A. Tickets are bought on the official Sala Umberto website, which links to the authorized presale circuit, or at the box office. The theater also accepts the carta del docente (teacher's card).

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

A 50-year-old architect, a decisive day for his career, a phone call from the emergency room: his son has been hospitalized after an accident. From there the wait begins, and with the wait an imaginary dialogue with the boy the father can no longer understand. Kessisoglu, to everyone the Paolo of Luca e Paolo, faces alone on stage a story that the presentation defines as tragicomic, with a surprise and politically incorrect ending.

Kessisoglu at Sala Umberto: dates, times and tickets

“Sfidati di me” is on stage at Sala Umberto for four performances, from April 1 to 4, 2027. The theater presents it as a comedy in the 2026/2027 season.

The times

• Thursday, April 1, 20:30.
• Friday, April 2, 20:30.
• Saturday, April 3, 20:30.
• Sunday, April 4, 16:00.

The running time is not stated on the theater's page.

The prices

The official page lists three sections with a full price: poltronissima €34, poltrona A €28, poltrona B €22. The authorized presale circuit publishes the same prices, to which fees are added, and shows the balcony seats as unavailable.

Where to buy

Tickets are bought from the show's page on the salaumberto.com website, with the buttons for purchase and booking, or at the theater's box office. Sala Umberto accepts the carta del docente (teacher's card).

“Sfidati di me”: what it's about

“Sfidati di me” is a monologue that opens in an emergency room: a 50-year-old man, an architect, is called urgently in the middle of a crucial day for his career, because his son has been hospitalized following an accident.

The wait

The boy's condition does not seem serious, but it is not clear. The wait, the theater's presentation says, gradually turns into an inner whirlwind: the protagonist's monologue becomes an imaginary dialogue with his son, and the confrontation widens to two generations.

Two generations

Father and son are separated, today more than yesterday, by a time that is too fast, full of clichés, futile distractions and unspoken suffering. On stage irony alternates with tenderness and paradox, while the protagonist ruthlessly tries to decipher himself and the son who slips away from him.

A suspended time

The presentation describes a show built in a timeless time, under the neutral lights of an emergency room, where everything is suspended and everything happens. The conclusion comes with an unexpected twist that is, in the theater's words, politically incorrect: it's best not to look for spoilers.

The theme

The heart of the show, for the theater, is a contemporary and cross-generational theme: the complicated communication that often drives parents and children apart. It's a subject that concerns anyone who has a teenage son, or has been a teenager in conflict with their own father.

Who is behind the show

“Sfidati di me” is written by Paolo Kessisoglu and Giorgio Terruzzi, directed by Gioele Dix and produced by itc2000. On stage Kessisoglu is alone.

Gioele Dix, the director

Gioele Dix, pseudonym of David Ottolenghi, was born in Milan on January 3, 1956: actor, comedian, playwright, theater director and writer. He began in the late 1970s with the Milanese cooperative Teatro degli Eguali, worked with Gabriele Salvatores and alongside Franco Parenti in Molière, and performed at the Derby Club and at Zelig. The stage name dates from 1987. Popularity came in 1988 with the character of the angry motorist in the variety show Cocco on Rai 2. In the 1990s he established himself as a theater author and actor, and later worked with Ottavia Piccolo and Giorgio Albertazzi.

A comic director for a tragicomic monologue

Dix knows from the inside the comedy of the monologue, that of the Milanese cabaret in which he grew up, and prose theater. For a show that alternates irony and pain, the choice of a director who frequents both worlds has a precise logic.

Writing for four hands

Kessisoglu signs the text with Giorgio Terruzzi. The monologue therefore comes from shared writing, and not from a simple adaptation of the protagonist's television comic repertoire.

Who is Paolo Kessisoglu: biography

Paolo Kessisoglu was born in Genoa on July 25, 1969: actor, comedian and TV host, he is best known for the duo Luca e Paolo, formed with Luca Bizzarri.

Origins

Kessisoglu comes from a Genoese family of Armenian origin. His paternal grandfather, Callisto, was an Armenian refugee from Smyrna who escaped as a child the genocide of his people. The family passed from Greece to Italy, first to Trieste and then to Genoa. The surname, originally Keshishian, was adapted several times during the exodus. Kessisoglu is personally committed to handing down the memory of the Armenian massacre and to countering its denial.

Beginnings

He started by playing guitar, at 13, in jazz bands in Genoa's clubs. In 1991 he met Luca Bizzarri. With him he took part in founding the cabaret group Cavalli Marci, which emerged in the 1997-1998 season in Ciro, il figlio di Target. In 1998 the two left the group to form the duo Luca e Paolo.

Luca e Paolo

In 1999 the duo debuted in cinema in E allora mambo! by Lucio Pellegrini. Then MTV Trip, hosting Le Iene for many seasons, Mai dire Gol, Camera Café, in which Kessisoglu is Paolo Bitta, La strana coppia, the prize for best male performance at the Annecy Italian Film Festival in 2005 for ...e se domani. In 2011 he hosted the Sanremo Festival with Bizzarri, Gianni Morandi, Belén Rodríguez and Elisabetta Canalis. Later came Scherzi a parte, Giass, Colorado, Quelli che il calcio, Immaturi, LOL and Benedetta primavera.

Music and commitment

A guitarist, in 2008 he went on stage with Negramaro, with Joe Satriani and with Deep Purple. In 2019 he promoted C'è da fare, a song recorded with 25 Italian singers to support Val Polcevera after the collapse of the Morandi Bridge. In 2025, with his association C'è da fare, he organized the theater tour C'è da ridere, dedicated to mental health, with comedians and musicians. In the same period he is in the theater as actor and author of “Sfidati di me.”

Kessisoglu between cinema, dubbing and theater

Alongside television, Paolo Kessisoglu has a filmography that runs from E allora mambo! in 1999 to Claudio Amendola's Ari-cassamortari in 2024. Theater, in recent years, has become his main ground.

Cinema

After his debut with Lucio Pellegrini, in E allora mambo! and Tandem, he acted in a short film by Marco Bellocchio, Oggi è una bella giornata, in 2003, then in ...e se domani by Giovanni La Parola, in Asterix alle Olimpiadi, in Immaturi and Immaturi, il viaggio by Paolo Genovese, in Colpi di fortuna by Neri Parenti, in Un fidanzato per mia moglie by Davide Marengo, in Per tutta la vita by Paolo Costella, in Il giorno più bello by Andrea Zalone and in Da grandi by Fausto Brizzi.

The voice

With Bizzarri he dubbed the Disney film Le follie dell'imperatore, voicing Kronk, and lent his voice to characters in Sitting Ducks, in Foresta magica and in the Trilli series.

Recent theater

In 2025 he directed C'è da ridere, the show on mental health promoted by his association, and reunited with the Cavalli Marci in Pessimismo e fastidio. “Sfidati di me,” written with Giorgio Terruzzi and directed by Gioele Dix, has been on stage since 2025, and the Roman stop at Sala Umberto comes in the 2026/2027 season.

How to plan the evening or the afternoon

For “Sfidati di me” it's best to arrive at Sala Umberto at least 20 minutes before the start, to pick up your tickets and settle calmly into the orchestra.

Weeknight evenings

On Thursday, April 1 and Friday, April 2, with the 20:30 start, the evening is easy to organize after work: a walk from the Spagna metro, an aperitivo in the streets of the Colonna district, the show.

Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday, April 3 the center is crowded from the afternoon: it's best to come by public transport and allow more time to cross the Trevi Fountain area. Sunday, April 4 at 16:00 is the quietest performance, suited to those with children or those leaving that evening.

A curiosity about Sfidati di me, Paolo Kessisoglu at Teatro Sala Umberto, April 1 to 4, 2027

Paolo Kessisoglu started as a musician, not as an actor: at 13 he played guitar in jazz bands in Genoa's clubs. The comedy came later, with the meeting with Luca Bizzarri in 1991. Those who know him only from television discover an artist who played live with Deep Purple the rhythm guitar of Smoke on the Water, at Teatro Smeraldo in Milan in 2008.

The second curiosity concerns his most famous character. In Camera Café Kessisoglu was for years Paolo Bitta, an office worker in front of the coffee machine: a comedy made of short lines, two-person dialogues, television timing. “Sfidati di me” is the opposite, a long monologue in which he is alone on stage, with no sidekick. For an actor born as part of a duo it's a real challenge, and the title seems to say so.

The third concerns Luca Bizzarri. In the same season his partner of a thousand shows also brings his own solo theater work to Rome: his listing is that of Non hanno un dubbio at Teatro Ambra Jovinelli. The two halves of Luca e Paolo on Roman stages, each with his own text.

And one last curiosity: the theme of the father. Biographies recall his family roots, from grandfather Callisto, an Armenian refugee, to the passion for Genoa inherited from his father Pietro. A monologue on the relationship between a father and a son, written by him, does not arise in a vacuum.

Sala Umberto, the theater on Via della Mercede

Teatro Sala Umberto has 485 seats in a rectangular hall with a sloping orchestra and one balcony. Born in 1882 on the ground floor of a building on Via della Mercede, since 2002 it has been artistically directed by Alessandro Longobardi.

From 1882 to variety

The hall was commissioned by Andrea Busiri Vici and decorated by Alessandro Bazzani. It hosted concerts, operettas and comedies. In 1890 the architect Giulio Podesti enlarged it to 650 seats, in 1913 it became a cinema. In 1928 the Marino brothers, owners of Salone Margherita, brought it back to variety and gave it the king's name.

From cinema to prose

Around 1930 cinema returned. In 1981 the hall reopened as a theater with the Ente teatrale italiano, in 1991 it returned to cinema, and since 2002 it has been permanently a theater, with prose, comedy, music and shows for kids.

A hall for the monologue

Sala Umberto's size suits a one-actor show: the voice reaches every point of the orchestra without effort, and expressions can be read well even from the central rows. For a monologue that lives on nuances between irony and tenderness, it is in our view the right size.

Something nobody tells you about Sfidati di me, Paolo Kessisoglu at Teatro Sala Umberto, April 1 to 4, 2027

What the presentations don't say is that for this show Sala Umberto sells only orchestra seats: the balcony is shown as unavailable on the presale circuit. Whoever buys is therefore certain to sit down low, close to the stage, and the choice is only among three price bands.

The difference between poltronissima, poltrona A and poltrona B is €6 per band, from €34 to €22. In a hall of fewer than 500 seats, even poltrona B is at a reasonable distance from the stage: for a monologue, in our view, it is a sensible choice for anyone who wants to save.

The second thing concerns the audience. Anyone going to see Kessisoglu expects Luca e Paolo, that is, laughs. “Sfidati di me” is also a comedy, but it starts from an emergency room and a hospitalized boy: the register is that of tragicomedy. It's best to know it beforehand, so as not to be thrown off and to choose who to go with.

The third is practical: the Sunday performance is at 16:00, an afternoon time that lets you leave the theater around 18:00 and have a relaxed dinner downtown, or catch a train in the evening. It's the most convenient performance for those coming from outside Rome.

How to get to Sala Umberto

Sala Umberto is inside the ZTL of the historic center: you arrive by Metro Line A, getting off at Spagna or Barberini and continuing on foot for about 10 minutes.

From Spagna or Barberini

From Spagna you cross the square and take Via di Propaganda toward Sant'Andrea delle Fratte. From Barberini you walk down Via del Tritone and turn toward Via della Mercede. The routes are flat or slightly downhill.

By bus

Many surface lines run along Via del Tritone and Via del Corso: for the exact route it's best to use the Atac planner, which accounts for detours in the center.

By car and taxi

The car must be left outside the ZTL, in garages. A taxi to Piazza San Silvestro, a few steps from the entrance, is the most convenient solution for anyone who has difficulty walking.

My advice for visiting Sfidati di me, Paolo Kessisoglu at Teatro Sala Umberto, April 1 to 4, 2027

My advice is to go with your own teenage son, or with your own father, and to choose the poltronissima or poltrona A so as not to miss the expressions of an actor alone on stage. A show about the difficulty of talking between generations becomes an occasion to talk about it, on the way out.

The second tip concerns the date. The Thursday and Friday performances are best for people who live in Rome and go to the theater after work. Saturday night is the classic evening. Sunday at 16:00 is the best choice for families and for those coming from out of town. With only four performances, it's best to buy early.

The third concerns expectations. Those who know Kessisoglu only from television will do well to expect a different evening: fewer sketches, more storytelling. The direction of Gioele Dix, an expert in comic monologues and prose theater, is the guarantee that the balance between the two registers has been sought with care.

The fourth is about timing. With the 20:30 start, a quick dinner around 19:00 in the streets around the theater leaves time to arrive without rushing. After the show, many kitchens downtown are still open.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

It is well known that Luca e Paolo are a comedy duo active on television for more than 25 years. It is mentioned less often that they were born inside a cabaret group, the Cavalli Marci, which emerged on television in the 1997-1998 season. Only in 1998 did Kessisoglu and Bizzarri leave the group to become a duo.

A second well-known and little-cited fact concerns Sala Umberto: the name does not come from an impresario, but from the king. In 1928 the Marino brothers, bringing it back to variety, named it after Umberto, in homage to the reigning house. The name has remained through cinema, the closure, the 1981 reopening and the definitive one in 2002.

The third concerns Gioele Dix. He is known as a Zelig comedian. It is remembered less that his stage name was born in 1987 after an audition at Zelig with Gino e Michele and Giancarlo Bozzo, and that Gioele is the name of a biblical prophet chosen as a tribute to his Jewish identity. The director of “Sfidati di me” built his career straddling cabaret and theater, exactly the territory in which this monologue moves.

The right photo to take at Sfidati di me, Paolo Kessisoglu at Teatro Sala Umberto, April 1 to 4, 2027

During the show no photos or filming are allowed: filming disturbs those on stage and those sitting next to you. The right photo is taken before and after.

The first is taken in front of the entrance of Sala Umberto on Via della Mercede, with the show's poster behind you: father and son together, if you went as two, is the keepsake that gives meaning to the evening.

On the way out the illuminated Trevi Fountain is a few minutes' walk away: in the evening, after 22:30, it's less crowded than in the afternoon. Alternatively, the staircase of Piazza di Spagna, reachable in a few minutes, with the lights of Via Condotti in the background.

Those who go to the Sunday afternoon performance come out with the last light of April: it's the best moment for a photo of Piazza di Spagna without the dark.

Around Sala Umberto: the Colonna district

Via della Mercede is in the Colonna district, between the Trevi Fountain and Piazza di Spagna, a stone's throw from Via del Corso.

The nearby churches

A few meters away is Piazza San Silvestro, with San Silvestro in Capite. A little further up, on Via di Capo le Case, Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, with Borromini's dome and bell tower and Bernini's angels.

Piazza Colonna and the Galleria

Along Via del Corso you reach Piazza Colonna, with the column of Marcus Aurelius and Palazzo Chigi, and Galleria Alberto Sordi, useful on rainy evenings in early April, when a covered shelter a stone's throw from the theater comes in handy before going into the hall.

Piazza di Spagna and Trinità dei Monti

Going back up Via della Mercede and Via di Propaganda you reach in a few minutes Piazza di Spagna and the staircase of Trinità dei Monti: a short walk before the show, or a way to end the evening with the view from above over the Tridente.

Teatro Quirino

10 minutes on foot away is Teatro Quirino: if you're staying in Rome a few days you can alternate comedy and prose without taking any transport.

Some important events that happened here in history

Sala Umberto was born in 1882, on the ground floor of a building on Via della Mercede, at the wish of Andrea Busiri Vici, with interiors decorated by Alessandro Bazzani: concerts, operettas, comedies. In 1890 the architect Giulio Podesti enlarges it to 650 seats. Perhaps in that period it is known as Sala della Piccola Borsa. In 1913 it becomes a cinema.

In 1928 the Marino brothers, owners of Salone Margherita, bring it back to the stage with variety and name it after the king: Sala Umberto. For a couple of years comedians, chanteuses and vedettes perform there. Around 1930 cinema returns, and will remain for half a century.

In 1981 the hall reopens as a theater after a renovation, under the direction of the Ente teatrale italiano and with a prose program. In 1991 it returns to cinema. Since 2002, with the artistic direction of Alessandro Longobardi, it has been permanently a theater. A TV comedian who tests himself with a prose monologue, in a hall born for variety and become a prose theater, retraces in one evening the same road the building has traveled in a century.

Who has come through Sfidati di me, Paolo Kessisoglu at Teatro Sala Umberto, April 1 to 4, 2027

Between the two wars, Sala Umberto saw the variety artists hired by the Marino brothers: comedians, chanteuses, vedettes, the same world that animated Salone Margherita. There is no reliable list of names left, but the image is of a Rome that went to Via della Mercede in the evening to laugh.

Since 2002 the hall has hosted mostly prose, comedy and music. In the 2026/2027 season, on its stage, among others, Francesco De Gregori, Francesco Montanari with Storia di un cinghiale, Giulio Corso and Federica De Benedittis with Cime Tempestose, and in March, shortly before Kessisoglu, Piccole donne il musical con Antonella Morea pass through.

From April 1 to 4, 2027 Paolo Kessisoglu passes through Via della Mercede, alone on stage, and with him, ideally, Giorgio Terruzzi, co-author of the text, and Gioele Dix, who directed him. On stage there is a father in a waiting room. In the orchestra, perhaps, some father with his son.

How to choose your seat

For “Sfidati di me” Sala Umberto sells three orchestra sections: poltronissima at €34, poltrona A at €28, poltrona B at €22.

The poltronissima

In the front rows you catch the details of the face and gestures, which in a monologue are a good part of the show. It's the choice of those who want to live the story up close.

Poltrona A and B

The central and rear rows of the orchestra, in a hall of this size, stay at a reasonable distance from the stage. For a family, poltrona B saves €12 per person compared to the poltronissima.

Only four performances

With four performances in a 485-seat hall and the balcony not on sale, the available seats are fewer than the number of performances suggests. Those who have already decided the date will do well to buy in advance, especially for Saturday night.

Where to eat before or after the show

The Colonna district offers every kind of dining, between Via della Mercede, Via del Pozzetto and Via della Vite.

Before 20:30

A dinner around 19:00 in the streets around the theater leaves time to get to the hall without rushing.

After the show

On the way out many downtown kitchens are still open. For a dessert or a coffee, the bars around Via del Corso and Piazza di Spagna. After the Sunday afternoon performance there is all the time for a relaxed dinner.

Accessibility, recommended age and practical information

For the accessibility of Sala Umberto to people with reduced mobility it's best to contact the theater's box office, at 06 6794753, before buying.

Age

“Sfidati di me” is about a father and a teenage son, with an ending the theater calls politically incorrect. In our view it is suitable for kids 14 and older, who will recognize something of themselves in the evoked son.

Phones and filming

It's good practice to keep your phone off during the show: in a monologue every distraction in the hall is felt, and a lit screen in the orchestra disturbs those on stage and those sitting in the nearby rows.

Frequently asked questions about “Sfidati di me” with Paolo Kessisoglu

When is Sfidati di me on in Rome?

Paolo Kessisoglu's “Sfidati di me” is on at Teatro Sala Umberto from April 1 to 4, 2027: Thursday, April 1, Friday, April 2 and Saturday, April 3 at 20:30, Sunday, April 4 at 16:00. The theater is at Via della Mercede 50.

How much do tickets for Kessisoglu at Sala Umberto cost?

Tickets for Paolo Kessisoglu's show at Sala Umberto cost €34 in poltronissima, €28 in poltrona A and €22 in poltrona B, full prices. On the authorized presale circuit, fees are added.

What is Kessisoglu's show about?

Paolo Kessisoglu's show at Sala Umberto is a tragicomic monologue about an architect father who, called to the emergency room over an accident to his teenage son, begins an imaginary dialogue with him. The theme is difficult communication between parents and children.

Who wrote and directed Sfidati di me?

Kessisoglu's monologue at Sala Umberto is written by Paolo Kessisoglu and Giorgio Terruzzi, directed by Gioele Dix and produced by itc2000. On stage Kessisoglu is alone.

How do you get to Teatro Sala Umberto?

Teatro Sala Umberto is reached by Metro Line A, Spagna or Barberini stops, and then on foot in about 10 minutes. The theater is in the ZTL of the center: if you come by car you must park outside, while a taxi can arrive as far as Piazza San Silvestro.

Is it a comedy show?

“Sfidati di me” is presented by Sala Umberto as a comedy, but the story is tragicomic: irony alternates with tenderness and paradox, starting from a serious situation. Those expecting the sketches of Luca e Paolo will find a different Kessisoglu.

Does Sala Umberto accept the carta del docente?

Yes, Teatro Sala Umberto states on its website that it accepts the carta del docente (teacher's card). For how to use it for Kessisoglu's show, it's best to contact the theater's box office.

Final advice on “Sfidati di me”

A father in an emergency room, a son who is not seen and a dialogue that never took place, entrusted to an actor the public knows for duo comedy and who here is alone: “Sfidati di me” is the evening in which to discover a different Kessisoglu, directed by a director who knows both cabaret and prose well. My advice is to go from April 1 to 4 with your own son or with your own father, take the poltronissima or poltrona A and, on the way out, take a short walk to the Trevi Fountain to talk about it.

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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