Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
One of the pleasures of Rome is seeing a performance in one of the city's stunning venues, ancient or modern. This is the city where you might experience classical opera performed in the 3rd-century-AD Terme di Caracalla, or enjoy an experimental dance show in the postindustrial detergent factory Teatro India, or see a contemporary performance at the Renzo Piano–designed Auditorium Parco della Musica.
In summertime, most of the performing arts events move outdoors–-any public space is fair game. Keep an eye on the Estate Romana www.estateromana.comune.roma.it to find out what's happening in Rome on any night of the week. There is enough entertainment in Rome to take your breath away, in any season and in any location.
Casa del Cinema is Rome's hub for all things film, with multiple screening rooms, an exhibition space, and a room for filming interviews, plus a caffè and restaurant. Yearly programming includes new and retro films from its vast archives as well as many original-language films often showcased from several festivals, including Rome Film Fest. In summer, the cinema heads outdoors to show a wide array of movies.
This quaint theater in the middle of the park has only 63 seats and plays children's films during the day and adult new releases at night. It opened in 1934, and many Romans still refer to it as "Casa di Topolino," thanks to the giant Mickey Mouse sign that appeared on the building until the 1970s. Warning to the very tall: leg room is minimal.
One of the most commercial and central theaters in the city, Barberini is guaranteed to have at least one film on offer in its original language. It is the best and most comfortable place to watch the latest Italian films and international blockbusters (without dubbing) or to view a recorded opera or ballet on one of its screens.
Just off Via del Corso in the center of the city, the somewhat basic two-screen Nuovo Olimpia is the cinema for Rome's international community, showing new-release films and indie flicks in their original languages with Italian subtitles.
