Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico (translation: Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts) is a national drama school in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, located at Via Vincenzo Bellini, 16. Founded in 1936 by the theatrical theorist, critic, and writer Silvio D'Amico

Silvio D'Amico

Silvio D'Amico was an Italian theatre critic, journalist ,and theorist of Italian theater. Not a Fascist himself, D'Amico was the major theater critic during the ventennio, the twenty years of Fascist rule in Italy...

, the academy is the only state school for the training of actors and directors. Funded jointly by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Academy grants academic degrees equivalent to Bachelor of Arts as well as Masters degrees. Its value comes from being the only school in Italy to be recognized by the Prime Minister / Department of Performing Arts and the Ministry of University and Scientific and Technological Research.

History

In 1936, the academy replaced the former Director Acting school dedicated to Eleonora Duse

Eleonora Duse

-Life and career:Duse was born in Vigevano, Lombardy, and began acting as a child. Both her father and her grandfather were actors, and she joined the troupe at age four. Due to poverty, she initially worked continually, traveling from city to city with whichever troupe her family was currently...

. D'Amico, a friend of Nobel prize winner Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...

 and French theatre director Jacques Copeau

Jacques Copeau

Jacques Copeau was an influential French theatre director, producer, actor, and dramatist. Before he founded his famous Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, he wrote theater reviews for several Parisian journals, worked at the Georges Petit Gallery where he organized exhibits of artists' works...

, was appointed Special Commissioner for the reform of the drama school and led the academy for many years. Since its early foundation, the Academy has distinguished itself as a national reference center for traditional theatrical heritage, as well as through experimentation and research. With the advent of arts and music reform, the Academy became part of the sector level Higher Education in Art and Music (AFAM), established by Law No. 508 of 21 December 1999.

Admission

Admission to the Academy is determined annually by a public competition announced by the Ministry of Education. The competition is open to Italians and foreigners who have successfully completed high school, and are between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Those who are admitted into the academy must attend it in order to access not only to the teaching program, but also entertainment, experimentation, and seminars carried out before the term starts, from July to September.

Academic program

The academic year begins in November and ends in June. The coursework is intensive, requiring motivation and commitment. It includes lessons, exercises and testing, ten hours per day, six days a week. The two main courses, directing and acting, have common material such as the interpretation of dramatic text using theoretical, critical, technical and artistic material. The prestige of the Academy includes the participation of important figures in the dramatic arts, who contribute in the lesson program, or in seminars, special courses and meetings. This allows the students of theater and film to make comparison between the teaching and professional work. Academic activities are presented to the public with the production of approximately eight events per year, made with the students, supported by professionals and directed by renowned professionals, including technical staff such as set designers, costume designers, and lighting designers.

The Academy provides training in dramatic theater, the opera and the Italian cinema. The program is structured in three stages. After completing the three year program, students are granted a diploma equivalent to a university degree. Those who complete the first three years and move on to the fourth may be granted a scholarship, the additional year being used for specialization training.

Special events

Some of the special events, such as the college summer theater that began in 1983 in collaboration with the Fondazione Teatro di Pisa, have last over the years and are considered important points of reference. In recent years, the Academy has developed a strong policy of international relations, participating in many festivals and establishing relations and joint projects with other important European schools such as the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in Moscow, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...

 in London, the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona, the Berlin University of the Arts

Berlin University of the Arts

The Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK is a public art school in Berlin, Germany, one of the four universities in the city...

, and the École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre (ENSATT) in Lyon. The Academy regularly performs on tour in Europe and other continents.

Notable alumni

Specializing in the field of drama, with particular attention to the drama of its national heritage, the Academy has played a key role in the Italian film and theater scene and is currently headed by Professor Luigi Maria Musati. It has prepared artists such as Margherita Buy

Margherita Buy

Margherita Buy is an Italian actress born in Rome on 15 January 1962.-Overview:After a long period of studying at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, she made her breakthrough role in Duccio Tessari's Una grande storia d'amore , which was followed by roles in Daniele Luchetti's two projects Domani...

, Vittorio Gassman

Vittorio Gassman

Vittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI , popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian theatre and film actor and director...

, Luigi Lo Cascio

Luigi Lo Cascio

Luigi Lo Cascio is an Italian actor born 20 October 1967 in Palermo.He won David di Donatello for Best actor for his starring role in I cento passi.-Filmography:*2000: I cento passi*2001: Luce dei miei occhi...

, Anna Magnani

Anna Magnani

Anna Magnani was an Italian stage and film actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with four other international awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo....

, Nino Manfredi

Nino Manfredi

Nino Manfredi was an Italian actor, one of the most prominent in the commedia all'italiana genre....

, and Monica Vitti

Monica Vitti

Monica Vitti is an Italian actress best known for her starring roles in films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, her lover at that time, during the early 1960s...

. Other former alumni include Antoniano

Antoniano

Antoniano can refer to:People:* Giovanni Antoniano , Dutch scholar* Silvio Antoniano , Italian cardinalPlaces:* Institute of Antoniano, an educational and charitable institution in Bologna, ItalyOther:...

, Manuela Arcuri

Manuela Arcuri

Manuela Arcuri is an Italian actress and model.-Biography:Raised in Latina, Italy from an early age, after high school she enrolled in the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica in Rome but she dropped out and enrolled in a 3-year sociology degree at the university...

, Mino Bellei, Carmelo Bene

Carmelo Bene

Carmelo Bene was an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in 20 films between 1967 and 2002...

, Dirk van den Berg

Dirk van den Berg

Dirk van den Berg is a German film director and producer.He left Germany shortly after his high school degree and went to Italy, where he began to study history of music and dramaturgy at the Sapienza University of Rome. For several years, he worked as a drama and opera director with various...

, Giuliana Berlinguer, Alessio Boni

Alessio Boni

Alessio Boni is an Italian actor.Boni was born in Sarnico. In 1992, Boni finished his theatre studies at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica. The second of three, Marco is the eldest and Andrea is the youngest brother...

, Alberto Bonucci

Alberto Bonucci

Alberto Bonucci was an Italian film actor and director. He appeared in 53 films between 1950 and 1967.He was born in Campobasso, Italy and died in Rome, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Neapolitan Carousel...

, Giulio Bosetti

Giulio Bosetti

Giulio Bosetti was an Italian actor and director-Career:Giulio Bosetti appeared in film, on television and on stage over 30 times. In 1972, he narrated the television special La vita di Leonardo Da Vinci...

, Renato De Carmine, Ennio Fantastichini, Gabriele Ferzetti

Gabriele Ferzetti

Gabriele Ferzetti is an Italian actor. He has more than 160 credits to his name across film, television and stage. His career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s....

 (expelled), Scilla Gabel

Scilla Gabel

Scilla Gabel is an Italian film actress. She appeared in 50 films between 1954 and 1982.She was born in Rimini, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Tarzan's Greatest Adventure * Mill of the Stone Women...

, Domiziana Giordano

Domiziana Giordano

Domiziana Giordano is an artist, actress photographer and video artist. Domiziana has played the lead role in films directed by Nicholas Roeg, Jean Luc Godard, Andrei Tarkovsky, Mauro Bolognini, Neil Jordan, Ken McMullen and many others.She grew up in a family of artists and architects and...

, Michele Placido

Michele Placido

Michele Placido is an internationally known Italian actor and director. He is best known for the role of Corrado Cattani in the TV series La Piovra.-Life and career:...

, Luca Ronconi

Luca Ronconi

Luca Ronconi is an Italian actor, theater director, and opera director.- Biography :After growing up in Tunisia, where his mother was a school teacher, he graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome in 1953. He acted in productions of Luigi Squarzina, Orazio Costa, Michelangelo Antonioni...

, Gian Maria Volontè

Gian Maria Volontè

Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor. He is perhaps most famous outside of Italy for his roles as the main villain in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.-Early life:Volonté was born in Milan, and graduated in Rome in 1957...

 and Lina Wertmüller

Lina Wertmüller

Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film writer and director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with the film Seven Beauties.-Biography:...

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