The 14th May marks the anniversary of the inauguration of the first Italian permanent theatre: the Piccolo Teatro. The theatre was founded in the city of Milan by two very young entrepreneurs, Paolo Grassi and Giorgio Strehler. It was 1947 and the Second World War had just ended.

Italy was a country that needed to recover economically and also from a social and cultural point of view. Thus, the idea of this theatre was born, to become a public service and “training ground” for actors and everybody working “behind the scenes”: a theater that could involve enthusiasts and bring new actors to the stage all the year through, without limit its activity just to the theatrical season.