Overview
With its magnificent Art Nouveau façade, the theatre is one of the best-known stage venues, even to non-Romans. It was built between 1906 and 1909 by theatre impresario Giuseppe Jovinelli to provide the city with a modern variety theatre, with ventilation and heating systems and electric lighting. It hosted comedians and quick-change artists, dancers and acrobats and was an instant success. In the years between the two wars, all the great artists of the era performed here, including Raffaele Viviani and Ettore Petrolini. Between 1919 and 1920, Totò made his debut there, presenting himself as an impersonator and, by popular acclaim, earned a permanent place for the whole of the following year. From then on, the Ambra Jovinelli went through a series of ups and downs until a fire in 1982 finally forced it to close. In 1996, a group of artists and intellectuals began to campaign for its restoration, organising theatre performances and exhibitions to raise awareness. The theatre was restored and today it has once again become a national landmark of comedy theatre.
