Nicola Piovani succeeds Gigi Proietti as artistic director of festival.

The 2022 edition of Rome's Shakespearean theatre festival is underway at the Globe Theatre in Villa Borghese under a new artistic director, the Oscar-winning Italian composer Nicola Piovani.

This year's festival, in its 19th edition, includes Italian-language productions of The Merry Wives of Windsor (24 June-10 July), The Comedy of Errors (15-31 July), A Midsummer Night's Dream (3-14 Aug), and Macbeth (2-25 Sept).

Piovani succeeds the much-loved actor, director and comedian Gigi Proietti who directed the annual Shakespearean festival for 17 years.

Last year the Globe Theatre was renamed after Proietti who died in November 2020 on his 80th birthday.

The decision was taken in collaboration with the Silvano Toti Foundation, which financed the theatre's construction in 2003, with the building now titled the 'Gigi Proietti Globe Theatre Silvano Toti.'

Built in just three months, the theatre was the result of an idea by Proietti who directed and performed in the festival every year until his death.

The building is a full-scale timber reproduction of Shakespeare’s Globe, copied from the original oak and thatch designs, and almost identical to the one that stands on London’s South Bank.

For the 2022 programme and ticket information see the Globe website.