Italian Institute Screens Film on Naples Prison Theater

Massimiliano Gallo's La salita, his first feature as a director, was shown in New York with a post-screening discussion.

Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Cultural

Graphic illustration in high-contrast black and warm white with crimson accents, showing a spotlight beam falling onto an empty wooden stage, evoking theater behind bars. — Italian director Massimiliano Gallo's first feature, La salita, screened in New York on Monday, November 2, followed by a discussion with cast and crew. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

The Italian Institute of Culture in New York screened Massimiliano Gallo's film La salita on Monday, November 2 at 6 p.m., introduced by IIC Director Claudio Pagliara. Actor Alfredo Francesco Cossu and producer Rino Pinto led a discussion with the audience afterward.

Why it matters

The film draws on a real episode in which bradyseism damage forced the closure of a women's prison in Pozzuoli and some inmates were moved to the Nisida juvenile detention center. It offers New York audiences a look at how theater was brought into Italian penal institutions.

The screening marked the public presentation of Gallo's debut feature as a director, which follows his acting credits in Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God and Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio. Commercial reach and distribution plans for the film were not reported.

The players

Massimiliano Gallo

Gallo is an Italian actor whose film credits include Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God and Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio, and La salita marks his first feature as a director.

Eduardo De Filippo

De Filippo was an Italian playwright and actor who, after being appointed senator for life, used his position to draw attention to conditions in juvenile prisons.

The details

The story follows a young male inmate and a female prisoner who both experience theater for the first time in a fictional encounter. The film was built around Eduardo De Filippo's 1980s work to renovate the Nisida theater, which hosted the first theatrical performance inside an Italian juvenile detention facility.

1983: The film's story is set in Naples during this year.
November 2, 2026, 6 p.m.: The screening took place at the Italian Institute of Culture in New York.

Cultural Context

La salita dramatizes the De Filippo-linked production at Nisida, which was the first theatrical performance staged inside an Italian juvenile detention facility. The film places that real episode into a fictional story about two prisoners encountering theater for the first time.

Viewers in New York could attend the Italian Institute of Culture screening and the audience discussion with Cossu and Pinto. The extraction does not specify whether the film will be available on streaming or in theaters beyond this event.

The takeaway

The film shows how a single theater production can open a path for incarcerated people to experience art, a point underscored by De Filippo's role in the Nisida renovation.