The Teatro Regio is the first Italian theatre archive to be awarded the “Musei, Archivi e Biblioteche” grant, promoted by Wikimedia Italia, the Italian chapter of Wikimedia Foundation Inc., which in Italy supports Wikipedia and all its sister projects. This important recognition rewards the project to open up and share online a large part of its historical and artistic heritage. Over 2,000 images of set and costume designs, dating between 1969 and 2019 and preserved in the Historical Archive of the Regio, are now accessible to everyone worldwide thanks to the Wikimedia Commons platform.
To mark the conclusion of the project, on 28 October 2025 an “editathon” was held in collaboration with Wikimedia Italia and aimed at the Wikimedia contributor community: a true marathon of writing and updating entries, preceded by a dedicated training session. During the editathon, Wikipedia entries, either already existing or created specifically for the occasion, were enriched with the information and media published by the Theatre: this made it possible to enhance pages dedicated to major repertory works and to the artists involved with set and costume designs from the Historical Archive.
Thanks to this project, a highly valuable iconographic heritage is now freely accessible — relating to around 132 productions — which tells the story of the creativity expressed over half a century for the Regio by some 70 directors — from Sylvano Bussotti to Luca Ronconi, from Ettore Scola to Pier Lugi Pizzi — and by their creative teams, made up of over 140 artists who have shaped the history of stage and costume design (often in cinema as well): from Margherita Palli to Luisa Spinatelli, from Carlo Diappi to Luciano Ricceri, from Vera Marzot to Santuzza Calì, not to mention visual artists lending their talent to the stage such as Aligi Sassu, Emanuele Luzzati and Mimmo Paladino.
The project promotes open access, study and the reuse of materials by the national and international community, thanks to the accompanying data and information published also in English. This is an important achievement that is part of the actions undertaken in recent years to enable a full rediscovery and enhancement of all the documentation preserved in the Theatre’s Historical Archive.
Another step towards a Regio that belongs ever more to everyone.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Wikimedia Commons: created in 2004 to host photos, videos, audio files and many other types of freely usable media. Today it hosts over 97 million files.
- Media uploaded by Teatro Regio: by visiting the category “Media from Teatro Regio Torino” you can view all the files published by the Regio.
- Editathon: an edit-a-thon, or “editing marathon”, is an in-person event where people contribute to Wikipedia by updating existing entries or creating new ones. Contributors create, edit and improve articles on a specific theme, subject or type of content.