Nicola De Pirro, the First General Director of Performing Arts. Public Intervention between Caesura and Continuity (1935-1963)

The article analyses the figure of Nicola De Pirro, Italy’s first Director General of the Performing Arts, focusing on his role in the transition from the Fascist regime to the postwar democratic context. Through archival research based on previously unpublished documents preserved in the Central State Archive and the private fund of the De Pirro family, the study outlines the process of institutionalising of Italian theatre by exploring three main aspects: the evolution of De Pirro’s role, the operating methods of the Direzione generale dello Spettacolo, and the evolution of public intervention towards the dramatic arts. The research highlights De Pirro’s central role in systematizing state funding for theatre, analysing the persistence of Fascist administrative practices in the postwar years and the compromises between social and artistic demands in the funding strategies. The analysis seeks to provide new interpretive tools for understanding the impact of cultural policies between the 1930s and 1950s by opening new perspectives on the relationship between politics and performing arts.