A dispute over the future of a historic cinema in Rome has set the cultural world against city hall and sparked talk of a left-wing civic list to rival the incumbent mayor.A row over the fate of a shuttered cinema on Via del Corso has escalated into a political crisis for Rome's centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri, drawing in some of Italy's best-known film directors and actors and raising the prospect of a damaging split on the left ahead of Rome's municipal elections in 2027.At the centre of the dispute is the ex-Metropolitan cinema, a landmark venue which began life in 1911 as the American Film Theatre, changed its name to the Metropolitan in 1948, and closed in 2010 despite protests and petitions, after almost a century. The building has stood empty since, the subject of prolonged and inconclusive administrative wrangling. Revelopment A resolution appeared to have been reached last year. In October 2025, the regional administration led by Francesco Rocca signed a definitive programme agreement to redevelop the site, and the Rome city assembly ratified it on 4 May 2026. Under the approved plan, the property - owned by DM Europa - will see the bulk of its space devoted to shops (1,800 sqm), with 50 sqm designated for offices and 320 sqm set aside for a 99-seat cinema. The city council and regional government defended the agreement as a workable compromise that would bring the building back to life, create 60 jobs, and generate €7 million in planning levies for Rome, money earmarked for the restoration of two other derelict cinemas, the Airone and the Apollo. Piccolo America For Rome's cultural community, however, the deal represented a capitulation to private property interests. The agreement's most vocal critic has been Valerio Carocci, president of the Fondazione Piccolo America, an association celebrated for its free open-air film festival and for bringing the Cinema Troisi back to life. Carocci publicly condemned the redevelopment, arguing that converting the historic cinema into a commercial centre over three floors - with culture occupying barely a third of the space - sets a perilous precedent for the roughly 50 other abandoned screens across the capital. He also accused the city administration of placing unacceptable pressure on him to withdraw his dissent as a condition of Piccolo America continuing to operate. The dispute then took an overtly political turn. Carocci told newspaper Corriere della Sera that he received late-night messages from a senior figure in the city administration that he described as unacceptable, and indicated that a break with Gualtieri was now close. Carocci announced that Piccolo America intended to field a candidate under its own civic list banner at the 2027 communal elections - not in support of Gualtieri, but independently of him. Film world reacts A public appeal signed by dozens of actors, directors and film professionals declared that it was unacceptable that pressure should be applied to any individual or organisation to prevent them from expressing political and social dissent towards those in power, merely in order to continue their work. Expressing their "full solidarity and support" for Carocci and Piccolo America, the signatories stated: "Converting a cinema on Via del Corso into a shopping mall is a very serious matter, and the image of asphalt as the only remaining public space is not the Rome we want for our children." Among the dozens of signatories are Ken Loach, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento, Paolo Virzì, Alessandro Borghi, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alba Rohrwacher, Pietro Castellitto, and the D'Innocenzo brothers. The appeal stated that if a list emerged to oppose concrete development, luxury student accommodation, and the influence of property funds, the signatories would stand alongside it, stressing: "We want more humane cities, not more squalid shopping malls." The controversy was compounded by a separate, related episode: the conversion of the ex-Cinema Pasquino in Trastevere into a restaurant, reportedly carried out without significant public objection from local political figures, which Carocci cited as further evidence of the administration's indifference to cinema as a form of public cultural space. Political stakes Gualtieri had spent months consolidating a broad left-of-centre coalition in preparation for next year's elections. The Metropolitan row, emerging from within his own natural electoral base, threatens to fracture that coalition at an inopportune moment and cost him votes that would otherwise have been his without contest. With no confirmed right-wing candidate yet in the field, what the Italian press is calling "friendly fire" - dissent from the cultural left - may prove an awkward obstacle for the mayor in his bid to clinch a second term. Image: Valerio Carocci. Photo credit: GIO_LE / Shutterstock.com.

A row over the fate of a shuttered cinema on Via del Corso has escalated into a political crisis for Rome's centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri, drawing in some of Italy's best-known film directors and actors and raising the prospect of a damaging split on the left ahead of Rome's municipal elections in 2027. At the centre of the dispute is the ex-Metropolitan cinema, a landmark venue which began life in 1911 as the American Film Theatre, changed its name to the Metropolitan in 1948, and closed in 2010 despite protests and petitions, after almost a century. The building has stood empty since, the subject of prolonged and inconclusive administrative wrangling. A resolution appeared to have been reached last year. In October 2025, the regional administration led by Francesco Rocca signed a definitive programme agreement to , and the Rome city assembly ratified it on 4 May 2026. Under the approved plan, the property - owned by DM Europa - will see the bulk of its space devoted to shops (1,800 sqm), with 50 sqm designated for offices and 320 sqm set aside for a 99-seat cinema. The city council and regional government defended the agreement as a workable compromise that would bring the building back to life, create 60 jobs, and generate €7 million in planning levies for Rome, money earmarked for the restoration of two other derelict cinemas, the Airone and the Apollo. For Rome's cultural community, however, the deal represented a capitulation to private property interests. The agreement's most vocal critic has been Valerio Carocci, president of the Fondazione Piccolo America, an association celebrated for its  and for bringing the  back to life. Carocci publicly condemned the redevelopment, arguing that converting the historic cinema into a commercial centre over three floors - with culture occupying barely a third of the space - sets a perilous precedent for the roughly 50 other abandoned screens across the capital. He also accused the city administration of placing unacceptable pressure on him to withdraw his dissent as a condition of Piccolo America continuing to operate. The dispute then took an overtly political turn. Carocci told newspaper Corriere della Sera that he received late-night messages from a senior figure in the city administration that he described as unacceptable, and indicated that a break with Gualtieri was now close. Carocci announced that Piccolo America intended to field a candidate under its own civic list banner at the 2027 communal elections - not in support of Gualtieri, but independently of him. A public appeal signed by dozens of actors, directors and film professionals declared that it was unacceptable that pressure should be applied to any individual or organisation to prevent them from expressing political and social dissent towards those in power, merely in order to continue their work. Expressing their "full solidarity and support" for Carocci and Piccolo America, the signatories stated: "Converting a cinema on Via del Corso into a shopping mall is a very serious matter, and the image of asphalt as the only remaining public space is not the Rome we want for our children." Among the dozens of signatories are Ken Loach, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento, Paolo Virzì, Alessandro Borghi, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alba Rohrwacher, Pietro Castellitto, and the D'Innocenzo brothers. The appeal stated that if a list emerged to oppose concrete development, luxury student accommodation, and the influence of property funds, the signatories would stand alongside it, stressing: "We want more humane cities, not more squalid shopping malls." The controversy was compounded by a separate, related episode: the conversion of the ex-Cinema Pasquino in Trastevere into a restaurant, reportedly carried out without significant public objection from local political figures, which Carocci cited as further evidence of the administration's indifference to cinema as a form of public cultural space. Gualtieri had spent months consolidating a broad left-of-centre coalition in preparation for next year's elections. The Metropolitan row, emerging from within his own natural electoral base, threatens to fracture that coalition at an inopportune moment and cost him votes that would otherwise have been his without contest. With no confirmed right-wing candidate yet in the field, what the Italian press is calling "friendly fire" - dissent from the cultural left - may prove an awkward obstacle for the mayor in his bid to clinch a second term. Image: Valerio Carocci. Photo credit: GIO_LE / Shutterstock.com.