Tuesday 21 July 2026 12:07
Italian theatre actor Pippo Di Marca dies in fall from Rome terrace
Renowned actor and director, who played Giulio Andreotti in Bellocchio's Il Traditore, died after falling from his fifth-floor home in Trastevere.Pippo Di Marca, one of the leading figures of Italy's experimental theatre movement, died on Tuesday morning after falling from the terrace of his home in Rome's Trastevere district. He was 86.
The actor and director fell from the fifth floor of the building on Via di San Francesco a Ripa at around 08.20.
He was pronounced dead at the scene; paramedics were unable to revive him. His wife and son were reportedly in the flat at the time.
Officers from the Trastevere police station and forensic investigators sealed off the street to establish the circumstances of his death, news agency Adnkronos news agency reports.
Pioneer of Italian avant-garde theatre
Born in Catania on 12 October 1939, Di Marca made his stage debut as an actor in 1969 at Rome's Teatro La Fede alongside Giancarlo Nanni, before moving into directing two years later.
He became a central figure of the so-called Roman school of experimental theatre, working closely with Carmelo Bene, Leo de Berardinis and Julian Beck's Living Theatre.
In 2016 he founded Meta-Teatro, a company and venue dedicated to contemporary theatrical research, which later merged with Pescara's Florian Espace.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Di Marca staged works ranging from Shakespeare, Beckett and Pirandello to Kafka and Genet, alongside a long-running devotion to James Joyce, and wrote several books on contemporary theatre theory.
He was also known to wider audiences for his role as former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti in Marco Bellocchio's 2019 film Il Traditore.
Tributes have described him as a tireless experimenter who remained active as a writer, director and cultural organiser until his final years.
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Pippo Di Marca, one of the leading figures of Italy's experimental theatre movement, died on Tuesday morning after falling from the terrace of his home in Rome's Trastevere district. He was 86.
The actor and director fell from the fifth floor of the building on Via di San Francesco a Ripa at around 08.20.
He was pronounced dead at the scene; paramedics were unable to revive him. His wife and son were reportedly in the flat at the time.
Officers from the Trastevere police station and forensic investigators sealed off the street to establish the circumstances of his death, news agency Adnkronos news agency reports.
Born in Catania on 12 October 1939, Di Marca made his stage debut as an actor in 1969 at Rome's Teatro La Fede alongside Giancarlo Nanni, before moving into directing two years later.
He became a central figure of the so-called Roman school of experimental theatre, working closely with Carmelo Bene, Leo de Berardinis and Julian Beck's Living Theatre.
In 2016 he founded Meta-Teatro, a company and venue dedicated to contemporary theatrical research, which later merged with Pescara's Florian Espace.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Di Marca staged works ranging from Shakespeare, Beckett and Pirandello to Kafka and Genet, alongside a long-running devotion to James Joyce, and wrote several books on contemporary theatre theory.
He was also known to wider audiences for his role as former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti in Marco Bellocchio's 2019 film Il Traditore.
Tributes have described him as a tireless experimenter who remained active as a writer, director and cultural organiser until his final years.
