Veneto’s largest open air cinema, inside a fifteenth century cloister in Vicenza

FIND YOUR STORY

A · Five Hundred Seats Beneath Fifteenth Century Arcades ↓

B · Spielberg, Marilyn Monroe and The Devil Wears Prada ↓

C · From Locarno and Toronto to Vicenza ↓

D · The Cinema That Survived Two World Wars ↓

E · Bellini Before the Film ↓

F · Tickets, Languages and Planning Your Evening ↓

A · Five Hundred Seats Beneath Fifteenth Century Arcades ↓

A few minutes from Corso Palladio, the Dominican cloisters of Santa Corona acquire a very different purpose during the summer months. Five hundred white chairs fill the courtyard, facing a cinema screen beneath the old arcades. The larger cloister dates to the second half of the fifteenth century and now belongs to Vicenza's Natural History and Archaeology Museum. [4]

From June to early September, the space becomes Cinema sotto le stelle, the city's annual summer film season, organised by Cinema Odeon. Its 33rd edition, held from 10 June to 6 September 2026, offered 89 evenings of cinema, making it Veneto's largest open air arena by seating capacity. [1][2]

Come after dinner, with enough time to admire the cloister before the lights go down. Films generally begin at 9.30 pm in June and July and at 9 pm from August, according to the 2026 schedule. [2]

B · Spielberg, Marilyn Monroe and The Devil Wears Prada ↓

The 2026 programme was a fine demonstration of how many different audiences can find themselves sharing the same courtyard.

The season opened with four nights of Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor and Colin Firth, including a screening in the original language. A fortnight later, The Devil Wears Prada 2 brought Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway to the screen, followed by Chloé Zhao's Hamnet and Francesco Sossai's Le città di pianura, winner of eight David di Donatello awards. [1][5][8]

Marilyn Monroe received a birthday celebration of her own. For the centenary of her birth, Cineteca sotto le stelle, the programme's weekly appointment with restored cinema, screened Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot in their original language.

Italian cinema had its classics too, with the restored Django by Sergio Corbucci, marking its sixtieth anniversary, and Pupi Avati's The House with Laughing Windows. Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind completed another evening devoted to a film that audiences have been revisiting for generations. [1]

The calendar is worth reading before settling on a date, particularly if you have a favourite director, a weakness for classic Hollywood or a preference for watching films in their original language.

C · From Locarno and Toronto to Vicenza ↓

The summer programme also brings some of the international film festival circuit to Vicenza.

In 2026, the Gaza Calling selection included With Hasan in Gaza, screened at Locarno in 2025, and Annemarie Jacir's Palestine 36, which had premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The programme featured four works, including three Italian premieres, and the David di Donatello winning short film Everyday in Gaza. [1]

Film directors and other members of the production teams joined audiences on selected evenings. Anna Negri introduced her documentary Toni, mio padre, while Paolo Cottignola, winner of the David di Donatello for editing Le città di pianura, came to discuss Francesco Sossai's film. Director Alberto Palmiero also presented his debut Tienimi presente. [1]

For anyone following international cinema, these encounters are among the most interesting dates to look for when the summer calendar is announced.

D · The Cinema That Survived Two World Wars ↓

The organiser of these summer screenings has a history almost as appealing as the setting.

Cinema Odeon began showing films in Vicenza on 18 May 1907, when the former church of Santi Faustino e Giovita became the Cinematografo San Faustino. According to the cinema's own historical records, screenings continued through both world wars, giving the Odeon the longest continuous operating history of any cinema in Italy. [3]

The original cinema occupies a former church, with an eighteenth century interior and a ceiling fresco by Costantino Pasqualotto. Its summer programme finds a second home in the cloister of a Dominican convent.

There is something wonderfully fitting about a cinema whose history began in a church choosing another piece of Vicenza's religious architecture for its summer audience.

E · Bellini Before the Film ↓

There is another reason to arrive at Santa Corona before sunset.

The adjoining church contains Giovanni Bellini's Baptism of Christ and Paolo Veronese's Adoration of the Magi, along with the Valmarana Chapel designed by Andrea Palladio in 1576. The church was founded in the thirteenth century and remains one of the most rewarding places to visit for Venetian Renaissance painting in Vicenza. [6][7]

See the paintings during the church's visiting hours, have dinner in the historic centre, and come back for the film. Depending on the programme, you might find yourself spending the afternoon with Bellini and the evening with Spielberg, Marilyn Monroe or a new discovery from the international festival circuit.

F · Tickets, Languages and Planning Your Evening ↓

CINEMA SOTTO LE STELLE

Chiostri di Santa Corona

Contrà Santa Corona 4, 36100 Vicenza, Italy

Season: June to early September.

2026 edition: 10 June to 6 September, 89 evenings.

2027 programme: Dates and films have yet to be announced.

 

 

Original language screenings

Selected films are shown in their original language, including international releases and restored classics. Check each film's details for language and subtitles before booking. [8]

 

In case of rain

Check directly with Cinema Odeon for changes to the venue, screening time or programme.

ORGANISER · CINEMA ODEON

Corso Andrea Palladio 176, Vicenza

Phone: +39 0444 543492

Email: info@odeonline.it

Official programme: https://www.odeonline.it/