After Minicifre della cultura. 2023 edition – dedicated to the analysis of the five-year period 2018-2022 – Minicifre della cultura. 2024 edition will be available in the autumn, presenting the surveys for the three-year period 2021-2023. While waiting for the results of the new research, we publish monthly previews of unpublished data that offer a look at the cultural sector in Italy.
Cinema and live entertaiment: some data
What is the trend of the film sector in Italy?
In 2022, according to the survey on families conducted by Istat, one in three people went to the cinema at least once; if we consider the young audience, aged between 6 and 24, the share rises to one in two people. Looking at the SIAE surveys, in the same year 5.239 cinemas were active in Italy, of which 20% were in Lombardy and more than half located in the northern regions. Cinemas welcomed around 48 million spectators, a data that confirms a recovery following the pandemic emergency period, while it also shows a halving of audiences compared to 2018, an indication of the persistence of some difficulties.
What is the participation of the Italian public in the live shows?
According to Istat data, one in eight people went to the theater in 2022, while one in 15 attended a classical or opera concert, with slightly higher participation for female audiences. According to SIAE data, more than 18.000 live shows were staged during the year. Most of these performances are prose theatre performances (43%), pop music concerts (17%) and classical music concerts (10%). 49% of the performances took place in the northern regions, including, in particular, Lombardy, where about a quarter of the total performances at national level are concentrated.
In the same year, more than 43 million spectators were registered, who mainly attended pop, rock and pop music concerts (48%) and prose theatre performances (25%). Comparing the number of spectators in 2022 with the attendance levels recorded in 2018, it is possible to observe different trends for each sector of live entertainment. If, on the one hand, there is a significant return of audiences to concerts (+58% since 2018), on the other hand, the theatre's data show a slower recovery: the number of spectators is, in fact, still about a fifth (-19% since 2018) lower than pre-pandemic levels.
Minicifre della cultura project
In 2023, Minicifre della cultura made available to the scientific community and political decision-makers, scholars and citizens once again provided the scientific community and political decision-makers, scholars and citizens with a unique and reliable space for consulting the main statistical data on culture in Italy. The General Directorate for Education, Research and Cultural Institutes of the Ministry of Culture and the Foundation School of Cultural Heritage and Activities have in fact launched a systematic collection of data and quantitative information on the italian culture that present its trends and transformations, with the aim of giving continuous restitution, on an annual basis, through a paper publication and a website.
Read more
Discover Minicifre della cultura project on the DGERIC page.
Go to the website minicifre.cultura.gov.it
