What is Il Cinema Ritrovato?

Il Cinema Ritrovato, “cinema rediscovered”, is a festival of restored and rediscovered films, held in Bologna each June by the Cineteca di Bologna, the city’s film archive. It began in 1986. The 2026 edition, the 40th, showed 540 films in nine days. The next runs 19 to 27 June 2027, and its evening screenings in Piazza Maggiore are free.

Il Cinema Ritrovato at a glance

Checked October 2026 on ilcinemaritrovato.it and in the festival’s closing figures.

When is Il Cinema Ritrovato 2027?

From 19 to 27 June 2027, the festival’s 41st edition. Like the 2026 edition, it falls in the second half of June, so it overlaps with the opening weeks of Sotto le Stelle del Cinema, the free open-air season in the square. In 2026 that season ran from 15 June to 14 August, and the festival took over its evenings from 20 to 28 June.

During those nine days the evening films in the square are part of the festival. Our page on when the open-air cinema runs has the rest of the summer, and the best time to visit guide sets it against the rest of the year.

What films does the festival show?

Restored, rediscovered and rarely seen films from the whole history of cinema, grouped into tributes and themed strands. In 2026 the main ones were Luchino Visconti, marking 120 years since his birth and 50 since his death, and a tribute to Barbara Stanwyck curated by the critic Molly Haskell. Joséphine Baker, Mitchell Leisen and the Bengali director Ritwik Ghatak had their own strands.

Some screenings are about how the film is shown as much as what it is. In 2026 three evenings in Piazzetta Pasolini used carbon-arc projection, the light source of old cinema projectors.

The daytime program runs in the city’s cinemas: the Modernissimo, the Lumière, the Arlecchino, the Jolly and the Europa, plus DAMSLab. In the evening the main screening is on the big screen in Piazza Maggiore, in front of the Basilica di San Petronio.

Do you need tickets for Il Cinema Ritrovato?

Only for the cinemas. The screenings in Piazza Maggiore are free and open to anyone, as the festival’s own site states. Pass holders can book a seat in a reserved section of the square, entering between 20:00 and 21:15. Everyone else finds a free seat or a place to stand, so the free cinema page is worth reading before a popular night.

The daytime screenings need a festival pass. There is no single-day ticket; one pass covers all nine days. For 2026 the full pass was €150 and there was a lower early rate until 16 June. Check ilcinemaritrovato.it for the 2027 prices.

Who runs Il Cinema Ritrovato?

The Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna. Gian Luca Farinelli conceived the festival in 1986 with Nicola Mazzanti, and he has directed the Cineteca since December 2000. The 2026 edition was directed by Cecilia Cenciarelli, Farinelli, Ehsan Khoshbakht and Mariann Lewinsky. The festival draws film archivists, restorers and enthusiasts from around the world.