The Centre will be a gathering place for scholars and enthusiasts of cinema and theatre, who will have access to the archive and library. But the Centre’s activities will go well beyond its role as a research institution. Its all-encompassing mission includes, in addition to research objectives, a museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions on the themes “Theatre,” “Opera” and “Cinema”; an educational component, with workshops, masterclasses, postgraduate courses and professional training courses in Theatre Arts and Stagecraft; a concert program and occasional film showings, not limited to those by Franco Zeffirelli but including others related to Shakespearean theatre.
Headquartered in the San Firenze Complex (nearby Bernini Palace), the city’s former courthouse, the Centre has been made possible thanks to the patronage of the non-profit Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli, the support of the City of Florence and investments by Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Kusnirovich and the family of the American-Canadian financier Robert Friedland.