The Little America Foundation has offered 2.5 million to buy Cinema America

The Piccolo America Foundation has offered 2.5 million euros to the Progetto Uno Srl property to purchase Cinema America, while also assuming the costs of restoring the structure. The historic experience born in Trastevere more than a decade ago, based on the results obtained inside the Cinema Troisi, has found the support of some audiovisual entrepreneurs for the creation of the first “Multisala diffuso” among the alleys of the Rione. The project, of which the Troisi will also be a part, involves the reactivation of two additional movie theaters, starting with the America and flanking it with a single-screen cinema of about seventy seats.

“In recent months we have presented to some audiovisual entrepreneurs an economic investment project for the realization of a ’Multiscreen spread.’ Thus we signed a contract to reproduce the development model of Cinema Troisi. According to this agreement, we sent our offer of 2.5 million euros to buy Cinema America from Progetto Uno Srl, which had paid 2.2 million euros for the property in 2002 to try to demolish it and convert it into parking lots and apartments. Today we have offered the property more than it paid to buy the property, with a commitment to relieve the property of the huge restoration costs: a proposal that we hope will be considered valid compared to their unsuccessful investment,” says Valerio Carocci, President of the Piccolo America Foundation.

Should the ownership of Cinema America accept the offer, a new company will be formed , composed 51 percent by the Piccolo America Foundation and 49 percent by the financing partners. Should it not be accepted within sixty days, on the other hand, the company will still be formed, and the investment designed for the America will be allocated to the restoration of another theater, always flanked by a second smaller one.

“In both cases,” Carocci continues, “we will aim to involve additional funders and donors, opening up the possibility for multiple parties to purchase different denominations of shares within the 49 percent of the company. At the end of this process we will make public the names of all supporters. The new corporation, in which we will participate with our nonprofit, will receive a 3 million shareholder funding, which also includes the restoration costs of the third smaller structure involved. We have also made ourselves available to the ownership to find different solutions, such as renting. In the absence of an agreement, however, we have proposed a meeting with Project One Srl to find out what future they envision for the facility. We trust in the beginning of a relationship that will no longer see us in opposition, so that Cinema America will not remain abandoned, but will be returned to its original cultural and public function.”

“As the Piccolo America Foundation in ten years we plan to bring back the lenders of the investment and acquire all the shares of the company,” adds Federico Croce, the Foundation’s General Manager. “In this way we could become the sole owners of Cinema America.”

“The management of the ’Multisala diffuso’ will be entrusted to Piccolo America and will include three theaters, including the Troisi. Our dream is to create a cinema district where the carpeting of multiplexes is replaced by the cobblestones of the world’s most beautiful alleys, with the opening of ticket offices in the former kiosks of Ponte Sisto and Ponte Garibaldi. Each hall will live by its architectural and historical peculiarities, each with its own identity. For us, the involvement of private investors is the culmination of an experience that, starting from the bottom, has demonstrated an entrepreneurial capacity in the nonprofit sector and proof that another model of movie theater and cultural space, as happened with the Troisi, can be economically sustainable today,” Croce concludes.

The Council of State’ s March 15, 2023 ruling definitively blocked speculation on Cinema America and recognized its value as an asset of cultural interest, leaving the property responsible for the costs of restoration and preservation. Should Progetto Uno Srl wish to reopen the property, including through third-party management, Piccolo America has in any case made itself available to collaborate so that the structure can be brought back to life while protecting its architectural peculiarities.

Photo by Fabrizio Fioravanti

The Little America Foundation has offered 2.5 million to buy Cinema America

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