About me


Photo credits: Laila Pozzo

Chiara Amaltea Ciarelli

Born and raised in the Netherlands where I’ve attended the French school, I moved to Italy in 2009 to continue my studies obtaining a Bachelor in Set Design at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna.

During my studies, I have always chosen to complement the academic formation with periods of internship and work in theatres such as the Opera di Firenze and the Opera du Capitole in Toulouse and alongside directors such as Romeo Castellucci.

Currently, my work as a costume and set designer includes a long-lasting collaboration with the Bruxelles based director Sandro Mabellini among others makers, and has allowed me in 2019 to work with choreographer Dario Tortorelli for his creation Transmotion (Theater Rotterdam Schouwburg) as his artistic assistant and costume designer

As an assistant costume designer, I had the opportunity to work with several designers. I’ve collaborated with Klaus Bruns on Le Prince Igor (Opera National de Paris, 2019) directed by Barrie Kosky, and in 2020 I had the chance to collaborate with Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA) where I assisted An d’Huys on Flight 49 by Simon Stone and Wojciech Dziedzic on Kinderen Van Nora by Robert Icke.

Furthermore, in 2020 I started a collaboration with Agostino Cavalca that as allowed me to assist him on several shows including Der Rosenkavalier (Lithuanian National Opera, 2021),  Rigoletto (Teatro La Fenice, 2021), La Cenerentola (Semperoper Dresden, 2021) and Giulio Cesare (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Opera de Montpellier, 2022 – on tour in 2023) all directed by Damiano Michieletto.
The collaboration with Agostino Cavalca has become throughout the years very strong and will allow me to assist him on several other productions in 2024 and 2025.

From April to July 2023 I had the incredible chance to work as in house Costume Supervisor at Teatro alla Scala in Milan where I’ve been in charge of the revival of Macbeth (directed by Davide Livermore, costume design by Gianluca Falaschi) and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (directed by Leo Muscato, costumes by Silvia Aymonino).

In 2024 I will come back at Teatro alla Scala as a costume designer to design costumes for Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze directed by Mario Acampa.