The firstborn son of a noble and ancient family, one of the twelve linked to the famous Column of Hospitality of Bertinoro, Ermete Novelli is regarded as one of the greatest masters of Italian dramatic art between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

He made his theatrical debut at a very young age, immediately displaying an extraordinary talent. His acting, innovative for the time, was distinguished by psychological depth, careful attention to language, and profound expressive truth, anticipating more modern forms of performance. He was a refined interpreter of a vast repertoire ranging from Goldoni to Shakespeare, from Alfieri to contemporary bourgeois drama.

An educated and scholarly actor, Novelli was also an actor-manager and theatre organizer. In 1900, he founded the Casa Goldoni in Rome at the Teatro Valle, the first example of a permanent theatre in Italy, with the aim of elevating theatre into a lasting cultural institution and freeing it from the instability of travelling companies.

His fame extended beyond national borders: he undertook numerous tours abroad, helping to spread Italian theatre throughout Europe and the Americas. In his later years, he also became interested in silent cinema, recognizing its artistic potential as a new expressive medium.

In 1902, he returned to Bertinoro, where he wrote Foglietti sparsi narranti la mia vita (“Scattered Pages Telling My Life”), an autobiographical work published posthumously and a valuable testimony to his vision of theatre and the life of an actor. In the town, he had a large theatre built, unfortunately destroyed during the bombings of the Second World War. Some of his memorabilia and commemorative materials are now preserved in the Town Hall.

Facing his house in Bertinoro, a bust perpetuates his memory. The Ermete Novelli Prize, established in 2002 and awarded every two years, is dedicated to him as a testament to the artistic and cultural legacy he left to the history of Italian theatre.