Alighieri Theatre

The deteriorating condition of the old Teatro Comunitativo prompted the municipal administration to start construction of a new theatre in 1838, in what was then Slargo degli Svizzeri, now Piazza Garibaldi. Piazza Garibaldi. On 15 May 1852 the official opening of the new theatre was held with Meyerbeer's Roberto il diavolo, directed by Giovanni Nostini, starring Adelaide Cortesi, Marco Viani and Feliciano Pons. Feliciano Pons, immediately followed by the ballet La zingara, with the étoile Augusta Maywood. The construction of the building was entrusted to the Venetians Tomaso and Giovanni Battista Meduna, who had recently completed the restoration of the famous La Fenice Theatre in Venice. Not dissimilar to the Venetian project, the result is a neoclassical building, strongly scenographic. The entrance hall, flanked by two rooms that were already destined to house a trattoria and a café, leads the visitor towards the grand staircase leading to the stalls and the boxes. Originally, the theatre hall, of semi-elliptical shape, counted four orders for a total of twenty-five boxes plus the gallery. The stalls, on the other hand, were located on an inclined plane, less extended than today, which gave more space to the proscenium and the orchestra pit. Venetian are also the decorations in neoclassical style, by the painters Giuseppe Voltan and Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri. Over the years, the theatre has hosted artists and personalities from all over the world: from Gabriele D'Annunzio to the "divine" Maria Callas, who performed La forza del destino here in 1954.