List of theatres and opera houses in Rome

Last updated February 18, 2024

This is an alphabetical list of past and current theatres and opera houses in Rome, Italy .^[1]

National Dramatic Theatre (or National Theatre) was a theatre which was demolished in 1934 during the redevelopment of the Via Nazionale.
Teatro Argentina is an opera house and theatre located in the Largo di Torre Argentina. It is one of the oldest theatres in Rome, and was inaugurated on January 31, 1732 with Berenice by Domenico Sarro. It was commissioned by the Sforza Cesarini family and designed by the architect Gerolamo Theodoli with the auditorium laid out in the traditional horseshoe shape. The inside of the theatre was built out of wood with six levels of boxes characterizing the design, and has been restored many times. In the 19th century, the premieres of many notable operas took place in the theatre. They include Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1816, and Giuseppe Verdi's I due Foscari in 1844 and La battaglia di Legnano in 1849.
Teatro Brancaccio is a 1,300-seat theatre and cinema located in the Esquilino zone, that has also been used as a cinema. Inaugurated in 1916, it was restored and re-opened in 1978.
Teatro Capranica is a former opera house located in the Colonna rione. Originally built in 1679, it saw the premieres of many Baroque operas. It closed definitively as a theatre in 1881 and it now serves as a conference and event venue.
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Rome Opera House) is an opera house located on the Piazza Beniamino Gigli. Originally opened in November 1880 as a 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has been renamed at several occasions and has undergone several modifications and improvements. The present house seats 1,600.
Teatro delle Quattro Fontane was an opera theatre inaugurated in 1632 and located near the Piazza Barberini. It later became a prose theatre.
Teatro Quirino is a theatre for plays and musicals located on Via delle Vergini in the Trevi district of Rome. Originally built in 1871 as a marionette theatre, it has been significantly rebuilt and remodelled over the years. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it also hosted opera, operetta, and ballet.
Teatro Sistina is a theatre located on Via Sistina between Piazza Barberini and Trinità dei Monti. It was originally built as a cinema in 1949 but is now primarily used for theatre and cabaret performances.
Teatro Valle (literally Valley Theater) is a theatre and former opera house located on the Via del Teatro Valle in the area bounded by the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo dei Fiori and the Senate. Commissioned by the Capranica family, the architect Tommaso Morelli designed the theatre which was built in 1726. It was inaugurated with the staging of the tragedy Matilde by Simon Falconio Pratoli. After hosting a season of opera seria in 1730, the Valle was limited through much of the latter half of the 18th century to staging prose dramas as well as a mix of intermezzos and comic operas, particularly those of Galuppi, Piccinni, Anfossi, Sacchini, Paisiello, Guglielmi, and Cimarosa. It was the only theatre in Rome in 1782, and after 1786, which offered both spring and autumn seasons of opera as well a season during Carnival.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Trevi is the 2nd rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. II, located in Municipio I. The origin of its name is not clear, but the most accepted theory is that it comes from the Latin trivium, because there were three streets all leading to the current Piazza dei Crociferi, a square next to the modern Trevi square. Its coat of arms is made of three swords on a red background.

Colonna is the 3rd rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. III and located at the city's historic center in Municipio I. It takes its name from the Column of Marcus Aurelius in the Piazza Colonna, the rione's main square.

Sant'Eustachio is the 8th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. VIII. It is named after the eponymous church and is located within the Municipio I.

Castro Pretorio is the 18th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XVIII, and it is located within the Municipio I. The rione takes its name by the ruins of the Castrum Praetorium, the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, included in the Aurelian Walls.

The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements. The present house seats 1,560.

The Teatro Argentina is an opera house and theatre located in Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. One of the oldest theatres in Rome, it was constructed in 1731 and inaugurated on 31 January 1732 with Berenice by Domenico Sarro. It is built over part of the curia section of the Theatre of Pompey. This curia was the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Capranica is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located about 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of GRA, 66 kilometres (41 mi) from Rome’s centre, and 24.5 kilometres (15.2 mi) southeast of Viterbo.

Theatres for diverse musical and dramatic presentations began to open in Naples, Italy, in the mid-16th century as part of the general Spanish cultural and political expansion into the kingdom of Naples, which had just become a vicerealm of Spain. None of the early theaters still function as such, having been replaced by later facilities from the mid-18th century onwards. Neapolitan theatres first built in the 16th and 17th centuries include:

Barberini–Fontana di Trevi is an underground station on Line A of the Rome Metro, inaugurated in 1980 and situated under Piazza Barberini in Trevi. Originally, the station was simply named Barberini, and the name was extended in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza Barberini</span>

Piazza Barberini is a large piazza in the centro storico or city center of Rome, Italy and situated on the Quirinal Hill. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt.

The Teatro Valle is a theatre and former opera house in Rome, Italy. It was built in 1726 for the Capranica family. In the middle of the 19th century, it switched from staging opera and theatre to only performances of spoken drama. After closing down in 2010, it was squatted in 2011, then in 2014, the squatters were evicted.

Fontana delle Api is a fountain located in the Piazza Barberini in Rome where the Via Veneto enters the piazza. It was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and completed in April 1644.

The Teatro delle Quattro Fontane, also known as the Teatro Barberini, was an opera theatre in Rome, Italy, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and built in 1632 by the Barberini family. From 1632 to 1637 it was located in a large room inside the Palazzo Barberini at the Quattro Fontane. In 1639, it was moved to a new, free-standing building, northeast of the palace and adjacent to the garden. By 1830, the theatre had closed, and the building was used for other purposes. It was demolished in 1932.

The Teatro Capranica is a theatre situated at 101 Piazza Capranica in the Colonna district of Rome. Originally constructed in 1679 by the Capranica family and housed in the early Renaissance Palazzo Capranica, it was the second public theatre to open in Rome. It was the site of many premieres of Baroque operas including Caldara's Tito e Berenice, Scarlatti's Griselda, and Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte. The Capranica ceased operating as a full-scale theatre and opera house in 1881 and in 1922 was converted into a cinema. Following the closure of the cinema in 2000, it has functioned on a hire basis as a conference and performance venue.

The Teatro delle Dame, also known as the Teatro Alibert, was a theatre in Rome built in 1718 and located on what is now the corner of Via D'Alibert and Via Margutta. In the course of its history it underwent a series of reconstructions and renovations until it was definitively destroyed by a fire in 1863. In their 18th-century heyday, the Teatro delle Dame and its rival, the Teatro Capranica, were the leading opera houses in Rome and saw many world premieres performed by some of the most prominent singers of the time.

The Teatro Nuovo is a theatre located on Via Montecalvario in the Quartieri Spagnoli district of Naples. The original theatre was an opera house designed by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. Completed in 1724, it was also known as the Teatro Nuovo sopra Toledo and the Teatro Nuovo de Montecalvario. The theatre specialised in the opera buffa genre and saw the world premieres of hundreds of operas in its heyday. These included fifteen of Cimarosa's operas and seven of Donizetti's. The present theatre is the third to have been erected on the site following its destruction by fire in 1861 and again in 1935.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Rome:

Savino Monelli was an Italian tenor prominent in the opera houses of Italy from 1806 until 1830. Amongst the numerous roles he created in world premieres were Giannetto in Rossini's La gazza ladra, Enrico in Donizetti's L'ajo nell'imbarazzo and Nadir in Pacini's La schiava in Bagdad. He was born in Fermo where he initially studied music. After leaving the stage, he retired to Fermo and died there five years later at the age of 52.

References

↑ This list excludes Ancient Roman theatres.
↑ Murata, Margaret, et al.: "Rome", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Retrieved on March 21, 2008), <http://www.grovemusic.com>

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] This list excludes Ancient Roman theatres.

[Murata-2] Murata, Margaret, et al.: "Rome", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Retrieved on March 21, 2008), <http://www.grovemusic.com>

[1]

[2]

List of theatres and opera houses in Rome

See also

Related Research Articles

References