Description
Teatro Savoia is Campobasso's historic theater, next to the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity: an Italian-style hall from the 1920s, with four tiers of boxes, gilded stucco and large frescoes celebrating Molise and the Samnites.
Outside, the building has simple, regular lines, brightened by the Art Nouveau wrought iron of the balconies, windows and lamps along the top: interlacing, sinuous spirals and floral motifs.
The entrance and the foyer were frescoed by Arnaldo De Lisio in 1925, with scenes of Campobasso, of Molise and of everyday life. From here two staircases lead up to the boxes.
The horseshoe-shaped auditorium is covered by a painted vault, again by De Lisio, with a large fresco: The Triumph of the Samnites. The balustrades of the boxes are decorated with gilded stucco and with putti at the columns.
Between the stalls and the stage, the orchestra pit holds up to forty players. The hall has just over 400 seats.
The theater has changed name and shape several times. On its site stood the Teatro Margherita, opened on November 20, 1894 after the city's previous theater burned down: it was made of wood, faced with brick and stucco, and held six to seven hundred people.
In the 1920s, on the site of the Margherita, rose a large complex with a hotel, a bank, public baths and stores. The new Teatro Sociale, designed by Leonardo Paterna Baldizzi, opened in 1926 with Puccini's Tosca.
It took the name Teatro Savoia when it passed to a new owner, Raffaele Colitti. In 1993 the Province bought it and had it restored: the frescoes were recovered and modern machinery was installed to change the stalls and stage quickly.
The restored theater reopened on March 25, 2002, in the presence of the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with a concert by the Molise Symphony Orchestra.
Outside, the building has simple, regular lines, brightened by the Art Nouveau wrought iron of the balconies, windows and lamps along the top: interlacing, sinuous spirals and floral motifs.
The entrance and the foyer were frescoed by Arnaldo De Lisio in 1925, with scenes of Campobasso, of Molise and of everyday life. From here two staircases lead up to the boxes.
The horseshoe-shaped auditorium is covered by a painted vault, again by De Lisio, with a large fresco: The Triumph of the Samnites. The balustrades of the boxes are decorated with gilded stucco and with putti at the columns.
Between the stalls and the stage, the orchestra pit holds up to forty players. The hall has just over 400 seats.
The theater has changed name and shape several times. On its site stood the Teatro Margherita, opened on November 20, 1894 after the city's previous theater burned down: it was made of wood, faced with brick and stucco, and held six to seven hundred people.
In the 1920s, on the site of the Margherita, rose a large complex with a hotel, a bank, public baths and stores. The new Teatro Sociale, designed by Leonardo Paterna Baldizzi, opened in 1926 with Puccini's Tosca.
It took the name Teatro Savoia when it passed to a new owner, Raffaele Colitti. In 1993 the Province bought it and had it restored: the frescoes were recovered and modern machinery was installed to change the stalls and stage quickly.
The restored theater reopened on March 25, 2002, in the presence of the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with a concert by the Molise Symphony Orchestra.