Teatro romano di Grumento Nova

The Roman theatre at Grumentum was raised in the first century AD and later reworked on a grander design. After restoration, it returned to use as a performance space and has hosted the Teatri di Pietra festival.

Why it matters

The theatre is among Grumentum's defining monuments. Its restoration returned it to use as a performance space, and the site has hosted the Teatri di Pietra festival. The building also reflects the resources of this Roman colony in the Lucanian interior.

What to notice

The theatre is a free-standing structure built up in elevation rather than dug into a hillside. Its elements include the cavea, the tiers for spectators; the orchestra below, reserved for the chorus and the most eminent citizens; and the scaena, the stage building whose facade was organised on three great exedras, with three doorways connecting it to a colonnaded portico behind the stage.

A major renovation between the second and third centuries AD gave the theatre its monumental stage architecture. The surrounding excavations preserve other parts of the ancient city.

Context and history

Grumentum's colonial refoundation in the first century BC set off a building programme that the official museum text describes as the making of a "little Rome" in the Lucanian interior: an amphitheatre had already stood since mid-century, and in the following one the theatre went up alongside a forum quarter of temples and basilica and two bath complexes. Between the second and third centuries AD the theatre was extensively renovated, adopting the monumental stage form documented on the official park page. As Grumentum declined and was abandoned around the ninth century, the theatre was buried. Later excavations brought it and other parts of the city back to light. Its modern restoration closed the circle, returning performances to a stage that had been silent for well over a thousand years.