Teatro Municipale Giuseppe Verdi

Salerno's Teatro Municipale Giuseppe Verdi opened in 1872 with a performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. Its auditorium, ceiling fresco and monumental curtain combine nineteenth-century theatrical design with images from the city's history.

Why it matters

The theatre was conceived as a major civic building for Salerno. Its plan drew on the proportions of Naples' San Carlo, and its name commemorates Giuseppe Verdi after his death. Following damage in the 1980 earthquake, the theatre reopened in 1994, linking its architectural history to the city's postwar recovery.

What to notice

The auditorium has four tiers of boxes and a gallery. Medallions on the box fronts portray Italian composers, writers and artists. Pasquale Criscito painted the ceiling's Apotheosis of Rossini in 1870, amid decoration led by Gaetano D'Agostino. In the peristyle, faux-marble stucco columns and neo-Pompeian vaults frame Giovanni Battista Amendola's sculpture of Pergolesi. Domenico Morelli designed the monumental curtain depicting the expulsion of the Saracens from Salerno in 871; Giuseppe Sciuti painted the figures and Ignazio Perricci the frame.

Context and history

The municipal council selected the Santa Teresa site in 1863, and construction began the following year under the direction of Antonino D'Amora and architect Giuseppe Manichini. The shell was completed in 1869, before the theatre's 1872 inauguration. It was renamed for Verdi after his death in 1901. The 1980 earthquake made the building unusable; restoration preceded its reopening on 6 July 1994, the fiftieth anniversary of Salerno's period as Italy's temporary capital.