Teatro Luigi Rasi

Teatro Rasi occupies a former church in Ravenna's historic centre. Founded as Santa Chiara in 1255, the building was deconsecrated after the Napoleonic suppressions and converted into a theatre in the nineteenth century. Today it is home to Ravenna Teatro, a production centre founded in 1991.

Why it matters

The building's changing uses trace centuries of Ravenna's civic and cultural life. After serving as a church and then a riding school, it became a theatre in 1874 and was inaugurated in 1892. It was named for Ravenna-born actor and scholar Luigi Rasi in 1919. The medieval church has been transformed for performance while retaining elements of its earlier architecture.

What to notice

The stage sits in the former church's apse, while the medieval façade serves as the theatre entrance. A renovation in 2021–2022 added a mobile telescopic stand and a separate hall beneath the old gallery, adapting the historic structure for contemporary performance.

The church's fourteenth-century frescoes by Pietro da Rimini, depicting a History of Salvation, were detached and transferred to Ravenna's National Museum. Their former setting at the Rasi preserves the link between the theatre and its religious past.

Context and history

Chiara da Polenta founded the church beside a Poor Clares convent on the site of an earlier building known as Santo Stefano in Fundamento. Architect Camillo Morigia redesigned it in the eighteenth century. The church was deconsecrated after the 1805 suppressions and served as a riding school before its conversion to a theatre.

The theatre closed for restoration in 1959 and reopened in the 1970s. Further work took place in 2000, 2007 and 2021–2022. Since 1991, Ravenna Teatro has used the building as a centre for theatrical production.