Teatro Alessandro Bonci

Cesena's Teatro Alessandro Bonci is a neoclassical theatre designed by Vincenzo Ghinelli and opened in 1846. Its horseshoe auditorium, four tiers of boxes and richly decorated interiors reflect the city's nineteenth-century cultural ambitions.

Why it matters

The theatre links Cesena to the opera and theatrical culture of Romagna. It was later named for Alessandro Bonci, the Cesena-born tenor who performed on major Italian and international stages. The building is also part of the regional Emilia Romagna Teatro network.

What to notice

The façade follows a Piermarinian neoclassical design, with a nine-arched portico, Ionic half-columns and a tympanum bearing the city's arms and the rivers Savio and Rubicone. Inside, four orders of boxes, each with twenty-three boxes, rise above the horseshoe-shaped auditorium. The theatre's decorative history includes frescoes by Francesco Migliari, façade reliefs by Gaetano Bernasconi and Antonio Pio's curtain painting, Apotheosis of Dante.

Context and history

The Bonci replaced an earlier wooden theatre in Palazzo Alidosi, which had opened in 1798 and was demolished in 1843. Ghinelli's definitive project was approved in 1842; the first stone was laid on 15 August 1843. The theatre opened on 15 August 1846 with Donizetti's Maria di Rohan and a ballet featuring Fanny Elssler. Alessandro Bonci returned to Cesena for a 1904 season of Gounod's Faust and gave a farewell performance in 1927 with Verdi's Requiem. These events helped establish the theatre's lasting association with the tenor and with the city's musical life.