Teatro Toselli

Teatro Toselli is Cuneo's historic theatre, founded in 1803 and rebuilt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its Italian-style auditorium preserves painted decoration alongside later stage renovations.

Why it matters

The theatre's successive transformations reflect Cuneo's changing cultural life from the Napoleonic era to the present. A private shareholders' venture began the institution; later work by Carlo Barabino and Cesare Vinaj shaped the theatre's current form. The actor Giovanni Toselli, a pioneer of theatre in Piedmontese dialect, gave the house its enduring name.

What to notice

The auditorium follows the sala all'italiana arrangement, with tiers of boxes around the hall. Empire-style decoration modelled in papier-mâché was restored in the late twentieth century. A historic stage curtain painted by Gaetano Borgocaratti in 1849 is preserved in Cuneo's Civic Museum. The current interior also reflects the 1928 modernisation and later changes to the gallery and stage.

Context and history

The first public theatre was established in 1803 in a former Capuchin convent. After the municipality acquired the building in 1828, Carlo Barabino renovated it. Giovanni Toselli established a summer theatre in 1874, and his name later became attached to the civic theatre. Cesare Vinaj led a major modernisation in 1928. Further work in 1966 and a restoration in the 1990s reshaped the stage and auditorium while conserving historic decoration.