Teatro Petrarca

Teatro Petrarca is Arezzo's nineteenth-century theatre, opened in 1833 with Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Its horseshoe auditorium and tiers of boxes preserve the architectural form of an Italian opera house.

Why it matters

The theatre grew from a civic initiative to replace the earlier Teatro della Fenice. Its development links the ambitions of an academy of local patrons with the place of opera in nineteenth-century urban culture.

What to notice

Four tiers of boxes curve around the stalls, giving the auditorium its characteristic horseshoe arrangement. A ballroom and a later entrance block belong to different stages of the complex's development. The building also has a cinematic association through its appearance in Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful.

Context and history

The academy's initiative began in 1828. Vittorio Bellini designed the theatre on land formerly associated with the Badia monastic complex, with construction starting in 1830 and the opening taking place on 21 April 1833. Lorenzo Materassi's ballroom followed in 1835. Alessandro Marraghini's entrance block and new circulation arrangements were added in 1892. Restoration completed in 2015 marked a later stage in the preservation of the historic theatre.