Italian Route
The Italian Route of the “European Route of Historic Theatres” runs through Northern Italy, the only region in the world where one can follow the history of theatre from the Renaissance to the 19th century.
After the Medieval times when theatre performances had only been possible during religious festivities, the Renaissance rediscovered ancient Greek and Roman civilization and its worldly theatre. Academies were founded to study the sources and revive mostly Greek tragedies. So it does not come as a surprise that the oldest preserved theatre in Europe, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, was commissioned by such an Academy. Here the architect Andrea Palladio transferred the model of the ancient Roman open-air theatre into a closed space. Vincenzo Scamozzi completed the theatre in 1585 and moved to Sabbioneta where he erected the first purpose - uilt theatre in Europe, the Teatro all’Antica (1590). Both theatres feature an open stage that does not allow changing the stage decoration. A portal behind which the scenery can be changed appears for the first time in the Teatro Farnese (1618) in Parma. Here the age of Baroque took off with its spectacular stage effects, while the auditorium still recalls an ancient theatre.
The first half of the 17th century saw a new theatrical form: opera. And with it came a new kind of building: the opera house with many circles of boxes stacked up the wall, a form that has been influencing the way of building theatres till today. Since no theatres have been preserved from those days, the journey continues in the 18th century with another theatre for an Academy, the Teatro Scientifico in Mantua. It was built in 1767 by Antonio Galli Bibiena, scion of a famous family that built theatres everywhere in Europe for five generations.
On the way to Bologna the perfectly preserved Teatro Comunale (1861) in Carpi allows a glimpse into the 19th century, before the journey through the 18th century continues in Bologna with the Teatro Comunale (1763), another oeuvre by Antonio Galli Bibiena. Besides public theatres, there were private theatres, for example in the villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati, not far from Bologna’s city centre, where a real gem of a theatre dating from the same year can be found.
In 1790 the Teatro Comunale Politeama in the town hall of San Giovanni in Persiceto replaced an earlier theatre interior that had been constructed in the same hall for an Academy already in 1659. Like a twin brother, but still very different, appears the classical auditorium of the Teatro Comunale Angelo Masini (1788) in Faenza. At the end of the tour, the Teatro Bonci (1846) in Cesena demonstrates again what an Italian-style theatre looked like in the middle of the 19th century.
The Nordic Route presents:
Scientific Theatre
Ancient Theatre
Farnese Theatre
Municipal Theatre Carpi
Municipal Theatre San Giovanni in Persiceto
Municipal Theatre Bologna
Teatro in the villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati
Municipal Theatre Masini
Bonci Theatre
The European Route of Historic Theatres
Theatre has been a corner stone of European culture for over 2500 years. The buildings created for this art mirror our history. They can be found everywhere in Europe. Together they form a very special part of our common European heritage.
The “European Route of Historic Theatres” was initiated in 2007. It proved to be an excellent idea for travellers and theatres alike, and the European Commission agreed to support its extension to all of Europe until 2017.
Every six months, a new part of the European Route will open, until the European Route will be complete in 2016. It consists of 12 part routes, each comprising about 10 theatres, so that one can easily travel along any part route in a week (or see two or three theatres during a week-end trip).
The part routes of the European Route of Historic Theatres are:
- Iberia Route (Spain, Portugal)
- French Route
- Channel Route (Great Britain, Netherlands, Belgium)
- German Route
- Nordic Route (Sweden, Norway, Denmark)
- Baltic Route (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia)
- Black Sea Route (Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece)
- Adriatic Route (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia)
- Emperor Route (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary)
- Alpine Route (Southern Germany, Switzerland, Northern Italy)
- Italian Route I + II
As of autumn 2013, five part routes are already operating: the Nordic Route, the Channel Route, the German Route, the Emperor Route and the Italian Route I in northern Italy. In the following years, we are planning to open the next routes like this (subject to change):
Opening 2014: Adriatic Route and French Route
Opening 2015: Baltic Route and Iberia Route
Opening 2016: Alpine Route and Black Sea Route
More information: www.europeanroute.info