architectural competition

Since access to the theatre was primarily by water, the announcement recommended that the designers should design an entrance from Rio Menuo at least twenty feet wide, since the gondola, the main form of transport, measured thirty-two. Participants were Pietro Checchia, Pietro Bianchi, Andrea Bon, Cosimo Morelli, Giuseppe Pistocchi, Daniele Danieletti, Sante Baseggio.

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The first theatre was opened with an opera by Giovanni Paisiello entitled I giuochi d'Agrigento (libretto by Alessandro Pepoli).

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In December 1836, the theatre was destroyed by fire. Rebuilt to a design by the Tommaso and Giovanni Battista Meduna.

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The theatre was rebuilt in the 19th-century style on the basis of a design by architect Aldo Rossi. Opened with an inaugural concert of Beethoven, Wagner, and Stravinsky.

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