From 1798 to 1812, after a great fire destroyed the Teatro dei Cavalieri Associati designed by Cosimo Morelli, the Municipal Hall was used for public performances, currently the Council’s seat. It was a wooden structure, consisting of, besides the stalls, three levels of railings. The need for a new theatre led, in 1810, a group of wealthy citizens of Imola to purchase the suppressed Church of St. Francis, intending to properly transform it. Giuseppe Magistretti, an engineer from Imola, was in charge of the works, which were completed in 1812. In August of the same year, on the occasion of the local fair season, the theatre was inaugurated. Three years later, Pope Pius VII, having regained the Papal States, ordered its closure because the new theatre had been built in a space originally dedicated to worship, even though it had long been secularized. For sixteen years, the people of Imola had to return to the provisional theatre set up in the Municipal Hall; where regular acting courses were also held. Only in 1831 did Count Cesare Codronchi Angeli obtain from Gregory XVI the reopening of the new theatre. Urgent restoration work was then promptly started. During the carnival of the same year, the comic company Colomberti – which performed in the provisional theatre – staged the opening show, La grande seduta criminale convocata in Calais contro Ernestina Clerck, precisely on the evening of February 8. In August, the first opera season opened. Within a few years, the new theatre of Imola gained some fame that extended beyond the narrow regional limits. Gradually the number of important artists performing there increased; the programming, almost entirely based on operas, reached an excellent level. Noteworthy is the performance of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in 1837 under the direction of G. Gaspari with the participation of bass G. Zucchini. The peaks were reached with Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in 1842, Bellini’s La Sonnambula in 1843, and Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia (renamed Eustorgia da Romano for papal censorship). The theatre’s owners decided to sell it to the Municipality in 1846 (from that moment it became the Municipal Theatre). Important operas continued to be performed until 1852, when the theatre was temporarily closed for complete restoration. Administrators Codronchi and Pagani asked engineer G. Bianconcini to manage the works. For the renovation of the roof and ceiling, municipal engineer Antonio Cerchiari was engaged. Finally, to ensure the best possible execution, Professor Filippo Antolini (son of the more famous Giovanni Antonio) was invited to Imola for an inspection and to give a valuable opinion. The decoration designs, entrusted to the painter from Imola Francesco Galassi, were also submitted to Antolini’s examination. Galassi was taken to Modena and Ferrara to study those theatres, to direct his work and apply modifications to his design that would make it more harmonious and graceful, thereby meeting the approval of the illustrious master. The figurative painter Paolo Sarti was entrusted with painting the female figures on the theatre ceiling. He proposed frescoing eight Muses: Tragedy, Comedy, Dance, Music, Declamation, Love Poetry, Heroic Poetry, and History. The Council agreed to the project. The theatre reopened to the public in the summer of 1855 with a performance of Verdi’s Macbeth. Since then, activity resumed regularly, except for closures in 1859 and 1866, when, due to the Risorgimento stirrings first and then the Third Italian War of Independence, the theatre had to close temporarily. Lyric and dramatic companies alternated on Imola’s stages, along with variety shows, operettas, dialect performances, and illusionist shows. In 1899, Ermete Zacconi performed there; his company returned in 1905 to present D’Annunzio’s La città morta and Ibsen’s Ghosts, and in 1908 Il nuovo idolo. In 1912 and 1914, Ermete Novelli’s company had successful seasons. In 1922, opera triumphed with Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele. The following year, Sem Benelli’s company received acclaim. After 1931, the theatre was closed because it did not comply with new public safety laws. The fascist administration at the time deemed it inappropriate to undertake upgrading works; then came the war, and later the reconstruction years when primary needs of the population took priority, further delaying the building’s restoration, which began only at the end of the 1960s. Therefore, the theatre reopened only in spring 1974 with the Antonio Gades dance company. The essential restoration preserved the structure and decorations executed in the mid-19th century. The hall, elliptical in plan, features three tiers of boxes plus the gallery; the boxes are separated by small pillars that the 1853 design intended to cover in faux marble (Spanish brocatelle) with masks framed by golden leaves as capitals. The simple and elegant neoclassical decoration of festoons and garlands, painted in monochrome and gilded stucco, runs along the small boxes and adorns the proscenium arch. The ceiling preserves the Muses frescoed by Sarti; at the center is a crystal chandelier, while other lighting is via wall sconces. The stage, still spacious though reduced from its original size, no longer retains 19th-century props and has been modernly rebuilt with iron structures. Externally, the façade has a short portico with three arches supporting a terrace on which three window-doors with pediments, separated by pilasters, open, all surmounted by a crowning band. The sides and rear still preserve architectural elements indicating the building’s ecclesiastical origins. Alongside the theatre are the Municipal Library and the Historical Archive. Intelligently managed from its reopening to the present day, the theatre has become one of the region’s most vibrant, offering a dense program of drama, concerts, and various performances each season. Since 2004, the theatre has been closed for unavoidable upgrading and restoration, and performances have regularly taken place at the local Teatro dell’Osservanza. After the restorations were completed in March 2010, the theatre resumed activity on the evening of April 6 with an inaugural show by the Pilobolus Dance Theatre Shadowland. (Lidia Bortolotti)
Information about Ebe Stignani Municipal Theatre
Via Emilia, 80,
40026 Imola (Bologna)
Source: MIBACT
