Municipal Theater of Cervia

The Community Theater for Youth was a small theater of about 200 seats used for theatrical performances by actors and puppets, for concerts, academies, and bingo. When it became too cramped, a new theater was built in the East Bastion of Cervia, which however caught fire in February 1851, resulting in the destruction of the wooden structures, furnishings, and scenes. This theater, rendered unusable, remained closed for several years.

In 1858, after various disputes, the Cervia City Council decided to proceed with the reconstruction of the theater in the West Bastion called “dei Carabinieri”. The final project was drawn up by the Perugian architect Tommaso Stamigni. Unfortunately, events related to the Second War of Independence delayed the realization of the theater, whose work began in 1860 as attested by a plaque placed on the facade. It was inaugurated on Christmas evening 1862 with the show of the “Compagnia Drammatica Internari” entitled “La famiglia del beone” by an anonymous author.

The work was directed by the master builders Zanuccoli and Zacchi, the sculptor Ulisse Bonelli who “carried out the architectural decorations: on the boxes the fluted columns with Ionic capitals on the sides in the foyer of the cave and in the lobby the stuccoes in plaster and scagliola”. The painter Giovanni Canepa from Lugano made the pictorial decorations of the theater, the scenes, the wings and the curtain. Andrea Sangiorgi, a lamplighter from Faenza, “took care of all the bodies illuminated by oil and candle”.

Teodoro Gardella, machinist of the Alighieri of Ravenna, built the winches and mechanisms for the movement of the scenes, the ‘lumiera’ and the noise machines. The facade of the municipal theater of Cervia, tall and narrow, raised from the street level by a few steps, is not aligned with the theater structure; in fact, the entrance door opens on one side of the building. Above it is a low lunette window that illuminates the first floor Ridotto.

The theater hall is accessed from a complex of rooms including the entrance, the box office, and a large lobby delimited by four marble columns, from which two side staircases lead to the boxes. The hall is horseshoe-shaped with two tiers of boxes, twenty-eight in total, with a gallery accessed by an independent staircase. The boxes are divided by pillars with Ionic capitals while the balcony is continuous. The ceiling vault rests on the gallery walls “through an elegant system of pointed arches and features in the center a circular opening which was opened and closed by a wooden rose with gilded cutouts used for the movement of the chandelier”.

The actors’ dressing rooms are located on one side of the large stage. The pictorial decoration of the ceiling – repeatedly restored by the Galossi company of Ravenna and by the master Aldo Scione during the mid-twentieth century – still retains the imprint given by the painter Canepa: “a large circle of floral motifs inside the crown of pointed arches, divided into twelve sections at the center of which fluttering nymphs dance. At the base, between one nymph and another, twelve medallions are painted with profiles of famous characters in literature and arts”.

The fine curtain, work of the same artist, depicts the boat of Apollo the Musagetes arriving at the port of Cervia carrying the nine Muses including Thalia standing next to the god. In the background the silhouette of the city and the tower is surmounted on the left by the representation of a richly dressed female figure with a mural crown on her head, flanked by handmaidens symbolizing Strength and Temperance; this figure is to be seen as the apotheosis of a United Italy, a very vivid theme during the period when the curtain was painted. On the left a barge with people, certainly the adults of the town, while a burchiello laden with salt approaches.

The salt boat wanted to recall the particular site where the theater stands, “built inside the perimeter of the salt workers’ houses, almost a small fortress of lined buildings. From outside nothing betrays it, it looks like a house like any other. A small discreet entrance next to the little house where the writer Grazia Deledda lived for almost 14 years. But inside a surprise: a jewel theater”. The curtain was restored in 1997, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the foundation of New Cervia.

The theater underwent various important restorations: in 1875 after the earthquake, in 1894 when the lighting system changed from candles to kerosene, in 1904 to acetylene, and in 1922 to the electric system. In 1923 a tilting wooden floor was built for the stalls forming a small mystic gulf. Before the most recent restorations, the theater could accommodate about 350 seats, and hosted “opera performances, dance balls, rallies and conferences and was used as a cinema during the war years.

In 1951, the Municipal Theater of Cervia became unusable and was used as a warehouse for the distribution of essential goods for flood victims from Polesine hosted in the Maritime Colonies. In 1983 the theater was declared unusable again. It returned to its former glory after several restorations begun in 1985 and completed in 1991 by the architect Giorgio Salmaso, and from 1991 to 1994 by Engineer Roberto Buonafede, head of the Municipal Technical Office. The latter restoration concerned the roof which was reviewed and consolidated.

Services were created by excavating the area under the stage and creating a reinforced concrete environment on which the iron and wooden stage was rebuilt. For seismic adaptations, some parts of the building were consolidated and many architectural barriers removed. All the systems were renewed according to the law. The old finishes were replaced: for example, for the flooring, Venetian terrazzo, marble or carpet were chosen depending on the use.

In the gallery, a two-level iron tiered seating was created with padded seats covered in velvet like the stalls’ armchairs. The bar, cloakroom, and box office are furnished with lacquered wooden elements with raised paneling. For the technical part, the theater was equipped with stage equipment including a lighting bridge, dimmer, and related projectors. The ceiling of the stalls, which had collapsed in several places, showed cracks and detachments.

The supporting purlins were hooked to the roof structure with steel straps with tensioners that gradually brought the vault back to its original height. An integrative restoration of the pictorial parts, fallen or damaged, was carried out by the painter Petrucci Enzo from Urbino, on decorations on wooden or wall surfaces. It was not possible to reuse the old decorative curtain, which will be the subject of a separate intervention, because it was made of material not compliant with fire regulations. Today the maximum allowed capacity is 230 seats. A photographic exhibition of the restoration works, set up in the foyer, documented their complexity. The reopening took place on May 28, 1994.