Il teatro Morlacchi, the largest in the city, is located in the historic center of Perugia in piazza Morlacchi, adjacent to the University of Letters and Philosophy. In 1777 the city bourgeoisie, led by Annibale Mariotti, decided to build a new theater in response to the nobles who had built the Teatro del Pavone; to do this, ninety families formed the “Società per l’edificazione di un nuovo teatro,” which bought an old convent of nuns and entrusted the project to the Perugian architect Alessio Lorenzini, who equipped the theater with a horseshoe-shaped hall and five tiers of boxes for a total of twelve hundred seats. The ceiling and the curtain were decorated by Baldassarre Orsini, while Carlo Spiridione Mariotti created the sixteen cameos of the vault and the medallions with Icarus sacrificing to Bacchus, Dramatic Poetry, Tragedy, Comedy, and Pastoral Fable; Giovanni Cappelli decorated the box parapets and painted a Bacchic scene on the proscenium ceiling while the stuccos were made by Giovanni Battista Cronici. In 1874 the theater was completely renovated and reopened with the premiere of Aida. The restoration was carried out by Francesco Moretti and Matteo Tassi, Lucio Angeloni, and the architect Guglielmo Calderini, while Mariano Piervittori executed a new allegory on the ceiling depicting the Arts and Letters and illustrated a local history theme in tempera on the curtain depicting The Return of Biordo Michelotti to Perugia in 1398. The theater has hosted great actors, such as Irma Gramatica, Virgilio Talli, and Oreste Calabrese. The theater’s activity continued until the early 20th century but declined during the fascist years until it was requisitioned by the Germans during the city’s occupation to be used for shows for their soldiers. After the war, the theater was seriously damaged; thus, the Municipality, to which it was ceded, financed the restoration works between 1951 and 1953, consisting of the rebuilding of the roofs, modification of the stage, the proscenium arch, and the marble flooring of the entrance hall and the foyer. Currently, the theater has 785 seats. The stage measures 20 meters wide and 10.5 meters deep. The proscenium opening is 10.5 meters wide. Francesco Giuseppe Baldassarre Morlacchi (Perugia, June 14, 1784 – Innsbruck, October 28, 1841) was an Italian composer and opera writer. He was one of the main figures in the spread of Italian opera abroad.
Information about Teatro Morlacchi
Piazza Francesco Morlacchi, 19
06121 Perugia (Perugia)
075 57542213
morlacchi@teatrostabile.umbria.it
https://www.teatrostabile.umbria.it
Source: MIBACT
