Durante la ocupación francesa en Bolonia (1796-1816) se fundaron institutos literarios y científicos que aún hoy existen en parte: en 1802 la Academia de Bellas Artes, en 1803 el Jardín Botánico y el Jardín Agrícola, en 1810 la Sociedad Agraria.
The History of the Arena del Sole
Many convents in Bologna were closed and the religious were forcibly removed. In this confluence of changes, in a different use of urban spaces, the birth of the Arena del Sole occurs, which will occupy an area where part of the ancient convent of Santa Maria Maddalena expropriated from the Church stood, including two churches and two cloisters.
Of the old convent, only one cloister remains today, from the fifteenth century, part of the bell tower, and fragments of important frescoes from the same period, detached and transported to the Pinacoteca in 1934. In 1799, a certain Pietro Bonini, a leather merchant, had the idea to build an Arena to offer every type of show during the summer months, in the afternoon hours until sunset, taking advantage of daylight.
He entrusted the project to the Milanese professor Carlo Asparri, who in 1810 built the Arena known precisely as the “Sun Arena.” Fortunately, an engraving by C. Savini from 1825 has been preserved, showing how the Arena was conceived, as the original seating area was destroyed and all the design plans lost. Asparri taught architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts and had been a student of the master Filippo Antolini, who designed the Foro Bonaparte in Milan, whose drawings seem to have inspired Asparri. A certain affinity of the Bolognese Arena has also been noted with the project for a Milanese theater by engineer Pistocchi.
The Structure of the Arena del Sole
The Arena del Sole was built with a semicircular stepped structure that reveals the influence of the ideas proclaimed by Francesco Milizia, one of the strictest proponents of Neoclassicism theories with an Enlightenment imprint. According to Milizia, the most suitable place for public shows had to eliminate class differences and allow everyone to enjoy the show in the same way. No more royal boxes, nor first or second order boxes, nor side balconies or galleries; it was necessary to return to the simplicity of ancient theaters. But the Arena was not built slavishly following Milizia‘s indications because the engraving by Savini shows it had a very wide horseshoe-shaped plan instead of semicircular.
The Stalls of the Arena del Sole
The stalls of the Arena del Sole were surrounded by stepped seating limited by a wall imitating rustication. Above it stood a gallery decorated with fake niches. The decorations were painted by Luigi Cirri of Prato. In front of the Arena’s entrance, a large garden opened.
The Arena was inaugurated in July 1810 with the staging of an anonymous author Corradino d’Este at the tournament or the hero of the Rubicone, performed by the Zuccato Comic Company. The Arena could hold up to two thousand spectators; this figure must not seem unrealistic because at one time, as was common even in opera theaters, people were crowded into every free corner.
Since five years earlier Napoleon Bonaparte, having made new changes to the city’s layout, had also transformed the Montagnola, next to the market square, into an elegant promenade, from the outset the Arena became a very central and successful structure, immediately imitated in other neighborhoods of the city.
The Arena became the popular theater par excellence, with plays, dramas, carnival balls, Cistercian shows, illusion and juggling shows. In 1835, for the first time, the company of Luigi Taddei requested to cover the stalls with a canopy for evening performances. In 1887-1888, the theater closed for a first total renovation on the occasion of the creation of modern Via Indipendenza. It was thought to create a facade (which is the only nineteenth-century structure of the Arena preserved intact to this day) designed and executed by engineer Gaetano Rubbi in 1888. The exterior did not succeed in matching the interior, which is of much less lofty forms.
The Facade of the Arena del Sole
The facade is entirely composed of a tall and mighty portico that rests on three large arches supported by pairs of columns with Corinthian capitals. A unifying motif of the facade is the high projecting cornice that decorates the giant inscription running as a frieze above the arches. It reads “PLACE FOR DAYTIME SHOWS” which pompously characterizes from the outside, the peculiarity of the place of representation – even though a limited evening programming had already begun for some time. The facade is crowned, in the manner of a pediment, by a “fastigium” with five statues of academic taste, among which at the center sits the winged figure of Apollo with Poetry (on the left) and Tragedy (on the right) seated on either side, made of cement by the sculptor Alfredo Neri.
In 1949, having decided to transform the Arena into an evening theater and cinema, a retractable roof was built and all the stepped seating, which had become unsuitable, was demolished. In 1950 it reopened to the public with the screening of the film Cavalcade of Heroes: for twenty years it was mainly a cinema. In the 1970s, architect Cervellati studied a project that planned the transformation of the Arena into a cultural center with some theater and cinema rooms, a library, and film archive, with multipurpose rooms and meeting places. The project then seemed too ambitious, and it was decided to simply adapt the Arena to a theater hall.
The Municipality of Bologna Purchases the Arena del Sole
In May 1984, the Municipality of Bologna purchased the property from the Giovanni XXIII Charity Foundation to carry out a large renovation project, as Bologna lacked an adequate drama theater. The first phase of work began in August 1984 until December of the same year, with the execution of masonry works and safety-compliant stage systems that allowed the theater to reopen to performances under the artistic direction of Yuri Lubimov.
In June 1986, the second phase of work began and ended after two years, with the restoration and renovation of the theater hall, the lobby-foyer, and the rehearsal room. On that occasion, for the first time in Italy, a modern wooden modular platform was built, hydraulically liftable with pistons that allow the stalls’ floor to be raised to the stage level, doubling the representation area from thirteen to twenty-five meters. For this reason, the metal grid for scenery movement also overlies part of the stalls’ space. Side galleries, the first circular auditorium with four rows of seats, surmounted by two rows of boxes and a stepped gallery with five rows of seats, were built. All services and a small underground theater room were constructed.
The third phase of works began in 1991. Since that year, all systems and furnishings, as well as the adjacent structures of the theater, were completed. New horizontal floor structures, roof of the hall, floors at various levels, systems, and fireproof vertical walls were made. The stage was equipped with two large dressing rooms and eight medium-sized ones for artists; plus a large dressing room for about fifteen actors. Removing a proscenium wall created the orchestra pit, which can accommodate about seventy musicians. Above the stage are skylights equipped with automatic temperature-activated opening devices. The large hall accommodates 952 spectators while the small hall accommodates from 220 to 300 spectators. Architectural acoustic adaptations were carried out by Drs. G. Righini and R. Spagnolo of the Galileo Ferraris Institute in Turin.
The Current Arena del Sole
The theater, stage, and small hall are equipped with air heating. Inside the theater there are: a box office, three cloakrooms, the Direction offices, two cafes, four rooms used as lounges, and exhibition spaces located in the corridors. The current Arena is a theatrical organism endowed with a certain flexibility in line with the aspirations of contemporary theater, while in the design phase, the architect responsible for the renovation, Gianfranco Dellerba, was inspired for its plan by the Renaissance theaters of Sabbioneta and the Farnese of Parma for the U-shaped stepped seating.
The engineer Felice Monaco from the Municipality’s technical office directed the work. The architect Emilio Battisti took care of the interior furnishings where particular care was taken in the use of materials but without wanting them to appear too precious, such as solid wood, aqua green velvet, glass, and iron. On the south side, the theater has a window overlooking the fifteenth-century cloister, an internal courtyard, and on the north a courtyard on Via San Giuseppe.
The Theater of the Arena del Sole
The theater of the Arena del Sole was inaugurated on February 20, 1995, with a grand opening party full of celebrities. Dedicated to the city of Bologna was the evening with Dario Fo who performed The Tumult of Bologna and with singers Francesco Guccini, Luca Carboni, Andrea Mingardi, Stadio, Jimmy Villotti and Steve Grossman. The theater currently programs shows dedicated to drama and dance.
(information by Caterina Spada)
