In occasion of the restorations at the Castle of Vigoleno, carried out by the will of Princess Maria Ruspoli Gramont (owner of the manor between 1922 and 1934) having decided to rearrange and make the entire castle habitable which was in a serious state of abandonment, a rectangular room on the first floor of the building was adapted into a small theater. The Russian artist Alexandre Jacovlef was given the task of decorating the walls of the room. The painter created vivid colored decorations of a Chinese-style taste, depicting animals, masks, exotic and dancing figures with symbolic connotations, musicians and ladies in eighteenth-century dresses, among which he portrayed the princess herself and dense vegetation with shoots. While in the center of the scene a stylized representation of the medieval village refers to the magical realism of Gino Severini. Two simple platforms on the sides of the entrance delimited the area of the audience from that of the actors, for whom the stage platform at the back of the room was intended. A suitable conservation intervention has made this space usable again. (Caterina Spada /Lidia Bortolotti)
Information about the Theater of the Castle of Vigoleno
Piazza IV Novembre,
29010 Vernasca (Piacenza)
Source: MIBACT
