The Teatro comunale Vittoria Colonna is the opera house of Vittoria, a neoclassical building in piazza del Popolo.
What to see
After the dome of the basilica of San Giovanni Battista, the town council called Giuseppe Di Bartolo to design a new theatre in piazza Camarina, now piazza del Popolo, in the empty space between the church of the Grazie and via Dascone; Di Bartolo died in 1865 without seeing work begin, started in 1868 to his plans with funds of two hundred and fifty thousand lire. The sculptor Corrado Leone made the outer medallions with important figures of music, art and literature, the statues of Dance and of a Faun and the image of Apollo and the Muse, while the local painter Giuseppe Mazzone painted the roof of the vestibule and the vault of the hall. On the evening of 10 June 1877 the theatre opened to the people with Verdi's La forza del destino. In 1884 it was dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II, but in modern times it has taken back the name of the countess who founded the city. Closed for a long time in the second half of the twentieth century and reopened in the early two-thousands, it was declared unsafe in November 2018 because of water leaking through the roof and cracks in some cross vaults; after works begun in 2020 it has been active again since 2023.
The façade has two orders of columns: in the first three doors, the central one for the public, with four Doric columns and a portico with an architrave system, without vaults; in the second, above the side doors, two niches with the statues of Faun and Dance and an upper portico with four Ionic columns and four Doric pilasters, four French windows and the medallions; at the highest point the statues of Apollo and the Muse among musical instruments. On entering one sees Mazzone's coffered ceiling, with Apollo and two Muses at the centre; then the hall, completely stuccoed in gold, with the vault frescoed by Mazzone, at the sides the portraits of great composers, theatre people and men of letters, a central rose with putti and lace-like ornament and in every box a gilded medallion.
Visiting
The theatre is at the far end of piazza del Popolo, in Vittoria. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: the programme and any visits should be checked.
Our editors' tip
Below the statues of Apollo and the Muse, at the highest point, is written «Teatro comunale»; in old photographs it read «Teatro Vittorio Emanuele».
