Description
The Teatro Massimo Vincenzo Bellini is Catania's opera house, dedicated to the composer born in the city: a lavishly ornamented late 19th-century building on Piazza Bellini, with a richly decorated auditorium of four tiers of boxes and acoustics that the tenor Beniamino Gigli judged the best in the world.
It opened on May 31, 1890, with Bellini's Norma, after twenty years of plans and second thoughts: conceived as a politeama, a multipurpose theater, it was turned into an opera house midway. The building is by the Milanese architect Carlo Sada.
Its style recalls Charles Garnier's Paris Opéra. The facade is a riot of ornaments and allegories, and at street level opens the elegant portico where carriages once pulled up, closed by iron gates.
The auditorium, with four tiers of boxes and the gallery, is considered one of the most beautiful built in Italy in the 19th century. On the ceiling, Ernesto Bellandi painted the apotheosis of Bellini with allegories of his major operas: Norma, La sonnambula, I puritani, and Il pirata.
The historic curtain is by the Catania painter Giuseppe Sciuti and depicts a victory of the people of Catania over the Libyans. It is a made-up story: a local scholar told it in the 17th century to explain the origin of the elephant that symbolizes the city.
The foyer, spacious and all marble and stucco, holds the bronze statue of Vincenzo Bellini sculpted by Salvo Giordano. The theater has an orchestra of 105 players and a chorus of 84.
Great 20th-century voices have graced this stage. Between 1950 and 1953 Maria Callas sang Norma, I puritani, La traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor here; back in 1941 Mario Del Monaco had sung La bohème and Toti Dal Monte Don Pasquale.
In 1959 the composer Francis Poulenc called the Catania staging of his Dialogues of the Carmelites the best production of the opera he had ever seen. In 1960 Vittorio Gassman acted in and directed Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, filmed and broadcast on television by RAI.
The theater has also brought forgotten Bellini operas back to the stage: in 1976 Renata Scotto sang Zaira, for the first time in the 20th century.
Don't miss
• The facade and the carriage portico.
• Ernesto Bellandi's ceiling.
• Giuseppe Sciuti's historic curtain.
• The statue of Bellini in the foyer.
Did you know?
• During World War II the theater stayed closed, reopening in 1944.
• In 1955 the newly elected President of the Republic, Giovanni Gronchi, opened the season here, with I puritani.
It opened on May 31, 1890, with Bellini's Norma, after twenty years of plans and second thoughts: conceived as a politeama, a multipurpose theater, it was turned into an opera house midway. The building is by the Milanese architect Carlo Sada.
Its style recalls Charles Garnier's Paris Opéra. The facade is a riot of ornaments and allegories, and at street level opens the elegant portico where carriages once pulled up, closed by iron gates.
The auditorium, with four tiers of boxes and the gallery, is considered one of the most beautiful built in Italy in the 19th century. On the ceiling, Ernesto Bellandi painted the apotheosis of Bellini with allegories of his major operas: Norma, La sonnambula, I puritani, and Il pirata.
The historic curtain is by the Catania painter Giuseppe Sciuti and depicts a victory of the people of Catania over the Libyans. It is a made-up story: a local scholar told it in the 17th century to explain the origin of the elephant that symbolizes the city.
The foyer, spacious and all marble and stucco, holds the bronze statue of Vincenzo Bellini sculpted by Salvo Giordano. The theater has an orchestra of 105 players and a chorus of 84.
Great 20th-century voices have graced this stage. Between 1950 and 1953 Maria Callas sang Norma, I puritani, La traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor here; back in 1941 Mario Del Monaco had sung La bohème and Toti Dal Monte Don Pasquale.
In 1959 the composer Francis Poulenc called the Catania staging of his Dialogues of the Carmelites the best production of the opera he had ever seen. In 1960 Vittorio Gassman acted in and directed Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, filmed and broadcast on television by RAI.
The theater has also brought forgotten Bellini operas back to the stage: in 1976 Renata Scotto sang Zaira, for the first time in the 20th century.
Don't miss
• The facade and the carriage portico.
• Ernesto Bellandi's ceiling.
• Giuseppe Sciuti's historic curtain.
• The statue of Bellini in the foyer.
Did you know?
• During World War II the theater stayed closed, reopening in 1944.
• In 1955 the newly elected President of the Republic, Giovanni Gronchi, opened the season here, with I puritani.