MILANOLLO THEATRE
The site of the Milanollo Theatre housed the old hospital or leprosarium from 1579 until 1709. When the hospital was moved to a new site, the space was occupied by a temporary theatre salon in wood and masonry, later redesigned in 1745.
In 1834 a citizens' association commissioned Maurizio Eula (1806-83) to draw up plans for a new theatre, the opening of which was authorized in July of that year by King Charles Albert. Eula's project was built in 1834-36 by the Lugano impresario Poncini. The theatre's harmonious architectural structure takes up the refined compositional standards of Neoclassicism, and the façade is simple and elegant. It is composed of an avant-corps and two side wings, and is completed by a cornice surmounted by an attic. The side niches hold the statues of Comedy and Tragedy, whereas the Genius of Glory, crowning Music and Poetry, is set over the front.
The interior shows equally restrained elegance: the curtain opens to reveal two tiers of boxes, as well as the circle and gallery. The foyer, with the musicians' loggia, is especially striking.
Autore © 2001 - Laura
Cantarella
Famous artists active in the circle of the great Pelagio Palagi, such as Pietro Ayres and Angelo Moia, painted refined works here. The former created the ceiling rose as well as the curtain, depicting Apollo and the Nine Muses on Mount Parnassus (1835). The silvered and gilt ornamentation is quite elaborate.
The theatre, inaugurated on 10 April 1836 with the staging of Gaetano Donizetti's L'esule di Roma, has been owned by the municipal government since 1864 and is dedicated to the famous violinists from Savigliano, Teresa and Maria Milanollo.
Autore © 2001
- Laura Cantarella
In the decades that followed, ongoing restructuring work on the theatre was headed by the municipal engineers, Clodoveo Cordoni and Guido Jaffe. In the second half of the twentieth century the building was declared inaccessible and closed twice, first between 1952 and 1972 and then again from 1984 until 1989. New works were recently completed to renovate the façade, the foyer and the theatre, and the complex - restored to its former beauty - reopened on 28 November 2011.