Four representatives of the town nobility wanted the first public theatre to be built. The project, carried out between 1771 and 1773, was assigned to one of the greatest stage designing architect of the time, Antonio Galli Bibiena, who carried out a complete masonry building and adopted innovative and clever solutions: a bellshaped parterre to get excellent acoustics. 

In the middle of the 19th century the theatre was owned by the municipality and named after the famous tenor from Pavia Gaetano Fraschini. Acknowledged as a “theatre of tradition”, every year from October to January, it has a varied programme: operas, plays, music and ballet.