In the nineteenth century, following a city beautification project the Lungarno Mediceo was extended into a public promenade (now lungarno Buozzi). This was accomplished by creating a square, the current Piazza F. Del Rosso and the demolition of some mills and the gate Porta alle Piagge, which was besides the river, on the current Soarta street. To complete the public promenade, the avenue of Piagge was extended until the so called "Tondo". The growing need to create a theater was met by the Politeama, designed by brothers Galli for an audience of two thousand people. There various performances such as opera, operetta, circus, prose and movies were offered. The theater was destroyed by bombing during World War II. On the same area, the Congress Palace of the University of Pisa was built in 1984.