Commissioned by Maria Luigia and designed by Nicola Bettoli, the Regio theatre was built between 1821 and 1829 on the site of the Benedectine convent of St. Alessandro.
The neoclassical facade has a portico with ten Ionic columns, a double row of windows and decorations by Tommaso Bandini on both sides of the tympanum representing the allegories of Fame and the Lyre. From the neo classical hall is the entrance to the elliptical stalls, decorated in white and gold by Girolamo Magnani in 1853, surrounded by four series of boxes and the gallery. Equipments, scenes, halls, the ceiling, the curtain decorated by Borghese in 1824 and a chandelier manufactured in Paris and weighing one ton: they all make the theatre a sort of shrine dedicated to Verdi opera and famed for its critical audience.
The Regio theatre was officially opened on the 16th of May 1829 with the opera Zaira, written especially by Vincenzo Bellini. It is still one of the most renowned Opera Houses in the world.
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