Teatro Donizetti
Bergamo's horseshoe-shaped civic theatre, restored in 2020 and home of the Donizetti Opera festival.
The theatre opened in 1791 as the Teatro Riccardi, built for the merchant Bortolo Riccardi to a design by Giovanni Francesco Lucchini on the lower town's Sentierone. Fire destroyed the building in 1797 and it was rebuilt within a year on the same horseshoe plan. The city bought it in 1897, renamed it after Gaetano Donizetti, who was born in Bergamo in 1797, and commissioned Pietro Via to add the arcaded neoclassical façade and portico that give the theatre its present frontage.
A full restoration between 2018 and 2020 reopened the foyer to the square, uncovered historic decoration, replaced the stage machinery and added a new orchestra pit, while keeping the four tiers of boxes and the gallery. The theatre is managed by the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti alongside the Teatro Sociale in the upper town. Its programme covers opera, prose theatre, dance and concerts, and each November it hosts Donizetti Opera, a festival devoted to the composer's lesser-known works performed in critical editions.
Highlights
- Horseshoe auditorium with four tiers of boxes and a gallery
- Arcaded neoclassical façade added by Pietro Via in 1897
- Donizetti Opera festival each November, staging the composer's rarities
- 2018-2020 restoration that reopened the foyer onto Piazza Cavour
