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Caio Melisso Theatre
Spazio Carla Fendi

It is the oldest theater in Spoleto, built in the second half of the 17th century and partly located in the unfinished Palazzo della Signoria.
Performances started taking place here when a "large room for public comedies" was set up, as already mentioned in 1664.
In 1668, it took the name of "Nobile Teatro" and still is one of the oldest Italian theaters with boxes.

Originally made of wood, it was later enriched with pictorial decorations in 1751, curtains and scenes. After the year 1819, due to the theft of the eighteenth-century decorations performed by unknown Florentine restorers, the theater quality was so low that led some of the inhabitants of Spoleto, who wished themselves a brand new and bigger theatre, to set it on fire in 1853.
The construction of the "Teatro Nuovo", completed in 1864, led first to the decline of the "Nobile" and then to a new complete renovation after only ten years.The renovation project was entrusted to the Spoleto architect Giovanni Montiroli and in 1880 the theater reopened under the name of Caius Melisso, the Spoleto librarian trusted by Emperor Augustus, writer, playwright and grammarian.

Today the hall has a horseshoe plan, three tiers of boxes and a gallery; the ceiling is decorated with paintings depicting "Apollo and the Muses", while the curtain with the "Glory of Caio Melisso", both works by Domenico Bruschi.
The theater, with its three hundred seats, is considered one of the most elegant in Italy.
The famous Festival dei Due Mondi takes place here.
Following the recent renovation carried out thanks to the generosity of the Carla Fendi Foundation, which also allowed the restoration of the historic curtain, the building is now called Teatro Caio Melisso - Spazio Carla Fendi.

Hours
Open during events and by reservation.
Info and Contacts
Piazza Duomo | 06049 Spoleto (PG)
Tel. (+39) 0743 2181 
comune.spoleto@postacert.umbria.it