An architectural masterpiece and the last work designed by Andrea Palladio, the Teatro Olimpico was commissioned to the famous architect by the Accademia Olimpica, an elite cultural circle active in literature, science, and the arts, of which Palladio himself was a member. Construction began in 1580, but Palladio never saw its completion due to his sudden death.
After various complex events, it was finished and solemnly inaugurated during Carnival in 1585 with a performance of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994, it presents visitors with the original wooden stage designs by Vincenzo Scamozzi, created for the inaugural performance and miraculously preserved intact to this day.
The Teatro Olimpico regularly hosts musical and theatrical performances, institutional events, classical music concerts, and key events such as the New Conversations – Vicenza Jazz festival, the Ciclo di Spettacoli Classici, and other important shows during the spring and autumn seasons.
The Teatro Comunale di Vicenza is a modern theatre structure designed by the architect Gino Valle and inaugurated in 2007. It includes two rooms, the largest containing 910 seats (but it can reach up to 954 seats) and the smaller one 380, with bright indoor spaces and a large terrace, suitable for hosting all kinds of events.
Each room has an independent entrance and its foyer, along with a cloakroom, a bar as well as a restaurant for the larger room.
The larger room is equipped with a large theatre stage that can fit big screens, as well as very large sets and installations. It can be used in many ways, both traditional and innovative ones.
Outside the Theatre includes an alternation of lines of red bricks and white stone inserts, which recall the overlooking medieval walls, as well as the colours of the city. It includes a large free car park.
The artistic season at the Teatro Comunale di Vicenza features a diverse lineup of performances including dance, drama, classical and symphonic music, pop, rock, cabaret, musicals, contemporary circus, and cinema. The theater also hosts external events. Over the years, the Teatro has solidified its role as a cultural and artistic hub for the local area and community, serving also as
a social gathering place and fostering the creation of cultural identities.
As a new-generation cultural attractor and processor, the Teatro Comunale di Vicenza drives innovation, produces shows, hosts a wide range of events, and experiments with new ideas. It promotes the dissemination of culture in the area by fostering knowledge and appreciation of the performing arts
and beyond, with the goal of creating informed and engaged audiences.
In its relationship with the community, the theater increasingly focuses on proposing and producing new
projects, inspiring innovative visions of reality, and creating active tools for change and revival. This approach aims to generate well-being for citizens from physical, psychological, and economic perspectives.
Vicenza’s Teatro Astra belongs to the ex-GIL complex, built between December 1934 and April 1936 as part of the project of the architectural firm of Francesco Mansutti and Gino Miozzo, based in Padua. Renovated in 1986, in partnership with the Municipality of Vicenza, since then it has been the seat of the Centro di Produzione Teatrale La Piccionaia.
It hosts the production of prose plays, children’s theatre and the planning of seasons featuring the most prominent artists of the new Italian scene, with great focus on research, young emerging companies, language experimentation and innovation, themes related to civil and social commitment.
Along with its vocation for contemporary theatre, Vicenza’s Teatro Astra also focuses on the young generations with specific initiatives that, thanks to matinées and Sunday afternoon shows, make it a reference point for schools and families in Vicenza and the rest of the province. Moreover, the first stage of the selection process of the Premio Scenario (Theatre Scenery Prize) and Premio Scenario Infanzia (Children’s Theatre Scenery Prize), two of the most important national prizes in the field, is hosted here.
The Palladian Basilica, listed since as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, is the symbol of the city of Vicenza.
The beating heart of Vicenza’s political and economic activity, in the Middle Ages the Palazzo della Ragione looked like a Gothic building, characterized by a vast hall on the upper floor and animated on the ground floor by an active group of shops. Following the collapse of the 15th-century loggias designed by Tommaso Formenton in the 16th century, the Council of the city discussed the renovation of the building. Some of the greatest names in architecture of the time were involved in these debates, from Giulio Romano to Sebastiano Serlio, from Jacopo Sansovino to Michele Sanmicheli. Despite such illustrious opinions, in March 1546 the Council approved the project of a decidedly little-known local architect who was merely thirty-eight years old: Andrea Palladio. He proposed an “elastic” structure, able to take into account the necessary alignments with the openings and gates of the pre-existing fifteenth-century palace. The system was based on the use of the so-called serliana, a structure composed of a central opening with an arch over it flanked by two rectangular openings of variable width and, therefore, able to absorb the width differences of the spans.
The construction site of the lodges constituted a definitive turning point for Palladio’s career. He officially became the architect of the city of Vicenza, author of a grandiose factory unparalleled in Veneto in the sixteenth century. This project was so representative of the architect’s genius that it is known as Basilica Palladiana. Still, today, it represents an ideal place for meetings and culture, a suggestive museum for exhibitions and events.
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