Teatro Farnese

About this place

Teatro Farnese is a Renaissance theatre in the Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, Italy. It was built in 1618 by Giovanni Battista Aleotti. The idea of creating this grand theater came from the Duke of Parma and Piacenza Ranuccio I Farnese. It was part of the complex of the Ducal Palace of Parma. The theatre was almost destroyed by an Allied air raid during World War II. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1962. It is, along with the Teatro all'antica in Sabbioneta and the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, one of only three Renaissance theaters still in existence. Some claim this as the first permanent proscenium theatre. Follow the relationship between the audience area and the performance space. The layout reveals how builders gathered a crowd and focused its attention, connecting the surviving monument with the people who once came here for shared public entertainment.