Description
The Teatro Regio is Turin's opera house, facing Piazza Castello, next to the Royal Palace: an 18th-century arcaded facade and, behind it, a modern 1970s auditorium, because the old one burned down. This is where you go for opera and ballet in the city.
The facade by Benedetto Alfieri dates from the 18th century and is part of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The theater was conceived as an extension of the court: the royal box was linked directly to the Savoy apartments by a long run of galleries.
Inside, the auditorium by Carlo Mollino is shaped like a half-open oyster, designed after 1965 and inaugurated on April 10, 1973 with I vespri siciliani, directed by Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. Mollino died just a few months later, on August 27.
At the entrance, Umberto Mastroianni's bronze sculptural gate is a work in its own right, so much so that it earned a book of its own.
The Regio opened on December 26, 1740 with Arsace by Francesco Feo, after only two years of work. The hall had about two thousand five hundred seats in the stalls, five tiers of boxes and the gallery, and was admired by Grand Tour travelers.
It was so famous that in 1776 Emperor Joseph II ordered the architect of La Scala in Milan to look to none other than Turin's Regio, which he had seen in person in 1769.
Here, in 1893, Puccini's Manon Lescaut was staged and, in 1896, La bohème, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. Luciano Pavarotti, Riccardo Muti and Roberto Bolle have also stood on its stage.
The theater also hosted Arrigo Boito's Nerone, in 1925, and, in 1914, the premiere of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, with a libretto by Gabriele D'Annunzio.
In the night between February 8 and 9, 1936, a fire destroyed the hall and the stage. After many plans that never came to anything, including a first stone laid in 1962, it took thirty-seven years to see it open again. A restoration in 1995-1996 improved the acoustics, but it caused debate because it changed Mollino's design.
The facade by Benedetto Alfieri dates from the 18th century and is part of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The theater was conceived as an extension of the court: the royal box was linked directly to the Savoy apartments by a long run of galleries.
Inside, the auditorium by Carlo Mollino is shaped like a half-open oyster, designed after 1965 and inaugurated on April 10, 1973 with I vespri siciliani, directed by Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. Mollino died just a few months later, on August 27.
At the entrance, Umberto Mastroianni's bronze sculptural gate is a work in its own right, so much so that it earned a book of its own.
The Regio opened on December 26, 1740 with Arsace by Francesco Feo, after only two years of work. The hall had about two thousand five hundred seats in the stalls, five tiers of boxes and the gallery, and was admired by Grand Tour travelers.
It was so famous that in 1776 Emperor Joseph II ordered the architect of La Scala in Milan to look to none other than Turin's Regio, which he had seen in person in 1769.
Here, in 1893, Puccini's Manon Lescaut was staged and, in 1896, La bohème, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. Luciano Pavarotti, Riccardo Muti and Roberto Bolle have also stood on its stage.
The theater also hosted Arrigo Boito's Nerone, in 1925, and, in 1914, the premiere of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, with a libretto by Gabriele D'Annunzio.
In the night between February 8 and 9, 1936, a fire destroyed the hall and the stage. After many plans that never came to anything, including a first stone laid in 1962, it took thirty-seven years to see it open again. A restoration in 1995-1996 improved the acoustics, but it caused debate because it changed Mollino's design.