Teatro Nuovo, Opera theatre in Quartieri Spagnoli, Naples, Italy.
Teatro Nuovo is an opera house on Via Montecalvario in the Quartieri Spagnoli, designed by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro with a horseshoe-shaped auditorium. The first theatre had 140 orchestra seats and five tiers of thirteen boxes, holding 1000 spectators. The present building is the third on the site, rebuilt after fires in 1861 and 1935.
The first Teatro Nuovo was built for impresarios Giacinto de Laurentis and Angelo Carasale on a small garden near Santa Maria della Concezione a Montecalvario, to Domenico Antonio Vaccaro's design. It opened on 15 October 1724 with Orefice's Lo Simmele, and Vaccaro's plan later served as a basis for the larger Teatro San Carlo. Destroyed by fire on 20 February 1861, it was rebuilt by Ulisse Rizzi and burned again in 1935; the present house is the third on the site.
The theatre's name refers to its status as the "new theatre" built for opera buffa in Neapolitan dialect, a genre it hosted from its 1724 opening. In the 19th century prose theatre took over, and from 1888 Gennaro Pantalena's company staged realist drama here, including the 1909 premiere of Salvatore Di Giacomo's Assunta Spina.
Visits work best during afternoon or evening hours when performances are scheduled, as the theatre is typically closed at other times. Check ahead to find out which productions are coming up and plan your route through the neighbourhood accordingly.
Enrico Caruso's professional opera debut came on 15 March 1895, when he sang the title role in Mario Morelli's L'amico Francesco. Morelli, an amateur musician, had rented the theatre at his own expense for a single invited performance; the opera was never staged again.
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