Teatro Gustavo Modena, Italian national heritage theatre in Sampierdarena, Genoa, Italy.
Teatro Gustavo Modena is a theatre in Genoa featuring a horseshoe-shaped hall with four levels of boxes and an upper gallery. The neoclassical building holds around 500 spectators and retains its original interior layout from the 1800s.
Construction began in 1856 on land bought next to Villa Centurione del Monastero, funded by Sampierdarena's industrial and merchant bourgeoisie, when the town was still an independent municipality. The theatre, designed by the young architect Nicolò Bruno, opened on 19 September 1857 with Carlo Pedrotti's opera semiseria Tutti in maschera. It was named after the patriot and actor Gustavo Modena. Restored by Raffaele Bruno between 1920 and 1922, it reopened on 23 December 1923 with Bizet's Carmen.
The theatre is named after a Venetian performer from the 1800s and was historically a gathering place for local residents. Today it continues to host shows and remains important to the neighbourhood's cultural life.
The theatre faces the pedestrian square of the same name, between via Buranello and piazza Vittorio Veneto. The hall seats 498 spectators, 349 in the stalls and the rest in 74 boxes; the gallery is not open to the public. The adjoining Sala Mercato, in the former municipal market building, holds up to 200.
The theatre is the twin of the Teatro Sociale in Camogli: both were designed by the Bruno brothers, Salvatore and Nicolò, and decades later renovated by their nephew Raffaele Bruno. The vault frescoes were painted by Nicolò Barabino; partly lost, they were replaced by canvas reproductions laid over the ceiling plaster.
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