Teatro Ventidio Basso

Ascoli Piceno

General

The nominated property includes the blocks near the Teatro Ventidio Basso and those lining Piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno. The Teatro Ventidio Basso is situated opposite Chiostro Maggiore, the cloister of the church of San Francesco in Via del Trivio.

The nominated property includes the blocks near the Teatro Ventidio Basso and those lining Piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno. The Teatro Ventidio Basso is situated opposite Chiostro Maggiore, the cloister of the church of San Francesco in Via del Trivio. The theatre is a standalone building embedded in the medieval fabric of the city. Further along Via del Trivio are Palazzo Rosati and the Loggia dei Mercanti (the Merchants’ Lodge) south of the church of San Francesco. This is followed by Piazza del Popolo, the heart of the old town of Ascoli Piceno and an open-air monument in its own right. To cover the irregular medieval shop fronts that once lined the square, a travertine colonnade with brick vaults was installed, giving it a more harmonious and unified look. On the west side is Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, built between the late 13th and 14th centuries by joining three medieval buildings. This palazzo is one of the city’s most historical and architectural landmarks.

The house curtain of the Teatro Ventidio Basso was painted by Cesare Recanatini in 1872 with a perspective rendering of the monumental Piazza del Popolo. The theatre also retains two backdrops from the original stage set. The theatre’s stage equipment includes both manual and motorised rigging systems, ensuring the efficient management of stage performances.

The ridotto on the upper floor behind the third tier of boxes has a row of columns supporting a balcony used by musicians. The Art Nouveau tempera decorations on the ceiling feature floral motifs, a central rose and the four seasons in the corners.

Every year the Teatro Ventidio Basso hosts a theatre season with performances for families organised in partnership with AMAT, and an opera season organised with Fondazione Rete Lirica delle Marche. In addition, a variety of performances organised by associations, companies, specialist organisations, as well as conferences, guided tours, matinee events for schools, and events in the foyer take place there. The Teatro Ventidio Basso works closely with the Istituto Musicale G. Spontini, which runs a music school and a dance school and is wholly owned by the Municipality of Ascoli Piceno. It also works with numerous local cultural associations that organise annual dance, music and theatre performances and events. These collaborations enrich the quality and diversity of the cultural offering with an outstanding programme that promotes local excellence and talent. The Teatro Ventidio Basso is open to visitors during normal opening hours. Guided tours have been taking place regularly since April 2023 and are steadily increasing in number.

Historical Context

Age of the Bourgeois Revolutions (1789–1848)

Design and Inauguration dates

1839–1846

Ireneo Aleandri (1795–1885), Giovanni Battista Carducci (1806–1878), Gabriele Gabrielli (1809–1850)

Owned by

Municipality of Ascoli Piceno

Capacity

850

Continuity of use/Activity

210 days open/year
195 days of theatrical activities
15 days of community cultural activities

Artists

Giovanni Battista Carducci (cartoons for decorations), Emidio and Giorgio Paci (decorators), Vincenzo Podesti (decorations), Mariano Bonarelli (scene painter), Cesare Recanatini (house curtain)

Location

Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno
,
Marche

Population in

1861

21.659 inhabitants

Current Population

45.483 inhabitants

Teatro Ventidio Basso
Chiostro Maggiore
Church of San Francesco
Loggia dei Mercanti
Palazzo Rosati
Torre degli Alvitreti
Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo

Plan

Horseshoe

Building
Auditorium

Building

Façade

The building represented the new face of the city, still heavily influenced by neoclassicism. The façade is dressed entirely in travertine and was added five years after the theatre was completed, with engineer Gabriele Gabrielli making changes to Ireneo Aleandri’s original design. The two storeys are divided horizontally into three parts. The two flanking sections have niches on the ground floor and 16th-century revival windows on the upper floor. The middle portion of the façade is open on the ground floor with an Ionic pronaos with architrave. On the upper floor, the Corinthian loggia was originally open but was closed between 1871 and 1876 to create the rooms for the Ascoli Philharmonic Society. The pronaos and the false loggia are crowned by a triangular pediment surmounted by an attic.

Layout of Interior Spaces

Access to the stalls and the boxes is via an elegant entrance hall divided into two sections by an Ionic colonnade and covered by a flat stuccoed coffered ceiling. Six niches along the walls contain plaster statues by sculptor Giorgio Paci representing Minerva and Apollo, Comedy and Tragedy, Harmony and Dance. The ridotto is on the same level as the third tier of boxes.

Auditorium

Vertical Arrangement

Three tiers of boxes and two galleries divided by pillars aligned with the pillars below.

Plafond

Flat camorcanna ceiling. The arabesque-decorated vault has a central rose painted with imitation engravings and surrounded by images of the eight Muses alternating with cupids playing instruments, all floating on a background of diamond and iris motifs.

Decorative Elements

The balustrades of the boxes are decorated with allegorical and floral stucco designs against a blue background in tone with the inside of the boxes. The proscenium arch is architraved and the ends are supported by four corbels above the pilasters framing the proscenium boxes. Five medallions with portraits of the most prominent Italian musicians of the early and late 19th century line the soffit of the architrave.