The scene - Teatro Olimpico di Sabbioneta
The city of Sabbioneta, nearby Mantua in northern Italy, was designed and built by the Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna (1531–1591).
Vespasiano wanted Sabbioneta to be a strategic town, so he hired the greatest architects, making his court the heart of the Renaissance.
The Olympic Theatre also called Teatro all'antica ("Theater in the style of the ancients") was the first free-standing, purpose-built theater in the modern world. The Teatro all'antica is the oldest surviving indoor theater in the world, after the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and along with that theater and the Teatro Farnese in Parma, is one of only three Renaissance theaters still in existence.
The Olympic Theatre was constructed in 1588-1590 by the celebrated Vicentine architect Vincenzo Scamozzi under commission of the Duke, as part of Gonzaga's effort to turn his tiny Ducal seat into an idealized classical city.
The theatre is the first example of a ‘modern’ theatrical building, uninfluenced by a pre-existing structure or outer ‘shell’ and erected with a majestic, autonomous architectural façade free on three sides.
On the basis of his previous experience with Andrea Palladio for the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza, Scamozzi created an ‘organic’, functional space characterised by both traditional and innovative elements, comprising an important part of the theatrical style of the sixteenth century and suggesting solutions for the future.
The scenery was in wood, as in the Olympic Theatre of Vicenza, but at Sabbioneta had just one focal point that featured a combination of noble, dramatic and satirical elements and created a polyfunctional stage setting, suitable for tragedies, comedies and pastoral pieces. The central part of the auditorium and the Corinthian peristyle derived from the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza. Around the balustrade, frescoed walls created a sort of ‘Veronese’ flavour with painted images of curious spectators, while the whole scenic effect projected an archetypical image of a sixteenth century courtyard adapted as a theatre.
Here the Palladian frons scena and the scenic central archway were omitted. The method of illumination and the decorative artificial sky of the continuous ceiling contributed in creating a ‘total’ architectural and theatrical space. The layout of the various areas and positioning of the access routes were innovative, as well the position of the spectators.
Unlike previous theatrical buildings, at Sabbioneta the place of honour was at the centre of the loggia, from which the gaze of Vespasiano Gonzaga had to coincide with the vanishing point of the scenic perspective and dominate both the audience and the entire scene.
Google Earth :
www.google.com/maps/place/44%C2%B059'55.9%22N+10%C2%B029'...
The scene - Teatro Olimpico di Sabbioneta
The city of Sabbioneta, nearby Mantua in northern Italy, was designed and built by the Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna (1531–1591).
Vespasiano wanted Sabbioneta to be a strategic town, so he hired the greatest architects, making his court the heart of the Renaissance.
The Olympic Theatre also called Teatro all'antica ("Theater in the style of the ancients") was the first free-standing, purpose-built theater in the modern world. The Teatro all'antica is the oldest surviving indoor theater in the world, after the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and along with that theater and the Teatro Farnese in Parma, is one of only three Renaissance theaters still in existence.
The Olympic Theatre was constructed in 1588-1590 by the celebrated Vicentine architect Vincenzo Scamozzi under commission of the Duke, as part of Gonzaga's effort to turn his tiny Ducal seat into an idealized classical city.
The theatre is the first example of a ‘modern’ theatrical building, uninfluenced by a pre-existing structure or outer ‘shell’ and erected with a majestic, autonomous architectural façade free on three sides.
On the basis of his previous experience with Andrea Palladio for the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza, Scamozzi created an ‘organic’, functional space characterised by both traditional and innovative elements, comprising an important part of the theatrical style of the sixteenth century and suggesting solutions for the future.
The scenery was in wood, as in the Olympic Theatre of Vicenza, but at Sabbioneta had just one focal point that featured a combination of noble, dramatic and satirical elements and created a polyfunctional stage setting, suitable for tragedies, comedies and pastoral pieces. The central part of the auditorium and the Corinthian peristyle derived from the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza. Around the balustrade, frescoed walls created a sort of ‘Veronese’ flavour with painted images of curious spectators, while the whole scenic effect projected an archetypical image of a sixteenth century courtyard adapted as a theatre.
Here the Palladian frons scena and the scenic central archway were omitted. The method of illumination and the decorative artificial sky of the continuous ceiling contributed in creating a ‘total’ architectural and theatrical space. The layout of the various areas and positioning of the access routes were innovative, as well the position of the spectators.
Unlike previous theatrical buildings, at Sabbioneta the place of honour was at the centre of the loggia, from which the gaze of Vespasiano Gonzaga had to coincide with the vanishing point of the scenic perspective and dominate both the audience and the entire scene.
Google Earth :
www.google.com/maps/place/44%C2%B059'55.9%22N+10%C2%B029'...