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Teatro Caio Melisso

1667 establishments in Italy18th-century architecture in Italy19th-century architecture in ItalyBuildings and structures in UmbriaMusic venues completed in 1667
Music venues completed in 1749Music venues completed in 1880Opera houses in ItalyOpera structure stubsSpoletoTheatres completed in 1667Theatres completed in 1749Theatres completed in 1880Theatres in ItalyTourist attractions in Umbria
Teatro Caio Melisso di Spoleto
Teatro Caio Melisso di Spoleto

The Teatro Caio Melisso is an opera house located in Spoleto, Italy and it serves as the main venue for opera performances during the annual summer Festival dei Due Mondi. The theatre has undergone several transformations and name changes since the late 17th century. The Teatro di Piazza del Duomo, also known as the Teatro della Rosa, built around 1667 was modernized in 1749 and re-opened in 1749 as the Nuovo Teatro di Spoleto. After an 1817 restoration and after Rossini had visited the theatre, it gradually fell into disuse and a new theatre was needed by the mid-19th century. The 800-seat Teatro Nuovo was built between 1854 and 1864 at considerable public expense. However, and in spite of the Nuovo, the old theatre was preserved and renovated once more with a new design and layout. Now renamed the Teatro Caio Melisso after a Spoletan writer, it re-opened in 1880 as a 350-seat, 3 levels of boxes plus a gallery opera house. The fact that two opera theatres existed brought Gian-Carlo Menotti, the Festival's founder and director, to the town since Menotti felt that Spoleto offered many attractions. The first festival was held in 1958. The Festival's inaugural presentation on 5 June 1958 was Verdi's Macbeth, but other less known and neglected operas characterized early Festivals. In addition to Menotti's own operas, most seasons reflect a broad range of periods and styles.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Teatro Caio Melisso (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Teatro Caio Melisso
Piazza del Duomo,

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N 42.735 ° E 12.739444444444 °
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Teatro Caio Melisso

Piazza del Duomo 4
06049
Umbria, Italy
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Teatro Caio Melisso di Spoleto
Teatro Caio Melisso di Spoleto
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Spoleto Cathedral
Spoleto Cathedral

Spoleto Cathedral (Italian: Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta; Duomo di Spoleto) is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia created in 1821, previously that of the diocese of Spoleto, and the principal church of the Umbrian city of Spoleto, in Italy. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The church is essentially an example of Romanesque architecture, with a nave and two side-aisles crossed by a transept, although subsequently modified. It was built from the second half of the twelfth century after the city had been devastated by Frederick Barbarossa's troops, over an area where there had previously stood an earlier cathedral, dedicated to Saint Primianus (San Primiano) and destroyed by the emperor. A notable external porch and the belfry were added in the fifteenth and sixteenth century respectively. The façade is divided into three bands. The lower one has a fine architraved door with sculpted door-posts. Two pulpits are provided on each side of the porch. The upper bands are separated by rose windows and ogival arches. The most striking feature of the upper façade is the Byzantine-hieratic mosaic portraying Christ giving a Benediction, signed by one Solsternus (1207). He signed his work with the inscription "Doctor Solsternus, hac summus in arte modernus" (doctor Solsternus, supremely modern in his art ), calling himself an outstanding modern artist. Nothing else is known about him. He was certainly ahead of his contemporaries, because it would take half a century before the mosaics in Roman churches would surpass his style. The part of the belfry contemporary with the church reuses Roman and early medieval elements. . The interior was significantly modified in the 17th–18th centuries, though it has kept the original Cosmatesque floor of the central nave remains. Another survival is the frescoed apse with four Scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary, begun in 1467 by Filippo Lippi and completed two years later by his pupils Fra' Diamante and Piermatteo Lauro de' Manfredi da Amelia. Lippi is buried in the south arm of the transept. Also noteworthy are the altar cross by Alberto Sozio, dated 1187, a Byzantine icon donated to the city by Barbarossa as a sign of peace and the frescoes by Pinturicchio in the Chapel of the Bishop of Eroli. Other frescoes from the 16th century are in the next chapel. The church also contains a polychrome wood statue of the Madonna (14th century) and a choir (16th century) with painted altar and tabernacle, in the Chapel of the Relics, under which lies the crypt of the former cathedral of San Primiano.