Teatro Petruzzelli

Petruzzelli Theatre, owned by Messeni Nemagna family, is the highest cultural center of the city, the fourth Italian Theater in size and the largest private Theater in Europe. Its history begins when Onofrio and Antonio Petruzzelli, traders and owners originally from Trieste, presented the design of Theater made by their brother at engineer Angelo Bitonto Cicciomessere. The proposal was accepted and Petruzzelli, in 1896, concluded the contract between the family and local administration. Two years later, October 1898, the work began only funded by owners, which was completed in 1903. Inside, Theater was painted by Raphael Armenise, decorated in gold and, futuristic for its time, with heating and light electricity. Petruzzelli replaced Corato for primacy of greatest Theater in Puglia. Theater was inaugurated on Saturday, February 14, 1903, with masterpiece "Les Huguenots". Since the first seasons it hosted greatest artists as Beniamino Gigli, Mario Del Monaco, Renata Tebaldi, Mascagni, who conducted there his work, Von Karajan, just to name a few. Being a politeama, programming ranged between various kinds of entertainments: in Petruzzelli performed Wanda Osiris, Totò, Nino Taranto, Macario, Josephine Baker and then Lucio Battisti, Claudio Baglioni, Milva in "L'opera da tre soldi" and many others. In 1954 it was declared "Monument of Historical and Artistic Interest". In 1967, in recognition of the high quality of the activity carried out was declared "Theatre of Tradition". In the night between 26 and 27 October 1991, Theater was destroyed by a violent arson but, luckily, the collapse of the dome smothered the flames, preventing its destruction. It was rebuilt and opened in 2009.