In the garden of the Institute of Higher Education Technical Agriculture "Arrigo Serpieri" is a small open-air theater, which together with a chapel (built in the second half of the nineteenth century according to the neo-gothic style in vogue at that time) and an aviary are all that remains of the stately villa Altieri. Currently it is difficult to read the fabric of which this theater was in part because the context has been heavily modified in the sixties. In 1958, the last owners Giuseppe and Anita Galli sold the entire area (villa, garden and farm) to the Province of Bologna, which settled to let you build the ultimate home Agricultural Institute. The house, which had been seriously damaged during the last war and now was in a very bad state was torn down, also to make room for new equipment was destroyed much of the park and the lake that was part of the basement. The collection, called a time "Casino Rubbiani," was a pleasant holiday resort consisting of owner's residence, the gardener's house and farmhouse. The two-storey villa had a facade with large porch on the ground floor overlooking the park carefully designed the trails and in the flower beds, rich in detail essences. When Raffaele Altieri in 1891 bought the entire property from Joseph Rubbiani, the theater it was already an integral part. Historical photos (in possession of the Altieri family) give us a picture of what may be termed a charming outdoor theater at that time still intact. A tree-lined avenue leading at the theater entrance flanked by two stone lions, two rows of terraced brick willing to bell, enclosing the auditorium, the stage is raccordavano framed by two fluted columns with Ionic capitals. At the center of the stage of proscenico a great mask hid the prompter's box, while high boxwood hedges acted as scenes, space for the audience was instead surrounded by trees. Currently, the plant of this theater is considerably altered while retaining the essential elements in the original form. On the stage, now devoid of scenes of boxwood, grew some tall trees including two beautiful poplars, that the size may be about sixty or seventy years (remember that this plant was introduced in our area at the beginning 900). Also missing are the stone lions that marked the entrance to the auditorium, while one of the pillars of the proscenium is broken. Lost some elements that were part and parcel, of which only the historical photos give us back the memory, and in the absence of documentary sources, some we can only make assumptions about the origin of this plant. One of these is represented by the height of the scenes in boxwood, visible in an image taken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Assuming that they have been planted when the theater was built we could ascribe the time of foundation around the first half of the nineteenth century. (Lidia Bortolotti)