Teatro Caio Melisso
Spoleto, Italy
Open to visitors
The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.
Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.
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The Teatro Caio Melisso is an opera house in Spoleto, Italy, serving as the primary venue for the annual summer Festival dei Due Mondi. Originally constructed around 1667 as the Teatro di Piazza del Duomo, the building underwent modernization and reopening in 1749 before falling into decline after an 1817 restoration. Though a new 800-seat Teatro Nuovo was built between 1854 and 1864, the historic theatre was preserved and renovated with revised design and layout, reopening in 1880 as a 350-seat opera house with three levels of boxes and a gallery, renamed for the Spoletan writer Caio Melisso. The presence of two theatres attracted founder and director Gian-Carlo Menotti, who established the Festival dei Due Mondi in 1958, inaugurating it with Verdi's *Macbeth*. The festival now showcases works spanning broad periods and styles, including Menotti's own compositions and neglected operas. The theatre holds status as Italian national heritage.
- Built
- Type
- theatre building, opera house
- Heritage
- Italian national heritage
- Place
- Spoleto, Italy
This building on
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Location