Palermo
Italy's largest opera house, perfect acoustics, Godfather III finale, grand staircase.
Photograph · Teatro Massimo
At a glance
Names, makers, dates, and context before the story opens up.
| What it is | Theatre |
|---|---|
| Where | Palermo, Sicily |
| Known for | Italy's largest opera house, perfect acoustics, Godfather III finale, grand staircase |
The story
Italy's largest opera house crowned Palermo's belle epoque confidence in 1897, its dome engineered for acoustics praised ever since. Cinema fixed its staircase in memory with the final scenes of The Godfather Part III.
Each statement below is linked to the record or institution that supports it.
Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele, commonly Teatro Massimo, is Palermo's historic opera theatre on Piazza Verdi. The City identifies it as Italy's largest opera-house building by architectural extent, covering 7,730 square metres.1
Palermo held an international design competition in 1864 for a new opera house. In 1868, the jury awarded first prize to the Palermitan architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile; the first stone was laid on 12 January 1875 in Piazza Giuseppe Verdi.2
Construction was suspended in 1878 and resumed in 1890. Giovan Battista Filippo Basile died in 1891 before completion, and his son Ernesto Basile completed the work at Palermo's request, including the drawings needed to continue it.2
Teatro Massimo opened on 16 May 1897 with Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff, conducted by Leopoldo Mugnone. The Foundation notes that the opera had not previously been performed in Palermo.2
The staircase is flanked by bronze groups with lions: Tragedy by Benedetto Civiletti and Lyric Poetry by Mario Rutelli. Above it, a pronaos has six Corinthian columns; the Foundation identifies the inscription on its upper frieze as part of the building's public artistic programme.2
The dome above the auditorium has a 28.73-metre diameter. The Foundation describes it as an iron structure covered with bronze scales and surmounted by a large Corinthian-inspired vessel.2
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