Descrizione
The refinement and splendour of a temple of opera
The elegance of the Teatro di San Lorenzo in Campo is more than just an architectural achievement; it is a destiny inscribed in its history.
This magnificent gem was, in fact, built on the main floor of the Palazzo Della Rovere, specifically in the very place where members of the powerful family used to organise their balls. The echoes of those refined Renaissance celebrations seem to have survived to this day, judging by the beauty of the interior.
The theatre, originally a wooden, dismantlable structure ‘in the French style’, later extensively remodelled ‘in the Italian style’, comprises, in addition to the stalls, two tiers of boxes surmounted by a gallery.
What makes this setting so exquisite are, above all, the Art Nouveau decorations that fill the hall, beginning with the stained-glass panels in the entrance door—depicting two enchanting young women’s faces—and continuing across all the walls, right up to the marvellous ceiling.
We are surrounded by floral motifs, volutes, scrolls, little angels and mythological figures – evocations of an idyllic, dreamlike natural world painted in soft colours that are a delight to the eye.
Following his death, the theatre was named after Mario Tiberini, a great tenor born in San Lorenzo in Campo in 1826. Highly regarded by his contemporaries, Tiberini performed in theatres all over the world, always to great acclaim.
The theatre, completed in 1816 and initially known as the Teatro del Trionfo, has had a turbulent history marked by closures, restorations and various uses, but since the early 1980s it has been a permanent fixture in local cultural life, offering a rich programme of opera and drama.
To honour the most accomplished sopranos and tenors, as well as to promote emerging talents, the Tiberini International Opera Prize was established thirty years ago, an event that brings prestige to the whole of San Lorenzo in Campo with distinguished guests, whilst keeping alive the theatre’s glory and the memory of the great Mario Tiberini.
