Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza

Timeline

1. 1580Courtyard of the old San Pietro castle prison · VicenzaThe Olympic Academy was founded in 1555, and Palladio himself was a member. In February 1580 the Academy received permission to build a permanent theatre in the old castle prison courtyard. The 72-year-old Palladio, following Vitruvian Roman theatre tradition, changed the circle to an elliptical auditorium adapted to the existing walls and designed a two-tier stage screen. He died a few months after construction began, and his drawings became the basis for subsequent work.
2. 1580–1584Teatro Olimpico construction site · VicenzaPalladio's son Silla supervised work according to the surviving drawings, and the Vicentine architect Scamozzi subsequently took over to complete the interior, adding the Odeon for Academy meetings. Wood, plaster, and paint imitated marble orders and statue niches within the brick-and-stone shell. By around 1584 this indoor theatre embedded in the city's old castle was ready for performances.
3. 1585Teatro Olimpico stage · VicenzaThe theatre officially opened on 3 March 1585 with Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Behind the openings in the stage screen Scamozzi created seven wooden streets of Thebes receding in depth, so that every spectator saw at least one perspective street. This scenery, made for a single performance, was never removed afterward, becoming the oldest surviving stage scenery and marking Vicenza as a model city of Renaissance theatrical experimentation.