18th-century theatres

MONTEPULCIANO

Teatro Poliziano

The theatrical activity in Montepulciano has been attested at least since the mid-seventeenth century: there was at that time an academy, called of “I Raggirati” [The Swindled], which often asked the Town Hall various forms of intervention in support of their performances. This academy will be followed (from 1706) by that of “Gli Intrigati” [The Intrigued]. The first theater was built in the Town Hall spaces (1761), however it proved to be inadequate, so, in the late eighteenth century, academics decided to build a new large theater within the so-called “stanzoni del Monte Pio [Big Rooms of the Monte Pio]” beneath the Cathedral Church. The “Teatro Regio”, which was to become the current “Teatro Poliziano”, was built between October 1793 and May 1796. The theater hall still retains the original horseshoe structure, featuring 72 dais divided into four orders.

SARTEANO

Teatro degli Arrischianti

The delightful Municipal Theatre of the “Arrischianti [Daredevils]”, located in the heart of the old town centre, was built in 1680, but owes its current appearance to the renovation works carried out in 1740, as well as to the 19th-century addition of stucco. It is a perfect example of a traditional small 18th-century Tuscan theatre, related to the activity of the local Academies. Nowadays, the “Nuova Accademia degli Arrischianti” [New Academy of the Daredevils] still makes the theatre alive with an array of performances.

SINALUNGA

Teatro Ciro Pinsuti

The history of the jewel-Theater “Ciro Pinsuti”, located in the heart of the old town center of Sinalunga, is closely related to the proliferation of literary academies that characterized many Tuscan centers between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Academy of the Smantellati, founded in 1673, in 1772 decided to buy and restore the old city theater space. The architect Leonardo De Vegni, a cultured and refined intellectual with an Enlightenment approach, was appointed to reorganize the project. However, the project was considered too broad and disproportionate to the size and means of this Valdichiana town. So, the ideas of De Vegni in 1796 were resumed and reworked by the academic Gian Paolo Terrosi, and thel project of the new theater that was inaugurated in 1807 was finally drawn up. Sinalunga was thus equipped with one of the most beautiful and elegant theaters of southern Tuscany, so as to satisfy the artistic and cultural needs of a particularly lively area like that of the Valdichiana. The "Stanza delle Quattro Stagioni [Four Seasons Room]" and the "Stanza del Focolare [Fireplace Room]" have an enormous appeal.

TORRITA

Teatro degli Oscuri

"Ab umbra lumen [From the Shadow, the Light]" is the principle of the Accademia degli Oscuri [Academy of the Darkened], founded in Torrita in 1763. Already in that year, the Accademia degli Oscuri, from which it took its name, managed to obtain a hall on the ground floor of the Town Hall to bring to the stage comedies and shows. After a long series of works carried out throughout the 19th century, in 1870 the theater was inaugurated with a new ovate-shaped structure, with 23 dais divided into two orders. In 1904 the pictorial decorations were entirely renewed by the painters Sallustio and Oreste Tarugi from Montepulciano. Today, the theatre schedules shows throughout the year, and has become a reference point for cultural activities of international significance.