Il Vetriano Theatre it is also known as 'the candy box' due to its small size which makes it a unique structure all over the planet. Located in the hamlet of Vetriano, near Pescaglia in the province of Lucca, this architectural rarity measures 71 square meters in total and seats only 85. For this peculiarity, in 1997 it won the Guinness Book of Records as the "smallest public historic theater in the world".
The history of the Theater of Vetriano
On 16 February 1889, the company to build the Teatro di Vetriano was born. The partnership is made up of 22 members, who tax themselves (two lire for each), until the construction is completed and the first opera is not performed. The structure, built in one year, begins to work under the name of Teatrino di Vetriano, later dedicated to the master Alfredo Catalani. In 1982 the heirs of the owners donated 51 percent of the ownership of the Theater to the Municipality of Pescaglia, in order to facilitate its recovery.
The turning point in the history of the Teatrino really took place in November 1997, when the owners donated the remaining 49 percent ownership stake to the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano). The environmental organization thus promotes a marvelous work of philological restructuring. In 1998 an agreement was stipulated with the Municipality of Pescaglia for the concession to FAI of the 51 percent share of the public property in free use for 99 years, renewable.
The theater is a FAI asset
The FAI, for its part, has undertaken to provide for the restoration and conservation of the Theater, reserving the use and exploitation of the asset and assuming the management costs. The inauguration of the completely renovated 'bomboniera' took place on 28 September 2002, with an official ceremony attended by the then president of the Senate Marcello Pera. The following day, the actor Alessandro Benvenuti gave the inaugural performance. Since the same year, the management of the complex has been entrusted entirely to the superintendent Loredana Cipriani Ciabatti who personally oversees the intense activity of the theatre, assisted by the custodian Cristina Guastucci.
In 2003 the little theater won the theater architecture award for the best philological restoration, together with the "La Fenice" Theater in Venice.
(Photo by the Italian Environment Fund)
