Theatro Sociale [Bellinzona]
Theatro Sociale
theatre building in Bellinzona, Switzerland
Teatro Sociale built in 1847 by Engineer Giovanni Rocco von Mentlen from plans by Milanese Architect Giacomo Moraglia. The Teatro Sociale was built upon part of the old city wall and defensive moat at Porta Locarno, which proved to be problematic later when one side of the new theatre began to slowly sink into the filled in moat. The Società del teatro pushed for the idea of a theatre that could also serve social events from 1838, finally earning approval in 1846. Building on top of the moat and city wall rubble was the compromise.Constructed in essentially one year, Teatro Sociale was financed by 29 member or patron subscriptions from local bourgeois families with keyed access to the two tiers of boxes in the Italian inspired horseshoe. Interestingly, the members agreed to take turns annually with a lottery of sorts for box assignments. There were also seats in the upper gallery above and evidently flexible seating in the lower ground level area.
There are three proscenium boxes on stage left and right that are beautifully framed with paster rosettes.It opened the day after Christmas 1847 with Valintino Bassi’s company performing a six-act drama, “Marie Jeanne ou la femme du peuple” by Adolphe-Philippe Dennery and Julien de Mallian. The melodramas and operas followed soon after. The building served Bellinzona society for more than a hundred years with a series of evolutions including electric lighting being added in 1891. The Teatro Sociale is one of the few remaining Italian style historic theatres in Switzerland and is part of the Alpine Route which on the European Route of Historic Theatres.It has been lovingly refurbished with enormous efforts made to respect its original Milanese, La Scala Opera House inspired decor in the 1997 restoration, when they also modernized all the stage equipment.