Fun and Relax in Meldola

According to some sources, the first theatre was originally located in the Rocca and later in the building called “Racchetta or Pallacorda”, where theatrical performances took place until 1820. It was necessary to find a new location, and Giuseppe Missirini, a Forli engineer, suggested building a theatre on a plot of land used as a garden at the back of the town hall, which had been granted by the municipality. In a private contract, 37 citizens signed up to “donate” the funds needed to build the theatre.

Construction began in 1827 on a plan which showed an elliptical theatre layout, adjusted during construction to a ‘horseshoe’ plan, and was completed in late 1836/early 1837. Over 20 years after its inauguration, urgent work was required on some of the structures within the building, and this involved a very large financial commitment by the Condominium Society. They petitioned the City Council to take on the burden of carrying out the necessary work.

In 1867, Luigi Conti, an engineer from the town of Faenza, was commissioned to draw up a restoration project and to build the boxes on the proscenium and the staircase to the gallery. Work only started in 1876. Work was completed in 1877 with decorations by Luigi Samoggia from Bologna. Since then, it has hosted quality plays and opera.

Beginning in 1892, when the City Council bought it, numerous operas took place, culminating in 1901 with Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. By 1902, this success had persuaded the authorities to electrify the whole edifice. Between 1929 and 1931 the theatre was closed due to unsafe conditions. The following year the Opera Nazionale Balilla took over and used it mainly for film screenings.

The Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro took over in 1934. The theatre hosted political speakers at the end of the war, including Sandro Pertini in 1949, during the electoral campaign. In 1954 the license was withdrawn. This put an end to the intense artistic fervour that had characterized theatre in Romagna. Restoration works started in 1978, on the basis of a project proposed by a working party composed of Capucci, Dr. F. Farneti, architect G. Dicci and architect Silvio Van Riel. As already mentioned, Meldola Hall has a horseshoe shape, with three levels of boxes, thirteen per floor, and a gallery.

There is a sober and essential elegance to the whole, which makes it harmonious. The sky is decorated with monochrome tempera and lime decorations with chiaroscuro and relief effects, similar to those on the proscenium pediment. Monochromes alternate with roundels depicting famous musicians and prose writers on the outer perimeter. The central rose window is surrounded by a polychrome decoration of flower sprouts, of later date. Today, it has regular activities, offering plays, operettas, concerts and children’s theatre, as well as being used for public events.