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Overview

The Teatro del Falcone, or Falcone Theatre, was one of the three most important theatres in Genoa prior to the nineteenth century. The first incarnation of the Falcone Theatre was a tavern known as the Hostaria Falconis, or Tavern of the Falcon. The Falcone Theatre underwent multiple renovations under a series of owners over the course of the seventeenth century, and by the last decades of the century was one of the premiere theatres in the city. After its success throughout the eighteenth century, the Theatre entered a long period of decline, and was converted to a warehouse at the end of the nineteenth century. The structure was demolished following bomb damage during World War II. The structure now known as the Falcone Theatre was built in the 1950s and renovated in 2004. It currently functions as an exhibition space.

History

The Hostaria Falconis (Tavern of the Falcon) was located in the Prè neighborhood of Genoa, and built at the center of a previous building from the fifteenth century. Since 1566, the tavern had hosted Commedia dell’Arte performances. Taverns like the Hostaria Falconis were ideal places for touring acting companies to perform, as they were natural gathering places for their audiences, which were comprised of the lower classes. Performing in taverns offered additional benefits to acting companies: proceeds from shows were usually low, and therefore actors often arranged for room and board from the taverns as payment.

In 1600, the owner of the tavern, Giacomo de Zaretti, decided to put the property and its furnishings up for auction. Two years later, it was purchased by the nobleman Gabriele Adorno. In 1639, the property was passed to his heir Giacinto, who continued to manage the theatre for profit. In 1667, the Adorno family rented the Theatre to a company of Genoese aristocrats, who rebuilt the hall with two levels of sixteen boxes each and a third level as an area for the common people.

In just over ten years’ time, the theatre and the adjoining inn became famous in Genoa. However, by the spring of 1680, the Adorno family’s finances were in disarray, and the entire building was again put up for auction. After lengthy negotiations, Eugenio Durazzo purchased the building for 26,680 Genoese lire. Durazzo planned to build a luxurious palace to which the theatre would be annexed. Both structures would face Via Balbi, the second most prestigious street in the city.

The Falcone Theatre, now completely renovated, reopened at the same time as the inauguration of the new Teatro di S. Agostino. At this point in time, both theatres staged productions of opera, a form of entertainment for the upper classes, but nevertheless a point of pride for the people of Genoa. These two theatres, the most prestigious in Genoa throughout the eighteenth century, agreed in 1706 to a biennial system of alternating seasons in order to avoid unwanted competition.

Architecture

An inventory of the Hostaria Falconis taken in 1600 in preparation for the auction of the building includes a description of the tavern's structure. On the ground floor, there were three rooms, all recently renovated as part of an expansion of the tavern. The first above-ground floor was of an irregular plan, possibly an L-shape. The ground floor featured a large hall, which scholars have understood as the performance space. This seems to have opened up into the above-ground floor, forming an open, two-story space not unlike the Spanish corrales de comedias and English yards of that time.

By the 1670s, the house of the Theatre (at this point called the Teatro Adorno) was shaped like a U or a bell, narrowing toward the back. A drawing, now lost, attached to the lease of 1677 represented the house as having two levels, each with sixteen boxes, as well as a gallery. The stage was apparently too shallow, which created difficulties for set changes.

Around the 1640s, the building underwent a rapid transformation toward the new theatrical model imported from Venice. By 1646, boxes outfitted with refined fabric had been installed, and thus was born a true and proper theatre—the only one of its era in Genoa to have had a typically Venetian structure and organization from the beginning. Despite continuing to operate as an inn, it was also the only theatre, up until the end of the seventeenth century, which was able to guarantee fairly continuous activity for a public audience.

Over the next few decades, the Falcone Theatre, which also operated on the Venetian model, was opened to a paying public. Still, at least until 1677, the ticket prices and private box fees were sufficiently high such that only aristocrats could attend the performances.

The Theatre was purchased by the Savoy family in 1824. After decades of decline, it was converted to a warehouse by the end of the century. On May 9, 1944, the Falcone Theatre was badly damaged by a bomb. The building was then demolished between 1948 and 1949.

Productions

The Falcone Theatre staged the first production of opera in the city of Genoa in the early seventeenth century. Performances in the eighteenth century included Arianna (1714, libretto by Pariati), L’Ifigenia (Carnival season of 1752), and Antigona (1756). Composer Niccolò Paganini performed for King Carlo Felice and the royal family at Falcone Theatre on November 9, 1827.

Recent Developments In 1953, following the demolition of the Falcone Theatre, a Le Corbusier-inspired reinforced concrete building was erected on the site as a venue for art exhibitions, concerts, and conferences.

The Falcone Theatre is now part of the Museo Palazzo Reale in Genoa. The building was restored in 2004, and currently functions as an exhibition space.

Sources

Amici di Paganini. “La Genova di Paganini / The Genoa of Paganini.” http://www.niccolopaganini.it/documenti/2011/la_genova_di_paganini.pdf

Archive of Performances of Greek & Roman Drama. “Teatro del Falcone (Genoa, Liguria, Italy).” http://www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk/productions/venues/4209

Comune di Genova. “Teatro del Falcone.” http://genovaqr.it/en/azzurro/teatro-del-falcone/

Ivaldi, Armando Fabio. “Gli Adorno e L’Hostaria-Teatro del Falcone di Genova (1600- 1680).” Rivista Italiana di Musicologia 15, no. 1/2 (1980): 87-152.

Ivaldi, Armando Fabio. “Il Teatro del Falcone di Genova: Un ‘Carrefour’ dell’Opera Barocca.” In Francesco Cavalli: la circolazione dell’opera veneziana nel Seicento, edited by Dinko Fabris, 239-291. Napoli: Turchini, 2005.

LetterArti. “Dossier 3. Lo Spettacolo Genovese. Premesse storico-culturali alla costruzione del Teatro Carlo Felice.” March 28, 2019. https://letterarti.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/ dossier-3-lo-spettacolo-genovese-premesse-storico-culturali-alla-costruzione-del-teatro-carlo-felice/

Museo di Palazzo Reale Genova. “Teatro del Falcone.” http://palazzorealegenova.beniculturali.it/teatro-del-falcone/?lang=en