User:Isabelaz/Teatro Olimpico

The Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza, founded in 1555 and which Palladio was a member of, commissioned the theater and its meeting halls, making it their home. After the original design and model by Palladio disappeared in the mid-eighteenth century, the Accademia halted pending renovations in the ceiling for decades. The theater includes statues of Academy members along its balustrade.

The Teatro Olimpico is, along with the Teatro all'antica in Sabbioneta and the Teatro Farnese in Parma, one of only three Renaissance theatres remaining in existence. It is still used several times a year.

Since 1994, the Teatro Olimpico, together with other Palladian buildings in and around Vicenza, has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto." This is marked on stone at the theater's garden.

The ceiling debate
In 1650, the painting on the ceiling of the theater was that of an open sky above the audience, and was compartmentalized above the stage. A renovation in 1733-1734 on the stage’s ceiling jeopardized its stucco and wood design to water damage. In 1755, Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza members determined there was an imminent need for another restoration. The project stalled for over 60 years because they no longer had Palladio's original ceiling design.

The Academy tasked the Vicentine architect Count Enea Arnaldi with restoring the ceiling. Arnaldi proposed a divided ceiling, like that of the Palazzo Ducale, but was met with opposition from his colleague Count Ottone Maria Calderari. Following the disagreement, both architects presented proposals for the ceiling restoration in a meeting held by the Academy in 1761. Neither or them gained enough votes from the members to sanction their proposal, and the conflict expanded into a discussion of Palladio's architectural legacy. While Arnaldi noted a modern improvement upon antiquity, Calderari saw an intent on recreating other ancient Roman theaters. The Academy sought experts outside of Vicenza in 1761 to elucidate the problem, but only caused a bigger disparity as other Italian architects split their endorsements between Arnaldi and Calderari. At the time of the impasse, the Academy did not make a decision.

The ceiling was only restored in 1829, when one of Calderari's students built a velarium over the theater. The velarium was exchanged in 1914 for a flat ceiling of wood.

Sculptures
The theater features a three-tiered scaenae frons with statues of Academy members and managers on the balustrade. The members are depicted heroically, as per their vote in 1580. Originally, there were 28 stucco statues on the balustrade, but they were replaced by ones made of stone by Giacomo Cassetti in 1751-54. Palladio himself is rendered in the midpoint of the balustrade. To his right is Giangiorgio Trissino, his patron, and to his right is Vincenzo Scamozzi. There are 49 statues in the proscenium and 51 in the auditorium. Although many sculptors that worked in the Teatro Olimpico remain unidentified as of 2023, Lombard sculptors Ruggero Bascapè, Cristoforo Milanese, and Domenico Fonseca, as well as Vicentice sculptor Agostino Rubini worked almost exclusively in the theater. A draft of the original contract between the Accademia Olimpica and Bascapè and Fonseca was found in the Bertoliana Library of Vicenza, dated March 9th of 1584, that details the decoration of the proscenium. The sculptors were asked to carve new statues, letter and color them, as well as fix the ones already made.

The theater's garden, opened in 1600, also displays many sculptures. The garden once served as a military courtyard, but has since been repurposed to showcase ancient works.