GAETANO DONIZETTI, Donizetti Theater - Ai Voice

Strolling along the Sentierone, in the heart of Lower Bergamo, the Donizetti Theater emerges with its 19th-century elegance and a story that began on August 24, 1791, when it was inaugurated under the name Teatro Riccardi.
It was only in 1897, on the centenary of the birth of the composer Gaetano Donizetti, that the theater received its current name.
You should know that the original building was severely damaged by a fire in 1797, but Giovanni Francesco Lucchini, the same architect who had designed it, promptly oversaw its reconstruction, reopening it to the public on June 30, 1800.

From an architectural standpoint, the auditorium is a splendid example of an “Italian-style theater”: an elongated elliptical floor plan to enhance acoustics and visibility, a horseshoe-shaped structure, and three tiers of boxes with galleries that embrace the stalls — a design as functional as it is theatrical.
Originally, the theater featured a rich decorative program: the parapets of the boxes and the ceiling were adorned with chiaroscuro paintings attributed to Giacomo Francesco Bonomini — masterpieces unfortunately lost during the 1870 restoration — while the ceiling, in its 20th-century version, was painted to appear as though it opened into the sky, with a musical trompe-l’oeil of instruments and allegorical figures. A recent restoration has cleaned and enhanced this decoration, making its colors and details more visible.

Today, the theater regularly hosts opera, drama, dance seasons, and above all, the Donizetti Opera Festival — the international event that every autumn brings the maestro’s most celebrated works back to the stage, with productions and collaborations that spread Bergamo’s name well beyond its city limits.
Outside the theater, in the garden of Piazza Cavour, the monument to Donizetti complements the façade: the musician seated, listening to the Muse — a work inaugurated in 1897 by sculptor Francesco Jerace — embodies the theater’s mission: transforming inspiration into a shared experience.

An interesting fact: in 1954, even the legendary Maria Callas performed at the Donizetti Theater, singing one of Gaetano Donizetti’s own operas: Lucia di Lammermoor. For Bergamo, it was not just an extraordinary performance, but a symbolic encounter between the most celebrated soprano of the 20th century and the city of Donizetti — a night in which Bergamo heard its musical identity resonate with rare intensity.