The Roman theatre in Benevento

Listed as one of the most important and best preserved spectacle buildings in Italy, the Roman Theatre in Benevento represents one of the main symbols of the Samnite archaeological heritage. An ancient and majestic place, which still today, after almost two millennia, preserves its original civic role as the cultural heart of the city.

History of the Theatre

Built in the western area of the ancient city between the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century AD, and therefore presumably under the Emperor Trajan, the Roman Theatre in Benevento was inaugurated only between 125 and 128 AD by the emperor Hadrian.

It is not clear when the monument lost its function as a venue used for theatrical performances: the archaeological investigations carried out in recent years have made it clear that the theatre remained outside the walls built in the fourth century AD, which testifies the narrowing of the perimeter of Beneventum in the late antiquity period. It is perhaps from this period, and throughout the Middle Ages, that the monumental complex was invaded by private dwellings and stripped of the stone elements, to be reused in other buildings.

The "fragmentation" and the presence of houses is documented in paintings and images of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and in the cartographies of the modern age, in particular in the urban plan by Mazarini dated 1823, where documents show the reuse of the building that continues to exist in other forms and functions.

The church of Santa Maria della Verità was erected on the ancient lamioni (base) of the Theatre in 1782, at the behest of Cardinal Francesco Maria Banditi (1706 - 1796), archbishop of Benevento. The "rediscovery" of the theatre began at the end of the 19th century (1890) by architect Almerico Meomartini (1850 - 1923), who carried out the first excavation works at his own expense.

The post-war reconstruction, aimed at safeguarding the cultural heritage of the city, made the theatre area a deposit of statues, stone elements and epigraphs from the damaged buildings. In the 1950s, after significant restoration works, especially on the cavea, the theatre was returned to the city and its original function as a venue for performances. Entrusted to the Archaeological Superintendency, it was reopened for public use on June 26, 1957, and since then it has hosted opera and theatre seasons.

Heritage

The monument, whose cavea is roughly 98 metres long, is built in concrete with vestments in blocks of limestone and bricks; steps and frons scenae were covered in marble, as were the halls; the two large rooms which, through corridors (parodoi), led into the orchestra.

The cavea, with a semicircular plan, had three orders: Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian, of which only the lower order is preserved, consisting of twenty-five arches on pillars with Tuscan semi-columns. The arches of the cavea have configured reliefs as keystones: male busts in the lower order and probably masks in the higher orders. Some of these masks were reused in buildings in the city's historic centre. The scene presented, in correspondence with three monumental doors, semicircular niches in which statues were placed. In the rear area of the scene, the structures of three stairways are still visible.