Information
In 1826, the Municipality of Lucera purchased Palazzo Mozzagrugno to serve as its municipal seat. In 1837, the building underwent restoration work and a performance room designed by engineer Luigi Oberty was incorporated. The theatre was originally dedicated to Maria Teresa Isabella of Bourbon and opened on 7 June 1838 with performances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini’s La sonnambula.
In 1907 the theatre was the protagonist of a restructuring curated by engineer Angelo Messeni, the same who realized on commission of his two brothers-in-law, Antonio and Onofrio Petruzzelli, the Politeama Theatre of Bari. Following the expansion works, it was renamed as a miniature twin of the Petruzzelli theatre, of which it became an elegant copy on a small scale. The renovation of the turn of the century involved the transformation of the ballroom into an audience and the creation of a large stage that allowed the use of perspective fifths and the placement of the actors inside the scenes and not in front of them, as it was in the Renaissance theatre. The theatre consists of two vestibules, a horseshoe stalls, two tiers of stages with a gallery and an extensive stage, for a total capacity of 697 seats.
Stuccoes and statues enriched the audience room, with a frescoed vault in neoclassical style depicting scenes of muses.
In 2005, the last restoration was carried out, which gave back to the city the splendid theatre, which returned to activity the following year with "The pleasure of honesty" by Luigi Pirandello staged by Alessandro Pambieri and Lia Tanzi.
