Teatro de la Sena Historical Timeline

Origins

The Palazzo della Ragione, Feltre's civic hall, was built as part of the sixteenth-century rebuilding after the sack of 1510. A theatre was installed within it in the eighteenth century, as happened in a number of Veneto towns where the civic hall was the only large interior available.

Turning points

In 1802 the theatre was rebuilt to a design by Giannantonio Selva, who had completed La Fenice in Venice a decade earlier.

Influential people

Selva's Fenice set the pattern for Italian theatre design at the turn of the nineteenth century, and the Sena is a compact provincial application of it.

Cultural evolution

The theatre served Feltre's operatic and dramatic seasons through the nineteenth century, closed for long periods, and was restored in the modern era.

Present-day significance

It is in use again for performances, and remains one of the smaller historic theatres in the Veneto still working as a theatre.