Al Comunale!

From the Politeama Vittorio Emanuele II to the Teatro del Maggio

October 17th-December 2nd 2024

Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

On the dates and times of the show

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between ADSI Toscana, Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia and Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and is part of the activities related to Carte in dimora - Archivi.doc with the patronage of the Tuscany Region

Curated by Rita Scartoni with the collaboration of Manuel Rossi

Florence, October 14th, 2024 - There is a place that Florentines have always identified as the space dedicated to opera and, at least since 1935, they have always called it that: the Comunale. And this is still the name that many also use for the new opera house: because what matters is not the space itself, but its content, what it represents. This exhibition tells the story and the transformations of the Teatro Comunale through 31 photographs selected from the Alinari Archives and the Historical Archives of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and is part of the activities related to the third edition of “Carte in dimora - Archivi.doc” inaugurated on October 12nd by Adsi - Associazione dimore Storiche Italiane which saw the opening of 100 historical archives and libraries, including the Historical Archives of the Teatro del Maggio.

Clotilde Corsini, of the Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane - Sezione Toscana said: “From the Historical Residences to the theater that in Florence is synonymous with Comunale: theater, melodrama, music are born, develop and transform in these two realities. Through the opening of the historical archives, this exceptional exhibition reveals the evolution of the greatest Florentine musical institution, through the unique and extraordinary images of the great Alinari photographic archive”.

And so it is the architectures that take the stage in a photographic journey taken from the two Archives that starts from 1865 (with a rare image of the Politeama) and arrives at 2011. Steps, stage machinery, roofs, installations, demolitions, reconstructions, maquettes, are the narrating subjects of this long story.

Carlo Fuortes, superintendent of the Teatro del Maggio, said about the exhibition: “The exhibition that we are hosting in the foyer of the Teatro del Maggio is very interesting and curious as well as important and essential: it invites us to reflect on the architectural and urban transformations that have led to the current Teatro del Maggio. Unlike other major Italian cities, in fact, Florence has not preserved a historic theater for musical opera. Through the observation of partly unpublished and certainly very rare images, it will be possible to relive the history that led from the Politeama Vittorio Emanuele to the Teatro Comunale – so beloved by the Florentines – up to the current very modern Teatro del Maggio which today proudly collects and preserves all the cultural and artistic heritage of the Comunale and it is from these spaces that we pass on its immense value, projecting it towards the future”.

Giorgio van Straten, president of the Alinari Foundation, echoes this sentiment: “It is natural that, with the precious collaboration of ADSI, a relationship has been established between the institution that was born together with the oldest music festival in Europe and the oldest photographic archives in the world. We both know that tradition is not enough to have a great present, but also, as this exhibition demonstrates, that there is a path that leads from an open-air arena to our new, beautiful theatre and that indulging in sterile nostalgia has no reason to exist: the memory lives in the culture we produce today”.

It all started with an open-air arena, the Politeama Vittorio Emanuele II, built in the area near Porta al Prato in the early 1860s, right on the threshold of the brief season of Florence as capital. The structure hosted the most diverse types of entertainment, from circus to opera, as well as parties and balls until it became a war warehouse during the First World War. Then in the first half of the 1830s, coinciding with the birth of the Maggio Musicale, the theatre was purchased by the Municipality and renovated, while still respecting some of the architectural features of the old arena. In 1944, a disastrous bombing destroyed the entire stage machinery; at first the hall – apparently unscathed – did not suffer any consequences; However, in 1957 the entire complex was declared unfit for use, giving rise to the last major reconstruction campaign that ended in 1961. 50 years later, faced with the inadequacies of the old structure, the new Teatro del Maggio was finally inaugurated in its current location.

In the foyer of the theatre, spectators on the days and at the times of the show from 17 October to 22 December, will be able to follow the photographic journey that, starting from suggestions and assonances, passes to a narrative register to conclude with the exhibition of the maquette of the Teatro Comunale from the 1930s.