Restoring Teatro Rinuccini

Restoring Teatro Rinuccini

Standing unused for more than a decade, the Rinuccini Theatre will be reopened on January 12, 2018 after extensive renovation work.

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Thu 14 Dec 2017 4:16 PM

Standing unused for more than a decade, the Rinuccini Theatre will be reopened on January 12, 2018 after extensive renovation work.

 

Tucked inside Palazzo Rinuccini, one of the oldest buildings in Florence, the Oltrarno theatre is an eighteenth-century gem that once housed the city’s noble family and is now home to Machiavelli high school. On January 12, 2018, the building will reopen its curtains for the “Notte Bianca dei Licei Classici”, an evening when Italy’s secondary schools with a focus on the humanities open their doors to the public).

 

 

 

 

The auditorium along via Santo Spirito has undergone multiple changes down the years. Originally designed as a library to host rare books and statues it was converted into a concert and performance space in the 1860s staging performances and concerts and fashion shows. In 1919 the building became the property of the City of Florence, which allocated its current purpose as a school. The theatre was left unused until 2005, when the province and subsequently the city of Florence started work on a restoration campaign that was stopped in 2008 due to a lack of funding.

 

In an article in local newspaper La Repubblica, Gilda Tortora, head of the Machiavelli school, explained why she pushed to have the renovations completed. “As soon as I started here in September 2016 I discovered a magical place that our students never had the chance to see … If we continued to leave the theatre abandoned, we would have lost the part that had already been restored.”

 

“Today we can finally say that we have a new theatre, foyer and stage that are practically news. The City of Florence restored the flooring, electrical equipment and window fixtures.”

 

But the reopening on January 12 is only the first step.

 

“The backstage and frescoed changing rooms still have to be sorted out. This is an appeal to whoever believes in the cultural value of a space like this, to finally give back it to the children and to the city.”

 

A marathon playbill of theatre, music and art is scheduled for January 12, from 4:30 to 10pm.

 

Click here for information about how you can contribute to the restoration of Teatro Rinuccini using the Art Bonus system, whereby Italian companies receive a tax break of 65 percent for donations to cultural activities.

 

 

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