Seen in today's entry is Teatro Massimo, the main opera house of Palermo (the capital of the Italian region of Sicily). The Teatro Massimo is the biggest concert hall in all of Italy and one of the largest in Europe (the third after the Opéra National de Paris and the Vienna State Opera House in Austria).

The Teatro Massimo is dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele (King Victor Emanuel II), who was the King of Piedmont, Savoy, and Sardinia from 1849 to 1861. But perhaps more significantly, Victor Emmanuel II, on February 18, 1861 assumed the title of King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy. In Italy, Victor Emmanuel II is known as the Pater Patriae, or Father of the Country.

The Teatro Massimo sees its beginning to 1864, when Palermo's mayor Antonio Starrabba di Rudinì urged the Palermo Council to start an international competition for the opera house. It took seven years until construction began. The opera house was built by the architect Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile and, following his death in 1891, construction was overseen by his son, Ernesto. Construction started on January 12, 1874 but was stopped for eight years from 1882 until 1890.

On May 16, 1987, the second largest opera house (at the time) was inaugurated with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff. To this day, Verdi's operas are played regularly at the Teatro Massimo.

In 1974 the Teatro Massimo was closed to complete renovations required by updated safety regulations However, large expenses (not to mention corruption and political squabbles) added to the delay. The Massimo remained closed for twenty-three years, finally re-opening on May 12, 1997 (just four days before its one hundred year anniversary).

I was in Palermo in June 2008, and as you can see on one of the banners, they were advertising for Verdi's Aida. The complete list of concerts and operas that were performed during the 2008 season in the Teatro Massimo may be seen here. Realized in the late-Renaissance style, the auditorium was originally planned for 3,000 people, but today, the seating is for 1,350.

And a final note: if you're a fan of the Godfather movies, you will most likely remember that Teatro Massimo was prominently featured in Godfather Part III (Anthony performed the lead in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Massimo).


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