Teatro Massimo Bellini, Catania, Italy

The Teatro Massimo Bellini is an opera house in Catania. Named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated in 1890 with a performance of the composer's masterwork, Norma.

The exterior of the house matches the distinctive Sicilian Baroque style of the neighboring buildings of the late 17th Century. Its marble foyer, the “Ridotto”, is ornate and stuccoed, and a statue of Bellini is located between the central arches. The beautiful red-plush interior includes the main floor seating and four tiers of boxes. Surrounding them, on the upper level, are unusual arched arcades. The painted ceiling by Ernesto Bellandi depicts scenes from four of Bellini's most well-known operas.

Throughout its history, the opera house has performed almost all of Bellini's work. From its beginnings, a wide variety of operas have been performed by some highly renowned singers. In 1951, to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Bellini, Maria Callas sang Norma, repeating her success in 1952 and 1953.

References:

Wikipedia

Miscellaneous historic sites in Italy

User Reviews

Ивайло Стоянов (9 months ago)
Greath theatre with beautiful atmosphere and amazing acoustic. From 9:00 am to 12:00 am there is a guide tour for 8 euro. Recommend for visitors of Catania.

Paix SurTerre (11 months ago)
Fabulous acoustics, excellent performance by the philharmonic symphony orchestra and absolutely stunning opera house - well worth visiting - Maestro Salvatore Percacciolo presented an excellent program.

Jovanaa Mladenovic (11 months ago)
The guide (the gilr with alergy :) ) is excellent, she is sooo cute, she had all our attention and her English is fantastic, well done! Teatro is marvelous, you must see it! P.s. note to guides, let us 5-6 minuts to take a pictures to ourselfs when you finish. :)

carolyn taylor (12 months ago)
Absolutely beautiful architecture. The opera was fantastic. Staff at ticket office were wonderful.

Milan Stosic (2 years ago)
My first visit to a teatro big as this one and I’m fascinated. We tool a guided tour (6.5 eur/person) and the guideance was bilingual (Italian and English). I definitelly want to experience an opera in this place.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Mark1792

Historic Site of the week

Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.

The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.

Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.

Teatro Massimo Bellini

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Rosenborg Castle