Largo di Torre Argentina 52
Opened in 1732 and designed by the Marquis Girolamo Theodoli (1677/1766) for Duke Giuseppe Sforza Cesarini
In 1826 were added LOBBY, FOYER and FAÇADE (hitherto missing) by Pietro Holl (1780 / 1855-56)
In 1843 it was bought by Prince Alessandro Torlonia
Renewal in the years 1859/61 by Nicola Canevari
In 1869 it passed to the City of Rome for 100,000 scudi
Total reconstruction 1887/88 by Gioacchino Ersoch (1815/1902)
The restoration of 1926 by Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960) and the restoration of the years 1967/71 have almost completely cleared Ersoch’s reconstruction
The restoration of 2011/12 have given back the original soft color to the façade
In 1816 here was performed the world premiere of the opera The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini which ended in a fiasco
Already for the second performance the success was huge and the public went to Rossini’s house Rossini to celebrate after the show. The composer disappointed by the premiere had not gone to the theater and, hearing the uproar, at first he was afraid that people were coming there to beat him up
The Teatro Argentina was also the venue of the world premieres of the works by Giuseppe Verdi I Due Foscari in 1844 and La Battaglia di Legnano in 1849, the latter during the revolutionary period of the Roman Republic at the presence of the national heroes Giuseppe Garibaldi and Goffredo Mameli
From the first half of the twentieth century prose was staged in this theater
