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Historic theatre · Napoli (NA)

Teatro di San Carlo

  • Visit: about 45 min
Pictured: Napoli · Wolfgang Moroder · CC BY-SA 3.0 · resized and cropped

The great theatre commissioned by Charles of Bourbon in 1737 beside the Royal Palace, a symbol of court life and music in Naples.

In the 18th century the theatre was a central social venue, a mirror of the king's power and of court society. When Charles of Bourbon came to the throne in 1734, the city's existing halls were by then small and ill-suited to the prestige of the new monarchy. So in 1737 the sovereign ordered the construction of a theatre worthy of the capital.The project was entrusted to the military engineer Giovanni Antonio Medrano, together with Angelo Carasale. The theatre rose beside the Royal Palace, in a convenient position for the court and between two wide open spaces useful for the passage of carriages. What we admire today is the result of early 19th-century works: as you enter, we suggest imagining the splendour of the Bourbon evenings.

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