The Astrusi’s theater of Montalcino

Brief historical notes. The Theater, which is mentioned in the municipal archives since 1678, in its present sense was wished by the Accademia of Astrusi (from which it takes its name) that, until then, for its theatrical performances used to use a room of the City Hall. It was renovated in the second half of the 18th century (presumably from the year 1763) by the architect Leonardo De ’Vegni, who envisioned a horseshoe-shaped structure for the theater, with two tiers of balconies and typical Italian pit. The ceiling of this eighteenth-century theater was completely frescoed by the Sienese painter Giovanni Battista Marchetti, former collaborator of Antonio Galli Bibbiena in the rococo scenography of the Teatro dei Rinnovati in Siena, with mythological scenes of neoclassical taste: the Chariot of the Sun with Apollo surrounded by the nine Muses. This fresco was recently traced back to Maffei’s activity.