Teatro Umberto I

The Teatro Umberto I is a late example of the Italianate opera house tradition, its horseshoe-shaped auditorium rising through three tiers of decorated boxes, a gallery and a stalls floor. The main facade is a study in layered period style: a ground floor of exposed stonework, divided into five bays by round arches, with the three central bays projecting forward slightly. A string course runs the full width of the elevation. Above, the second storey is structurally of tufa, covered in lined plaster. Five round-arched windows punctuate this level, one blind, marking the stairwell, while in the three central bays, four empty niches alternate with the openings, where busts of famous composers once stood. The effect is one of deliberate, slightly stiff grandeur, a provincial theatre trying on the airs of a metropolitan opera house.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.