L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano T he Petruzzelli Theater in Bari i s t h e f o u r t h - l a r g e s t o p e r a h o u s e i n I t a l y and one of the most impor- tant, with La Scala in Milan, L a F e n i c e i n V e n i c e , t h e R e g i o i n T u r i n , t h e S a n C a r l o i n N a p l e s a n d t h e Massimo in Palermo. The project for the the- ater was presented by the Petruzzelli brothers, Onofrio and Antonio, to their broth- er-in-law Angelo Messeni, engineer for Bari City Coun- cil and husband to their sis- t e r M a r i a , i n 1 8 9 6 . C o n - struction, however, started o n l y t w o y e a r s l a t e r , i n 1898. The building, which is located at the very heart of Bari, in Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, was com- pleted in 1903 and the first opera represented was Gia- c o m o M e y r b e e r ' s G l i U g o n o t t i , o n t h e 1 4 t h o f February of the same year. For the times, it was quite a modern theater, with cen- tral heating and electricity, a s w e l l a s a n i n c r e d i b l y beautiful dome, frescoed by R a f f a e l e A r m e n i s e . I n 1954, it was declared a Mon- umento di Interesse Storico e Artistico, thus protected by law. In 1973, the continu- ous quality of its programs and of the artists who had been performing on its stage m a d e i t a T e a t r o d i Tradizione. I n 1 9 9 1 , i t w a s a l m o s t f u l l y d e s t r o y e d b y a f i r e . A f t e r a l m o s t 2 0 y e a r s o f reconstruction, with funding coming from the State and the EU, the Petruzzelli The- ater reopened in 2009, on the 4th of October with a performance of Beethoven's N i n t h S y m p h o n y b y t h e Orchestra della Provincia di Bari. The first opera lirica p e r f o r m e d a f t e r t h e n e w inauguration was Puccini's T u r a n d o t . T h e " n e w " Petruzzelli has 1,482 seats, 4 5 0 i n t h e a u d i e n c e a n d 1,032 along 6 balcony levels, improved acoustics and, you could bet on it, a state-of- the-art anti-fire system. The original theater could host 3,500 people. T h e a t e r s , e v e r y o n e knows, are mysterious and curious places, with their own stories and anecdotes, legends and, indeed, ghosts: the Petruzzelli is no differ- ent. One of the most famous tales associated with it is d i r e c t l y c o n n e c t e d t o t h e night of the 27th of Octo- b e r 1 9 9 1 , when a raging fire almost erased the the- a t e r f r o m t h e f a c e o f t h e Earth. That evening, Vin- c e n z o B e l l i n i ' s N o r m a was staged, ending only a handful of hours before the tragedy took place: opera lovers know well how the ending of the opera revolves a r o u n d f i r e , w i t h N o r m a walking into the pyre where her lover is burned, a bitter coincidence that many Bare- si noticed. W h i l e o p e r a a n d s y m - phonic music are more its thing, the Petruzzelli also has a penchant for cinema: for instance, its foyer, which is the only area of the origi- nal building that survived the 1991 fire, was the back- d r o p f o r F r a n c o Z e f - firelli's Il Giovane Toscani- n i ( 1 9 8 8 ) , w h e r e i t w a s transformed into the grand hall of a ship. Fifteen years earlier, Italian cinema stars Alberto Sordi and Moni- c a V i t t i , protagonists of Polvere di Stelle as husband and wife, portrayed their characters' acting dreams on its stage. But there are also more mysterious anecdotes about this beautiful theater. For instance, it seems that there w a s a s e c r e t c h a m b e r , w h i c h w e n t d e s t r o y e d - again - during the 1991 fire. The revelation came during an Italian TV show, Voy- ager, dedicated to history, art and sciences. In a special episode entirely dedicated to the Petruzzelli Theater, for- mer head engineer Antonio M a n z a r i t o l d t h e h o s t , journalist Roberto Giacob- bo, how he found out about i t . M a n z a r i s a i d h e h a d heard about a mysterious closet with a hidden door, which he found by probing t h e w a l l w i t h h i s h a n d s . When he entered the room, he found it full of furniture a n d o b j e c t s , i n c l u d i n g s w o r d s a n d h e l m e t s a n d documents, some of them signed by Benito Mussolini and King Vittorio Emanuele III. Unfortunately, we will never know whether Man- zari's tale was true or not because everything inside the room was incinerated during the fire. As every theater should, the Petruzzelli has got its o w n g h o s t , t o o . I t ' s t h e r e s t l e s s s p i r i t o f a y o u n g American Marine who had c o m e t o I t a l y d u r i n g t h e Second World War and trag- ically killed himself inside the theater. Apparently, he i s s t i l l r o a m i n g t h e a r e a b e t w e e n t h e s t a g e , t h e orchestra pit and the audi- ence. S e c r e t s a n d g h o s t s a r e good, but the greatest mys- tery of the Petruzzelli The- ater remains the fire that b u r n e d i t a l m o s t t o t h e ground in 1991. Because it was arson, and because it had been done on commis- sion, but no one has been charged, in more than 30 years. Luckily the theater was reborn, quite literally, from its ashes, even if it was a long and difficult journey, with works being often halt- ed because of police investi- gations and financial issues. Baresi are happy to say, t o d a y , t h a t t h e i r b e l o v e d P e t r u z z e l l i , w i t h a l l i t s s e c r e t s , m y s t e r i e s a n d ghosts, is back. The 2023 season includes operas such as Verdi's Otello, Puccini's Turandot and La Bohème, Wagner's Tannhäuser, bal- l e t p e r f o r m a n c e s o f Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and orchestra performances o f w o r k s b y M o z a r t , D e b u s s y , S t r a v i n s k y , B e e t h o v e n , S c h u m a n n , Vivaldi and Handel. LUCA SIGNORINI Petruzzelli Theater opened up again after the 1991 fire only in 2009 (Photo: Lauzzz93/Dreamstime) Bari's Petruzzelli: legends, ghosts and secret chambers HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE

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