Il TEATRO DEGLI OSCURI
' The Theatre of the Obscure'
…”From light and shadow come the clear and the obscure.
The true [light], with difficulty found, must be jealously guarded…”
From an 1870 statute of the “Accademia degli Oscuri” (Academy of the Obscure)…
This phrase, symbolically represented by a closed lantern, identified the “Accademia degli Oscuri di Torrita” (Academy of the Obscure of Torrita), which was founded in 1760 by local notables and intellectuals for the purposes of cultural exchange and enrichment.
The history of the theatre is intimately connected to that of the Academy, whose members were dedicated promoters not only of the instruction and study of various disciplines but also of the diffusion of the culture of theatre.
To carry out their program of education, in 1776 the Academy obtained a ground floor room in the Town Hall.
Known as the “Sciences Room”, it was the first step toward creating the theatre.
The Academy’s proposal to restore the room in order to create a decent stage and decorate the proscenium became an undertaking to build a new theatre.
The Municipal Council and Grand Duke Leopold II approved the project in an edict dated June 28, 1823.
The project was awarded to an engineer by the name of Mario Chietti.
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They constructed a fixed stage and a box reserved for members of the Academy at the center of the theatre.
In 1866 the theatre underwent further renovations.
The work was designed by Academician Carlo Mannucci Benincasa and carried out by master builder Angelo Guasparri.
The theatre in its new, oval form with 23 boxes divided in two rows, was inaugurated in October 1870.
New restoration work in 1904 included finely executed decoration by the painters Sallustio and Oreste Tarugi of Montepulciano.
In the years between the two world wars, the Theatre was used as a cinema and community hall for the citizens.
But following an agreement with the National Workingman’s Association, the Academy lost control of the Theatre and subsequently ceased operation on the premises altogether.
In 1955, the Municipality of Torrita di Siena bought “Teatro degli Oscuri”, keeping its name in honor of the Academy.
Following further, careful restoration work, the last of which was carried out between 1980 and 1983, the building once again became a village theatre in which to hold plays and musical concerts.
Torrita’s municipal archives contain two registers donated by Francesco Guasparri, which record the minutes of meetings of the Academy of the Obscure.
These two volumes have been instrumental in opening a fascinating course of research, not only into the cultural history of the Academy but also into unpublished aspects of the life of the village.
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