The Roman Theatre of Catania (Teatro Romano di Catania) consists of the ruins of two open-air semicircular ancient Roman theatres, located between Piazza San Francesco, via Vittorio Emanuele, via Timeo, and via Teatro Greco in the center of

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, southern Italy. The site consists of a larger theatre and a smaller semicircular theatre, an

Odeon Odeon may refer to: Ancient Greek and Roman buildings * Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions * Odeon of Agrippa, Athens * Odeon of Athens * Odeon of Domitian, Rome ...

. The structure is part of the .

History

This structure was probably built in the second century AD and only fully excavated in the 19th century. The theatre follows a common design of many ancient Roman theatres. It was built with seats rising along the hillside, where spectators would have faced south and towards the sea. It likely had a

scaenae frons The scaenae frons is the elaborately decorated permanent architectural background of a Roman theatre stage. The form may have been intended to resemble the facades of imperial palaces. It could support a permanent roof or awnings. The Roman scae ...

decorated with marble columns, that gave it depth and complexity. The orchestra or stage section had a diameter of nearly 22 meters. The auditorium (''

cavea The ''cavea'' (Latin for "enclosure") are the seating sections of Greek and Roman theatres and amphitheatres An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performance ...

'' section) originally measured 98 meters deep, consisting of 21 rows of seats divided into wedges or ''cunae'', seating nearly a maximum of 7000 spectators, smaller than the theatres at

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; scn, Taurmina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on ...

and Siracusa by 1,000-3,000 seats. Below the seats are the '' vomitoria'' or exit passageways. The theatre ceased to be used between the 5th and 6th centuries. While archaeological work on the site began in the 18th century under the

Ignazio Paternò Castello Ignazio Paternò Castello, Prince of Biscari (1722 - 1 September 1786) was an Italian polymath, antiquarian, and patron of the arts, who lived most of his life in his native Catania in Sicily. Biography Born to a wealthy noble family, he studied ...

, Prince of Biscari, the site was not cleared of houses that had been built into the structure until 1959. Some of the marbles and artefacts recovered during excavations and restorations are on display in the adjacent Casa Pandolfo and Casa Liberti.Polo Regionale di Catania
entry on theatre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teatro Catania Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century Roman sites of Sicily Buildings and structures in Catania