| Introduction
If the “theatre works” can be considered the
“devil's workshop”, the fire which destroys it and the ensuing
spectacle can certainly be attributed to the wrath of God. Immediately
after, a host of horned devils can be seen scurrying among the rubble:
some in search of money or glory, some looking for fame or pleasure, rebuilding
and revitalising a place where human dramas become tragedy and poetry.
The Society which bought the Grimani Theatre in San Benedetto was ousted
by the Veniers who owned the land. Having found an alternative location
in San Fantino, the Society reformed and announced a competition for a
new theatre, to be called La Fenice (The Phoenix). The name was to symbolise
the Society's death as owners of the theatre in San Benedetto, and it
rising from the ashes again like a phoenix. The design by Selva won the
competition and work got underway in 1791. “When the foundations
were being laid”, Tassini reports, “they discovered a large
tree trunk, its roots deep in the earth twelve feet below the surface,
and a wicker trellis used as fencing, indications, in the view of Filiasi,
of an orchard dating back to Roman times”.
The Meduna brothers described the theatre thus in their introduction to
the rebuilding treaty: “from Greek and Roman times, when theatres
were carved out from hillsides and mountains, with tiers set into the
slopes, when the borders of theatrical taste were widened through pomp
and splendour, theatre buildings reached their imposing majesty: with
the choice of the most endurable materials, an abundance of stone was
used to build everlasting monuments. But the ancient cannot dictate rules
for the modern, since habits, customs and theatrical uses differ too widely;
an architect cannot be the arbiter of the times”.
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Project report
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