Now owned by the municipality, Carrara’s historic Teatro degli Animosi derives its name from the dedicatory inscription placed in the balustrade: “MDCCCXXXIX // to gentrify customs // for the art // that most allures and teaches // the citizens // animosi erected.”
Its construction was due to the efforts of an association between private individuals, an “Academy of Theater,” founded in 1836, with the aim of providing the city with a worthy theater, after the dismantling of the structure set up in the 17th century inside the ducal palace. Thecity’s “Animosi,” nobles and members of the upper middle class, entrusted the project to a young Lucchese architect, Giuseppe Pardini (1799-1884), and inaugurated their theater in December 1840, with the staging of Alberto Nota’s comedy, La Donna Ambiziosa. Demonstrating all the pride, and proud independence, of nineteenth-century Carrara, the academicians had erected the building without any public subsidy, and the best boxes were the private property of the underwriters; it is not surprising to learn how the Duke of Modena Francesco IV, for whom the central box, decorated with the Este eagle, had been reserved, declined the invitation to attend the inauguration, remaining estranged from the dynamics of a territory that belonged to him only by maternal inheritance (as the son of Maria Beatrice d’Este).
Oriented in such a way as to catch the eye of those coming from nearby Piazza Alberica, the theater imposes itself with the severe elegance of its luminous marble facade: the architecture is strongly characterized by the contrast between the massive ashlar wings and the three-dimensionality of the central element, set on massive pillars on the lower level (from where one enters the foyer), and lightened above by an agile sequence of Ionic columns, designed in an exquisitely 19th-century Greek-style taste. The balustrade, embellished with garland motifs, was to have been crowned by sculptures of an allegorical nature, which were never realized, with the intention of giving vertical momentum to the whole.
The hall is preceded by a solemn foyer, with marble columns, coffered ceiling and plaster medallions with portraits of famous musicians and poets (by Carlo Nicoli). In the niches are two plaster allegories by Carlo Chelli (Music and Poetry), models for marble works destined for the Municipal Theater of Santiago de Chile .
The interior is fascinating because of the contrast between the whiteness of the marble elements, the lightness of the pictorial decorations (executed in 1870 by Carlo Pellini), and the red of the velvets: a beautifully striking ensemble that struck even a distinguished visitor such as Charles Dickens, who described the Animosi as a “beautiful little theater, newly-built” on his famous trip to Italy in 1846. Dickens also recalled, with great amazement, hearing choirs made up of quarrymen, self-taught but perfectly in tune, engaged in a performance of Bellini’s Norma, thus testifying to the historic love of the people of Carrara, from all walks of life, for bel canto and opera. A popular character confirmed by the presence of a gallery, above the three tiers of boxes, whose patrons were famous for the severity (and competence) of their critical judgment, often expressed in no uncertain terms.
Atthe level of the second order are also the elegant rooms of the Ridotto, accessed by a monumental staircase with an independent entrance, located to the right of the facade. Among these rooms were the activities of the Casino Civico, a refined environment in which the wealthy Carrarese bourgeoisie of the late nineteenth century gathered for social occasions: traces of that sumptuousness remain in the central room, which still retains its Empire-style decoration, with large mirrors and luxurious white and gold decorations.
This popular enthusiasm led to the opening of a larger and more capable theater, the Politeama Giuseppe Verdi (1892), and the Teatro degli Animosi soon found itself converted to a movie theater (1906). From 1964 the structure, which became municipal property, hosted cultural reviews and events, including a famous world congress of anarchists (1968). From 1968 theatrical performances finally resumed, which had a new impetus with the first major restoration completed in 1986.
The need to bring the structure up to safety standards then led to a new restoration, prolonged, with ups and downs, from 2010 to 2019. Reopened permanently to the public, the theater hosts a regular season with prose, concerts and classical music reviews; the rooms of the ridotto, handed back to the city in 2024, host conferences and musical meetings of various kinds.