The Bramante Theatre

It is one of the jewels of the Marche, with three tiers of boxes and overlooking Piazza San Cristoforo, the heart of the city.
This theatre was built in the 18th century on the ruins of an ancient 14th-century fortress, at the behest of the Accademia degli Acerbi. In 1855, thanks to the Accademia Teatrale made up of wealthy citizens, construction began based on a design by the engineer and architect Ercole Salmi from Urbino. The theatre, as we know it today, was inaugurated in 1864 with “Il Trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi and dedicated to the illustrious citizen Donato Bramante.

Romolo Liverani of Faenza was an artist of romantic sensibility. He painted the scenes of the wings and the curtain with a view of Piazza San Cristoforo. The ceiling was decorated by the painter Lancisi da Verucchio, who depicted the four elements (air, earth, water and fire) through elegant mythological motifs. Pietro Gai from Pesaro modeled the busts of Donato Bramante and Girolamo Crescentini, a famous singer who delighted the audiences of Napoleonic Europe. Gai is also the author of the golden friezes around the medallions, depicting figures from the Renaissance and the Risorgimento linked to the history of the city: Francesco Maria II Della Rovere, Bramante, Raffaello, Crescentini, Ugolini, Rossini and Verdi.

Until the early 1980s, the Bramante Theatre was the centre of cultural, musical and social life in Urbania. In addition to shows, the theatre hosted dances, official celebrations, conferences, school and association plays and for many years, it was the only cinema in the town. At the end of 1984, it was closed for restoration. It reopened on 19 May 2001, thus regaining its important cultural and civil function.