Renaissance Italy

  • Period: 1500 to

    Renaissance Italy

  • 1545

    Sebastiano Serlio published "Architettura"

    showed people how to create a performance space within an existing room. He included drawings showing different versions of settings. These drawings fuse with the classical theatre architecture and the Renaissance.
  • The Teatro Farnese was built with a permanent proscenium arch

    The oldest surviving theatre, that has a permanent proscenium arch, is the Teatro Farnese. This was built in Parma, Italy.
  • The court theatre was made available to the general Italian public

    Opera was the primary medium for popularizing perspective scenery and the Frame stage. Both of them; however, were not open to the public. In Venice, a public opera house made court theatres available to the general Italian Public. This was so successful that soon, four public opera houses opened in Venice.
  • The English were most fully developed on their version of "masques" (1605-1640)

    Between 1605-1640 The English developed their own variation on the Italian intermezzi, "Masques". They were most fully developed under the stuart rulers.
  • Setting of Act II scene X the courtyard of the king of Naxos by Giacomo Torelli

    Setting of Act II scene X the courtyard of the king of Naxos, Giacomo Torelli for Jealous Venus was produced at an opera house where Giacomo was a stage designer in Venice of 1643.
  • "Commedia" was most vigorous and popular (1575-1650)

    Commedia was most vigorous and popular between 1575 - 1650, However, this did not stop the Commedia from continuing on into the last half of the 18th century. Venice was where its last stronghold was, at which point two play writes were seeking to reform and preserve it.
  • Carlo Goldoni began writing scenarios for commedia companies in Venice

    Italy's most famous comic dramatist had began writing different scenarios for commedia companies in Venice. Carlo Goldoni believed that the situations commedia had become hackneyed and vulgar, and started to refine and sentimentalize the characters and situations.
  • "The Servant of Two Masters" was created by Carlo Goldoni

    Goldoni's "The Servent of Two Masters" was written around the year 1743 and draws from Commedia. Originally set to create improvisation; however, was change in 1789 to a version that we know today.
  • "The Servant of Two Masters" script was published

    The script of "The Servant of Two Masters" was published, and all of the dialogue was scripted.
  • Commedia had largely started to fade

    Commedia was fading largely. This was due to the fact that the farcical humor had lost its appeal in the more refined atmosphere of the 18th century. Commedia would resurface again during the 2nd half of the 20th Century.