Teatro Verde (S.Giorgio Island)

The "Teatro Verde" or open-air theatre, set in the park and surrounded by the lagoon, combines the solemnity of the theatrical architecture of classical antiquity and the pre-romantic grace of rural architecture, a basic element in theatrical life from the 16th to the 18th century. Founded and built in concrete and stone, embedded among long-trunked trees, amid box-hedges and lawns, it makes a great contribution to the beauty of the park (which has taken the place of the vegetable-gardens to be seen in old prints), on the southern edge of the island. Work began on it in 1952 (it was inaugurated in July 1954) on a project by the architects Luigi Vietti and Angelo Scattolin, using the demolition material that had accumulated in the course of the restoration work on the Island. It is an amphitheatre of 1,618 seats (between the cavea and controcavea - the lower and upper circles), with steps in white Vicenza stone interposed with box-hedges acting as seat-backs, so as to give the impression - when the audience is seated - of one of those rustic theatres that used to adorn the Veneto villas on the mainland.