Vigilanti Theatre

The long and fascinating history of the Vigilanti Theatre began in the seventeenth century, when a small funeral chapel was built on this site to resemble an ancient mausoleum, commissioned by Orazio Borbone, then governor of Portoferraio.
The chapel was transformed into the Church of Carmine during the 18th century.

The church was suppressed at the end of that century and, stripped of its furnishings, was used for a long time as a military storehouse, until in 1814, at the end of the Napoleonic era, it was destined to become a theatre, based on a project by the architect Paolo Bargigli, professor of architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, and designer not only of many Napoleonic interventions on the Island of Elba, but also of the Teatro Impavidi in Sarzana and the Teatro Regio in Lucca.
The new theatre was inaugurated on 24 January 1815 and had the typical appearance of modern Italian theatres: a horseshoe layout with 65 boxes distributed over four tiers surmounted by a gallery. The interior paintings and curtain were by the Piedmontese painter Antonio Revelli, and the stucco decorations by the Livorno stucco artist Campolmi. However, the exiled emperor did not like the small room, and may have visited it only on the day of the inauguration, while it is certain that his sister Pauline and his mother Letizia Ramolino attended performances there.

After the final fall of Napoleon, in May 1815 the theatre was opened again, under the direction of the Accademia dei Fortunati, which soon changed its name to Accademia dei Vigilanti.
Throughout the nineteenth century, this space alternated between prose and opera performances and dance parties. At the beginning of the 20th century the economic situation in Livorno and the decrease in the number of spectators worsened the budget deficit considerably and in 1920 the theatre was closed. It was then restored between 1922 and 1923 to a design by engineer Visioli. On this occasion, the fourth tier of boxes and the old gallery were replaced with a new gallery; the upholstery, dressing rooms, stage and orchestra pit were renovated.

After further renovations, in 1937 the theatre was used mainly as a cinema until 1952. A long period of abandonment followed, until 1974 when the building was purchased by the Municipality of Portoferraio, which carried out a vast restoration project in the mid-1980s, based on a design by architects Maria Berta Betazzi and Leonello Balestrini, made possible thanks to funding from the regional FIO project. When the work was completed, the theatre was restored not only for theatrical activities but also for conferences.

Since 2005, the Vigilanti Theatre has been open to the public as a cultural site of historical interest, and a permanent exhibition of objects, furniture and clothing from the Napoleonic era has been set up in the theatre’s former secretariat.

In 2015, the municipality of Portoferraio decided to dedicate the theatre to Renato Cioni, a famous tenor from Elba. In 2017, during some work, frescoes from the Napoleonic era were discovered and restored, decorating the inside of the boxes.