Teatro Comunale

In Montecarotto, before the construction of the Teatro Comunale, performances took place in the hall of the old Palazzo del Priore or in a room near the current Piazza del Mercato. Then, in 1861, thanks to the bequest of Alessandro Baldoni, the old theatre was demolished and construction began on the new one, designed by the architect Raffaele Grilli and inaugurated in 1877 with Donizetti's Maria di Rohan. According to tradition, the women of the village carried the stones from the Trabocco river along a steep path that is still passable. The terracotta façade features a portico with six Doric columns and three arched windows, while the interior, richly decorated by Giulio Marvardi, houses the curtain by Cecrope Barilli, depicting Montecarotto and a symbolic female figure. The ceiling mixes floral and classical ornaments, while above the stage the original grating and a sound barrel for the effects of thunder are preserved. In the twentieth century, the theatre was a centre of social life and after decades of inactivity it was restored in the 1980s, reopening in 2001.