Theatre of Italy

The theatre of Italy originates from the Middle Ages, with its background dating back to the times of the ancient Greek colonies of Magna Graecia, in Southern Italy, the theatre of the Italic peoples and the theatre of ancient Rome. It can therefore be assumed that there were two main lines of which the ancient Italian theatre developed in the Middle Ages. The first, consisting of the dramatization of Catholic liturgies and of which more documentation is retained, and the second, formed by pagan forms of spectacle such as the staging for city festivals, the court preparations of the jesters and the songs of the troubadours. Renaissance humanism was also a turning point for the Italian theatre. The recovery of the ancient texts, both comedies and tragedies, and texts referring to the art of the theatre such as Aristotle's Poetics, also gave a turning point to representational art, which re-enacted the Plautian characters and the heroes of Seneca's tragedies, but also building new texts in the vernacular. In the Renaissance period, Italy again reached the pinnacle of theatrical art in Europe. The Baroque theatre made its appearance at the beginning of the 17th century. It was born by filiation from the tragedy of the Renaissance. At the same time the Commedia dell'arte was born and its characters were spread throughout Europe. The Commedia dell'arte was, at first, an exclusively Italian phenomenon. Commedia dell'arte spread throughout Europe, but it underwent a clear decline in 18th century as the dramaturgy decreased and little attention was paid to the texts it offered, compared to other works from the rest of Europe. During the 19th century, the romantic drama was born. In the second half of the century, the romantic tragedy gave way to the Teatro verista. At the beginning of this century, the romantic melodrama replaced the Neapolitan and then Venetian Opera buffa. Important playwrights were born during the 20th century, laying the foundations for the modern Italian theatre.