Ravenna Festival

The Teatro Rasi stands on the structures of the old monastic church of Santa Chiara, which was linked to the no longer extant convent of the Franciscan Poor Clares (where the “Garibaldi” Old Folks’ Home is situated today). The building, which replaced the old monasterium S. Stephani in fundamento, located in the same region (guayta) of San Salvatore, was built no later than the second half of the 13th century on the initiative of Chiara da Polenta (1247-1292), an outstanding member of the illustrious Ravenna family. Her whole life was dedicated to spreading the female Franciscan movement in the area.

The exterior of the single-nave building is, in spite of subsequent modifications, still visible in its essential lines, especially at the back which is enlivened by a frieze of drop arches beneath a cross set on a recycled fragment of 6th century fencing pillar. Inside there are fragments of brickwork wall partitions still visible as well as the whole square plan presbytery area with narrow windows on the three walls and an intersecting vault ceiling which today is incorporated in the stage. In the intrados of the windows and the ribs of the vault there are traces of the precious decoration by Pietro da Rimini (third decade of the 14th century) which cover the entire presbytery area with scenes from the New Testament (Crucifixion, Annunciation, Nativity), figures of saints along the walls and Evangelists and Doctors of the Church in the vaulting cells. The surviving frescoes, removed between the 50’s and 70’s and recently restored, can now be seen in the refectory of the National Museum.

The convent survived until 1805 when the Poor Clares were moved to the convent of Corpus Domini. The church, which had just been redone (1794) to Guglielmo Zumaglini’s design, was deconsecrated and, after a brief period of use as the headquarters of count Pietro Cappi’s theatre company (until 1811) it was given to the Santa Maria delle Croci hospital in 1823 and later (1847-1856) used for horse riding shows. Its transformation into an actual theatre dates to the last decade of the century, on the initiative of the local Accademia Filodrammatica (non-professional acting company) which had no headquarters at the time. Having separated the frescoed presbytery zone with a wall, the architect Cesare Bezzi turned the nave into stalls for 220 spectators to which 90 were added in a wrought iron gallery, not very deep but extended with longitudinal wings. Inauguration of the new amateurs’ theatre took place on 8th May 1892 with Bisson’s play The Deputy of Bombignac and a monologue written by the celebrated Ravenna actor Luigi Rasi for whom the theatre would be named in 1919. The activities of the theatre, essentially limited to plays, operetta and chamber music, chiefly involving local artistes, continued with brief interruptions until 1959 when the building, which had already been minimally restored and improved, underwent radical rebuilding to architect Sergio Agostini’s design. This led to the creation of a new gallery and extension of the stage to the former presbytery space. In this form the new Teatro Rasi was inaugurated in 1978. Since 1980 it has been the headquarters of Ravenna Teatro.