Teatro Biondo - Palermo

The Teatro Biondo Stabile is a theater building in neoclassical and art nouveau style built in 1902.

The building is quite large with a linear and symmetrical facade spread over two floors. In front of the main entrance is a large atrium with marble columns , topped by a triangular pediment. Various masks, fences and vegetable ornaments decorate the facade.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the most important halls in Palermo were the Teatro Santa Cecilia, the Teatro Bellini and the Teatro Garibaldi. Three institutions were built, each with a different spectacle in mind. The Teatro Massimo for opera, the Teatro Politeama for popular concerts and spectacles, and the Biondo for dramatic performances. The Biondo brothers, Andrea, Eugenio and Luigi, were wealthy entrepreneurs and lawyers and owned a prominent publishing house in Palermo. Andrea, the lawyer, commissioned the design to engineer Nicolò Mineo, who worked with Giacomo Nicolai and Antonio Lo Bianco. From June 1902, construction took 16 months.

The interior is richly decorated with polychrome marble: yellow from Segesta, pink from Castellammare and white from Carrara with fresco and stucco decorations.

In the late 1920s, the financial crisis led the Biondo family to use the theater for films . The theater remained owned by the Biondo family until the 1980s, when a larger group, including the provincial and municipal governments, established joint ownership. It still remains an active home for dramatic performances.

Willem Vandenameele