Filodrammatici Theater Piacenza

The building in Via Santa Franca was assigned in 1908 to Compagnia Filodrammatica Piacentina - association founded in 1825 and recognized by official decree from Mary-Louise of Austria - was built in the sixteenth century and played for centuries a very different functions.

Its origin dates back in 1549 when the Cistercian nuns of Santa Franca began the construction of a church at the crossroads between Via Solferino and Via San Siro (the nowaday Via Santa Franca), where they could transport the body of their patron. The church was a basilica, with a single nave covered by a barrel vault. Beside the church was built the convent for nuns in the current transformation of the Conservatory and dedicated to the musician Giuseppe Nicolini from Piacenza.
Following the abolition of the monastery ordered by Napoleon, the building - including the church and monastery - came under the aegis of the land, until Marie Louise of Austria granted it to the City of Piacenza, which destined it for military use: Guard National Fire and Austrian Army Corps of Engineers lived in the complex. It was later used as a seat of a school of music first and then a printing facility.

It Was in the early years of the 20th centutry that the former church of Santa Franca was converted into a theater, with the inclusion of a porch and a large auditorium with stage. The facade, in Liberty style, is the work of engineer Gazzola.
The Theater of Filodrammatici, opened in 1908, remained active until the 80s, when the roof began to crack and lose rubble, necessitating a long and forced closure for restoration work, which ended in September 2000. Currently, the theater can accommodate just less than 300 spectators.