Nobilissime logge per la Real Corte

The great loggias that in theatres are called Royal, Imperial, Grand Ducal or Crown loggias, depending on the case, are present in almost all Italian halls built between the end of the eighteenth century and the constitution of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. They fulfil the role of places of representation of political power, thus completing their inherent hierarchical topography. This essay investigates the symbolic meanings attributed to those spaces, the uses to which they were put, and the transformations they possibly underwent, on the basis of archival studies of some great theatres, in particular those of Venice, Turin, Naples and Parma. How much and how are theatres used in the early nineteenth century as places of royal representation and do they fit into the post-revolutionary revival of monarchies? Starting with the case of Venice, where the symbolic value of the Imperial box becomes particularly evident during the republican phase of 1848, this contribution attempts to reread certain cultural policies developed in the restored Italian states, to then show that theatres tend to configure themselves, in the first half of the nineteenth century, as hybrid spaces between monarchy and market, between renewed dynastic valorization needs, impresarios’s production and spectacular objectives, and the needs and demands of the public.