The system of Italian-style condominio theatres of the 18th and 19th centuries in Central Italy

From the mid-18th century a new kind of theatre appeared in the small and medium-sized towns of Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Umbria, then part of the Papal States. Condominio means co-ownership: municipalities and wealthy citizens formed theatre partnerships, shared the costs and owned the boxes between them. Because the financiers took part in the design, the theatres developed standardised tiers of boxes, clear sightlines and separate circulation.

The Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi shows how it worked. A request to build was put to the city in 1790, the city agreed on condition that it kept two boxes for itself, and the house opened for the Carnival of 1798; all 100 boxes in its four tiers were sold to wealthy subscribers, and the heirs' theatre society kept it going until the city bought it in March 1929. The Teatro Ventidio Basso in Ascoli Piceno was begun in 1840, stopped when the money ran out, and opened in 1846 with funds from an engineer and a merchant.

Set in the centres of their towns, the theatres became places where the rising middle class met and public opinion took shape. In 2026 ten of them, including the Teatro Lauro Rossi in Macerata, the Teatro dell'Aquila in Fermo and the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti in Spoleto, were inscribed on the World Heritage List; eight of the eighteen theatres nominated were left out.