The facade of Teatro Alighieri (Alighieri Theatre) let you immediately understand that the building is a theatre since it presents - even to the most inexperienced eye - all the architectural features of the mid-nineteenth Century neoclassical theaters.

The building entrance is preceded by a covered atrium supported by four Ionic columns made of stone from Istria, which is accessed through a wide staircase. At the entrance sides there were originally two ramps to allow access to the carriages, now replaced by two flights of steps.

In the higher part of the façade, featruring three balconies and windows with a tympanum, there are four allegorical statues representing the muses of tragedy, song, dance and music. On the left of the entrance it is located the ticket office, once used as a trattoria.

Passing through the entrance of the theater, you get to the Greek cross plan hall, where you can admire a richly decorated ceiling. On the right there is the wardrobe where once there was the bar now located at the first floor and decorated with views of the city of Ravenna and Venice, as intended by the Venetian architects and designers of the theatre.

The hall anticipates the two staircases that lead inside the theatre, characterized by a horseshoe plan, split in the stalls, four tiers of boxes, the gallery, for a total of about 880 seats.

In the 1830s because of the decay of Teatro Comunitativo, the biggest of Ravenna in those years, the City Council decided for the construction of a new theatre in the area around Piazza of the Swiss (today Piazza Garibaldi) which once was very run-down. The project was entrusted to Gian Battista and Tommaso Meduna, the second one architect of Teatro La Fenice in Venice too, who presented the final project in 1840. In May 1952, the theater was inaugurated and dedicated to Dante Alighieri.

Teatro Alighieri, over the years, has been repeatedly renovated, suffered long disruptions of its activity, but from the 90s has increasingly assumed a central role in the cultural scene of the city, through concert seasons, opera, ballet and prose between autumn and spring, then becoming in summer one of the official venues of the Ravenna Festival.

On foot: 10 minutes from the railway station
By bus: many lines stop in front of the theatre
By car: the closest parking lot is in Largo Firenze