Va in scena il laterizio. La ricostruzione del Teatro Galli di Rimini

Galli Theatre in Rimini was built in 1857 by the papal architect Luigi Poletti, upon the pre-existence of a seventeenth-century bakery. The theatre was partially destroyed during World War II, but in the aftermath the Minister of Public Works established that it was not a priority, hindering the reconstruction process. At first the citizens quietly accepted this decision because the theatre represented the bourgeois from which they wanted to distance themselves, but in recent times the building has assumed a different meaning in the construction of the new identity of the city. For this reason a group of intellectuals, supported by several citizens, has asked for a reconstruction “as it was, where it was”. Despite a design contest won by a contemporary project and the hypocrisy of the precept, the Public Administration has however decided to follow and accomplish the popular will and to develop a project aimed at this purpose. The analysis of the brick masonries makes possible to retrace the complex phases of the theatre, starting form the pre-existence, till the last intervention. Here the structural idea is completely inverted: the bricks become a cladding applied on a reinforced concrete frame, innovative technologies and materials are diffusely used. The result is a very interesting high performance XXI-century building, but those who were hoping to revive the ancient theatre will discover how – inevitably – this will be only its representation.