The Hidden Theatres of the Marche

Description

How did a tiny, isolated, backward area of Italy come to have over 100 theatres? Many of them are architectural gems and still in working order today. What drove almost every small town or village to demand – and get – its own theatre? Award-winning architect Ian Arnott discovered a small region of great character and beauty, 100 miles by 50 miles, little known even to the rest of Italy, which, in the eighteenth century, with a population of less than a million, had 113 functioning theatres. This legacy was truly unique and, it seemed, largely unknown outside the Marche.