The Greek Theatre (Teatro Greco)

The site that fascinated me the most in our Sicily tour with Davide was the Greek Theatre. It is the second largest Greek theatre in the ancient world – enough space to fit a whopping 33,000 people. Check out the panorama photo. We’re sitting in the Theatre listening to Davide enlighten us with his immense wealth of knowledge.

Fullscreen the panorama for a truly immersive experience ;)

The theatre was fully excavated from rock, so it was preserved relatively well, despite having been built over two thousand years ago. The main events hosted at the theatre were religious theatrical events. However, after the Romans took over, they destroyed the building for the back stage and converted the theatre for musical performances. The theatre used to be part of a sanctuary for Apollo. Since attendance was free, and all men, women and children were invited, we can imagine watching performances at the theatre was a huge and popular event amongst the population of Sicily.

It surprised me to find out that theatre is still in operation till this very day! Even more impressive, in the 60s and 70s, the performances were carried out as realistic as possible – they were in Greek, actors and actresses were dressed in original costumes, and they performed without microphones. Although now they use microphones and perform in Italian,  it’s still a very important cultural event – not only for Sicily, but for the entire of Italy. So important that the very best Italian actors and actresses fight for a role in these tragedies and comedies performed in the modern day.