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Teatro Greco
The Greek Theatre
The Greek Theatre of Taormina is the second classical theatre in Sicily for its magnificence after that of Siracusa. It is built in Hellenistic period, through levelling the top of the hill.
It was enlarged and changed during Roman period. Recently have been made several works of repair. The building has been built overworking the natural structure of the ground, some steps of the cavea have been got from the rock.
A porticade with great pilasters rounded the top of the cavea towards the outside.
The ruins of the scene keep the bottom wall, and there are some niches and some marble columns.
The scene is adorned still now with the same colours: the red of the bricks, the white of the marble columns, the intense blu of the sky.
Behind the scene there are ruins of porticoes and on the sides the parascenes, intended for actors and stage furnitures. In the Roman period the theatre was used for performances of gladiators, the original orchestra was turned into an arena surrounded by a high podium.
To the scene has only remained the decorative function, the theatre in fact became an amphitheatre. The acoustics is still notable. Recently, the theatre has been seat of several manifestations. It has in fact housed the David di Donatelloprize, one of the most important manifestation of Italian cinema and international review of cinema Taormina e Arte.
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