Staging the Roman Theatre

There is a place in Sepino that encloses the sequences of history, shows the succession of experiences and expresses the beauty of the built and the reinvented. This place is the Roman theatre which, from the Middle Ages until the last century, has changed its appearance to host scenes of daily life and contemporary stories. A small rural hamlet consisting of houses, stables and a rustic courtyard was built on the structures of the architectural complex. In order to preserve these testimonies, from the very first restoration interventions it was decided to preserve the houses on the scaenae (stage) and in the upper part of the hemicycle of the cavea, since they constituted an architectural context of great charm in harmony with the oldest walls. Many of the housing units were in a state of decay, others were still used but the organic recovery of the buildings has made it possible to give new value to the spaces, now used to tell the story of the territory. To restore the original monumental entrances to the theatrical structure, it was decided to demolish the peasant house built inside the tetrapylum, while to bring out the other ancient components, the large central fill, where the common farmyard for chickens and pigs was, was removed, as it covered the proscenium, the orchestra and part of the cavea with stone seats. The Roman theatre of Sepino has thus become a harmonious complex of great charm, which represents the sequences of history in a single scenic experience through which we can admire the spectacle of time.