Civic Theater

This essentially neoclassical building was erected a century after the great Baroque building adventure in Noto. Gigantic pilasters extend through the two stories, enlivened with relief details suggesting the function of the theater. The relief depicts musical instruments as well as a head of Shakespeare (?) and the face of a monkey, perhaps suggesting "aping" or mimickry, a characteristic of the theater. The crowning sculpture depicts a female personification of music (holding a lute) with the masks of comedy and tragedy at her feet on one side and an heraldic symbol on the other (crowned eagle with escutcheon).
The front facade and the central roof sculpture
		The frieze with musical symbols

Works Consulted or Quoted:
The Baroque Art in Val di Noto [official guidebook] Palermo, n.d.
Grady, Ellen. Sicily [Blue Guide]. New York: Norton, 2006.

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