• The damage caused by the fire that struck the Teatro Sannazaro in Naples amounts to around 60–70 million euros
• In 1996, flames also destroyed the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, which reopened seven years later
• For a theatre, fragmented governance is a major obstacle to reconstruction

The dome was burning. In the night of Tuesday 17 February, a fire broke out at the historic Teatro Sannazaro in Naples. Twenty-two apartments were evacuated and damage could amount to around 60–70 million euros. The cause of the fire remains unknown, and the Naples public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation for culpable arson against persons unknown. Built in the heart of Via Chiaia, the Teatro Sannazaro was inaugurated in 1847 and welcomed great figures of the stage, from Eleonora Duse to Luisa Conte. Losing a theatre — that is, a space of culture — is an immense civic bereavement. We saw this during Covid, when the closure of cinemas and theatres had reduced opportunities for shared experience and dialogue. But, more broadly, there are countless reasons that tell us the role of cultural spaces is central to a community. A theatre acts as a living archive, enhances the liveability of entire streets, and creates a landmark on the city's mental map. It is no coincidence that in some cities, such as Bologna, since 2022 there has been a website telling you where all the theatres in the area are.

But losing a theatre also means losing economic revenue. We are talking about ticket sales, refreshment points, and also the services that orbit around them: taxis, dinners, accommodation, car parks. In Italy, in 2024 the cultural supply chain generated (including these added values) 296.9 billion euros. In 2023, at least one in five Italians (19.8%, compared to 12% in 2022) went to the theatre, for a total of twenty-six million tickets sold.

The long tradition of theatre fires and beyond

This is not the first fire to strike a theatre or a symbolic cultural landmark. In recent history, the first was the one that reduced the Globe Theatre in London to rubble in 1613 during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII. The beginning of a long series: the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1815, the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona in 1861 and again in 1994, the Iroquois Theater in Chicago in 1903, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari in 1991. Another glorious victim was the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, which in 1996 was destroyed by arson. Its reconstruction took seven years and adopted the same motto ("as it was, where it was") that had been used for the campanile of San Marco after its collapse. For the restoration, a reconstructive-conservative approach was chosen, with the aim of remaining as faithful as possible to the original, avoiding the fetishism of ruins and amputated statues.
More recent still is the rebirth of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which went up in flames in 2019 due to an electrical short circuit. The fire caused the collapse of the spire and two thirds of the roof. But the collective response was remarkable: 846 million euros donated within the first 48 hours of the fire and a mobilisation of craftspeople and specialists to contribute to the reconstruction.

What a theatre needs in order to be reborn

When a city loses a theatre, several things can happen. After the fire at the Teatro Sannazaro in Naples, online fundraising campaigns are now multiplying, while many artists say they are ready to contribute to the theatre's second life. What is needed is to untangle one key knot: who will pay?
In the past, many institutions (the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, for example) have seen reconstruction delayed, particularly due to fragmented governance. This has happened because theatres and cultural venues are often under mixed ownership, in which private and public actors coexist. Each party brings different interests, timescales and logics, inevitably prolonging the reconstruction process.
Another issue is that the Italian state provides annual financial contributions to what happens inside theatres — that is, performances — but not to the infrastructure itself. In the specific case of the Teatro Sannazaro in Naples, ownership is private, but political and civic will remains indispensable in order to drive forward a convincing redevelopment project. Moreover, financial support alone is not enough. When a theatre dies, time passes and the community of technicians, artists and audiences tends to fragment. The great challenge lies in keeping it alive, preserving it, or, one day, rebuilding it.