Vigilanti Theatre once the Carmine Church

Once an important gathering place, the Vigilante Theatre represents an identity element of the city of Portoferraio due to its historical-architectural and cultural significance.

The Vigilante Theatre has undergone various transformations over time to reach its current configuration: a horseshoe-shaped auditorium from which four levels of boxes and a gallery rise. The total capacity is 225 seats.

From the ancient church, the majesty, the side columns, and the apse remain, which is completely embedded under the stage. The Napoleonic era preserved the curtain, painted by Vincenzo Antonio Revelli: a bucolic representation where Napoleon appears as Apollo, the god of arts.

The History

The construction of the structure was commissioned by the then Governor of Portoferraio, Orazio Borbone, Marquis of Sorbello, who in the first half of the 17th century had an octagonal-shaped chapel built to house his tomb. In 1714, the new Governor of Portoferraio, Girolamo Piccolini, had the chapel demolished and began work on a new church, which was completed in 1718. With a Greek-cross floor plan, the Church of Carmine was the richest church in Portoferraio. In the early 1800s, it was desacralized, stripped of its valuable furnishings, and repurposed for military use, becoming a military warehouse.

In 1814, when Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on Elba, he proposed the creation of a small theatre inside the building for performances and parties. The project was entrusted to architect Bargigli, who designed a horseshoe-shaped auditorium with 65 boxes, divided into 4 levels, topped by a gallery, with 16 first-class boxes. Work began in July 1814.

The representatives of the most important families in the city: the Lapi, Balbiani, Bigeschi, Vantini Lambardi Foresi, and others, formed the Academy of the Fortunate to manage the structure, but soon realized that economic resources were insufficient to continue the work. They decided to auction the theatre boxes, giving preemption rights to the members of the academy and the city authorities. This led to great disputes among the "respectable" families of Elban society, who wanted to purchase the most expensive boxes to demonstrate the greater importance of their family name.

In August 1814, Vincenzo Antonio Revelli, a Piedmontese painter called by Napoleon to decorate his residences at San Martino and Villa dei Mulini, was tasked with painting the valuable curtain, while decorations and stuccoes were entrusted to the Livorno artist Compormi.

The theatre opened on January 24, 1815, with a grand reception attended by Napoleon’s mother, Lucrezia Ramolino, and his sister Paolina.

Directed by the Academy of the Fortunate, the theatre continued hosting performances even after Napoleon's departure. In 1819, the Academy changed its name to the "Academy of the Vigilantes", with the heraldic emblem represented by a rooster on a red background. The motto was changed (from "to us the fate!") to "Ad quod expedit advigilant", meaning "They vigilantly attend to what is useful".

The theatre continued to host performances, parties, and masquerades until the early 1900s when, due to the great economic difficulties affecting Elba (and all of Europe), it was abandoned.

In 1922, the theatre, which was in poor condition, underwent a restoration intervention completed on April 4, 1923, which likely modified the stuccoes and decorations. In the 1930s, it reopened to host parties and dances until being transformed, in the postwar period, into a cinema. In 1952, with the opening of the more modern and spacious Astra cinema, it was closed and abandoned.

In 1974, the theatre was purchased by the Municipality of Portoferraio, and in 1979, restoration and refurbishment works began on the building, with significant interventions made in reinforced concrete on the load-bearing structures of the monument, severely deteriorated due to the prolonged abandonment of the theatre, which were completed in 1997.

In 2015, the Municipality of Portoferraio decided to dedicate the theatre to Renato Cioni, the famous Elban tenor, nicknamed "The Voice of Elba", who passed away the previous year. Born into a family of fishermen, Renato Cioni took his first steps in singing at religious weddings in the Portoferraio Cathedral. He later studied music at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, beginning his rise in the world of opera, which led him to success on the world's most important stages with great opera voices such as Maria Callas, Renata Scotto, Tito Gobbi.

In 2023, a new restoration, revitalization, and energy efficiency intervention was carried out. This particularly significant intervention not only restored the building to its original splendor, but also led to the discovery of a series of murals from the probable Napoleonic period, inside the theatre’s boxes.

The restoration also extended to the covering rose window, which can now be admired in its original brilliance, and allowed the golden moldings of the various box levels to be revealed. Other significant interventions include the reopening of the original connection between the stage and the auditorium, the re-plastering, and the painting of both the interior and facades.

The Theatre and Its History

In 2025, the permanent exhibition "The Theatre and Its History" was inaugurated in the outdoor spaces of the theatre's Loggione: an informative path made up of fifteen panels that tell the evolution of the building, intertwining it with the development of the city of Portoferraio.

The exhibition offers a rich series of insights, often little known, about local history and the building itself. Thanks to the presence of numerous QR codes, it is possible to explore multimedia content that helps to recognize traces of the theatre’s past in its architectural structure.

A stylized mouse, a curious and friendly guide, accompanies younger visitors in reading the panels, explaining the main concepts in a simple way. Other QR codes link to historical videos from the archives of RAI and Istituto Luce, offering additional insights and testimonies.

The itinerary opens and closes with two short films: the first features architect Italo Balestrini, author of the first restoration intervention of the theatre; the second is a tribute to the Elban tenor Renato Cioni, with a touching remembrance from his daughter Cristina, who tells of the deep bond with her father.

The exhibition was curated by Cooperativa Alké Servizi Culturali, inspired by the writings of Giuliano Giuliani, Fortunato Colella, and documents from public and private historical archives, both from Elba and Florence.

Photo Cosimo de' Medici