Staged in the mountains: the theaters of the Garfagnana and Mid Serchio Valley

The most famous amateur theater in the area is in Vetriano, in the municipality of Pescaglia, and was built in 1889 by repurposing an old barn. With its 71 square meters, 60 seats in the stalls and 20 on two tiers of balconies, it is accredited by the Guinness World Records Book as the world’s smallest theater. Today the little theater is a FAI-protected property and can be visited upon reservation: Little Theater of Vetriano.

As early as 1668, an academy called Accademia degli Indifferenti (Academy of the Indifferent) was formed in Barga, among representatives of the town's most prominent families, a name that was transformed a few years later into the Accademia dei Differenti (Academy of the Different). The purpose of the Academicians was to increase the passion for theater and culture in general. In 1689 a small theater was built, which a hundred years later was torn down and rebuilt and still bears the name Teatro dei Differenti (Theater of the Different).

The Accademia dei Provvidi (Academy of Provvidi), in 1790, initiated the construction of the Teatro Accademico (Academic Theater) in Bagni di Lucca, and the spa town, at the time among the most famous and popular in Europe, began to host both opera and prose performances of prime importance. Today it hosts many theater performances and the interesting review of Teatro Scuola, a project entirely dedicated to children.

Castelnuovo di Garfagnana certainly could not be left behind, and so it was that, thanks to a group of local prominent figures led by Count Giovanni Carli, on August 22, 1860, the Alfieri Theater was inaugurated, which, with its 510 seats, three tiers of 17 boxes plus the gallery, is the second largest theater in the province, after Lucca’s Teatro del Giglio.

On these last three theaters in the valley and on the newest one, the Bambi Theater in Coreglia Antelminelli, the Toscana Spettacolo Foundation organizes, in the winter months, nationwide theater seasons, whose calendars can be viewed at toscanaspettacolo.it.