Caio Melisso Theater;;The Teatro Caio Melisso is in the historical center of Spoleto;in the suggestive scenery of Piazza del Duomo;on the artificial terracing at the foot of Colle Sant’Elia.;The current Theater descends from the oldest theater in Spoleto;the Teatro Nobile;which has undergone several transformations.The construction work started in 1657;when the Accademia degli Ottusi succeeded in obtaining a space in an extremely interesting urban location;between the Opera del Duomo and the Church of Santa Maria della Manna d’Oro.;Finely decorated;it contains interesting 19th century paintings executed by the Perugian artist Domenico Bruschi.;Its unusual location;in Piazza del Duomo;makes the visit more suggestive.;The current features of the Theater are the result of the design of Giovanni Montiroli;who—between 1877-1880—modified the horseshoe-shaped curve of the audience hall to improve the vision of the stage for the public;and built the three orders of boxes;tearing down the old wooden structures.;The Perugian painter Domenico Bruschi decorated the ceiling;featuring Apollo and The Nine Muses;alternated with floral decorations in the lunettes;overlooked by monochromatic putti;while he painted The Apotheosis of Gaius Melissus on the stage curtain.;The Theater is entitled to Gaius Melissus—freedman friend of Gaius Maecenas—from Spoleto;who was the trusted librarian of the Emperor Augustus;writer;playwright and grammarian.After a long period of abandonment;the Theater was restored in 1958;on the occasion of the first edition of the Festival dei Due Mondi—The Festival of the Two Worlds—with a complete revision of all its fundamental structures.;The interest for any form of theater has always been very alive in Spoleto to the point that;in the 17th century;it produced a number of playwrights;among them Campello;Castelli;Lauri;Luparini and Vittori;not counting Giovanni Gherardi;the progenitor of one of the most famous genealogies of Harlequin comedians and comics of the Commedia dell’Arte.;In 1817;Gioacchino Rossini performed the drama L’Italiana in Algeri;playing the double bass;barely having the time to admire its 18th century decorations;which were partly destroyed and partly stolen soon after;in 1819;by some unknown “Florentines”.