The Oscuri Theater 

Academies in Italy were born mainly in the XVII and XVIII centuries, the cultural movement was particularly fruitful in Tuscany.

In Torrita, in June 1763 the Accademia degli Oscuri was established, whose symbol will be a lantern, and whose motto will be Ab umbra lumen. In order to implement its educational program, in 1776 the Academy obtained a space on the ground floor of the Town Hall. It was a simple salon where concerts, performances, and comedies were held.

During the XIX century it became a real theatre, based on the project of engineer Mario Chietti. In 1866 the theatre took its final form, an ovate plant with twenty-three stages divided into two orders, and in 1904 the pictorial decorations were entirely renewed by the painters Sallustio and Oreste Tarugi, from Montepulciano. In the years between the two wars, the theatre was first used as a cinema, and later used as the seat of the local section of the PNF, then in 1955 it was acquired by the Municipality that kept its name in memory of the eighteenth-century academy.

Restored completely between 1982-86, the theatre returned to host exhibitions, shows and concerts.

The last renovation dates back to 2017. At the entrance of the theatre, a marble bust recalls the famous lyrical singer native of Torrita, Giulio Neri. Since 2005, the theatre hosts the International Competition of Opera Singing in honor of the famous bass fellow, an annual event of an international significance, which attracts promising youngsters of the opera world in Torrita di Siena.