Porto Rotondo, Open Air Theater

Porto Rotondo view of the amphitheater. Photo by Daniela Mascia, 2008, from Sardegna DL

Porto Rotondo is one of the most important settlements of the Costa Smeralda Consortium, founded in 1962, which has profoundly transformed a previously sparsely populated area of Gallura. The various settlements were built exclusively for tourism purposes through the design and implementation of a system defined and self-sufficient to meet the needs of the guests.
Inaugurated in 1995, the theater originated from an idea by the sculptor Mario Ceroli, created by the architects Gianfranco Fini and Marina Sotgiu.
It consists of a semicircular staircase in raw granite and a wooden stage with a fixed masonry backdrop, open to nature with arched “serlian” windows and lintels: references to ancient theaters are evident due to the presence of a “frons scenae” of the Roman tradition.
Derivations from classicism are also present on the outside through ornamental gables, arches, obelisks, designed with granite in contrast to the block stone of the wall. The entrances and sides of the stage are decorated with the unmistakable profiles of Ceroli, which also frame two groups of linear and freshly shaped columns, arranged on the edges of the stage.
The theater, with a capacity of 700 seats, hosts shows of various kinds, more numerous in conjunction with other sporting or cultural events on the Costa Smeralda.

History of studies
A review of studies can be found in the bibliography relating to the fact sheet in the volume of the “History of Art in Sardinia” on nineteenth-century architecture (2001).

Bibliography
F. Masala, Architettura dall'Unità d'Italia alla fine del '900. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, scheda 179.