The Teatro Regio Ducale (“Royal Ducal Theater”), which was a wing of the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), served as Milan’s opera house from 1717 until 1776, when it burned down after a carnival gala on the last Saturday of the carnival on 25th February 1776.
At that time, a group of ninety wealthy Milanese who owned private boxes in the theater asked Archduke Ferdinand of Austria for a new theater and a temporary theater to be used while the new one was being built.
The author of the design of both theaters was Guiseppe Pierimarini, an Italian architect, and a representative of classicism. His project, approved by Empress Maria Theresa, was completed within two years (1776-1778). Princess Maria Theresa of Austria was a great advocate of the construction of the new theater, especially since she felt sentimental about the burnt Teatro Regio Ducale. An opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was staged at this theater in 1771 to celebrate the wedding of her third son.
