The idea of building a “theater of society” in Palmanova came up in 1841 with a group of bourgeoisie led by the lawyers Antonio Simoni and Antonio Monte Rumici. Between 1841 and 1843, the project was given to the architect Giovan Battista Bassi, who built the neoclassical façade with a giant series of Doric columns.

During the Risorgimento, the theater assumed a civic function thanks to the actor Gustavo Modena, Mazzini’s collaborator, who arrived in Palmanova with his theater company and led the anti-Austrian insurrection in 1848, using the Theater as headquarters.

The building, which escaped destruction during the First World War, was renovated and reopened to the public in 2000.