The Teatro Regio was inaugurated in 1829 with “Zaira”, the opera specially composed for the occasion by Vincenzo Bellini. Its construction, commissioned by the Duchess Maria Luigia, was entrusted to Nicola Bettoli and it took eight years. The theater turned out to be an imposing and proportionate building. Currently its maximum capacity is of 1.300 spectators. It has a neoclassical facade with decorations which represent Fame and Lira. The atrium leads to the elliptical auditorium (decorated in white and gold by Gerolamo Magnani in 1853), which is surrounded by four levels of balconies plus, at the last level, the loggia or the gods. The astrolampo, the great chandelier that handgs over the platea, decorated in gold bronze and made by the Lacarrière from Paris. To be reminded the curtain painted by Borghesi, which represents the Triumph of Pallas or Triumph of Wisdom and which is considered one of the most beautiful theater curtain in the world. Recently, in 1999, it has gone undergone restoration; thanks to this the curtain returned it to its original beauty. The opera portrays Maria Luigia (under the guise of Pallas or Minerva) seated on a throne.
The Teatro Regio conserves the historic acoustic chamber painted by Giuseppe Carmignani who represented the elements of the carving and stucco decoration of the hall balconies. The acoustic chamber is made up of hemp panels mounted on wooden frames of different shapes and sizes, fitted telescopically to serve the most different orchestral formations.