Le finiture delle facciate del Teatro Petruzzelli a Bari: i materiali e i rifacimenti

The Petruzzelli Theatre in Bari is an important example of a nineteenth century "Politeama" (i.e. a venue intended for various forms of live entertainment) which was inaugurated in 1903. After the fire of 1991, a restoration plan was drawn up for the building which included a study of the plasters and other finishes. Mineralogical-petrographic analyses (observations on thin sections, XRD analyses), chemical analyses (ESEM-EDS), and FT-IR and micro-Raman analyses carried out on samples of the finishes on the façades of the theatre have provided information on the constituent materials, as well as on the re-touches carried out over time. The data obtained in the laboratory, together with archive photos, have made it possible to make hypotheses regarding the iconographic history of the façades of the theatre, but the lack of archive material relating to repair jobs carried out on the building since its inauguration mean that it is not possible to date these operations with any certainty.