The Farnese Theatre, located on the first floor of the Palazzo della Pilotta, was built in the ancient "Sala d’arme" of the court between 1617 and 1618, designed by the Ferrara architect Giovan Battista Aleotti, known as l’Argenta. Built with materials typical of ephemeral devices, such as wood and stucco painted to simulate marble and precious metals, the theatre was built at the behest of the Duke of Parma and Piacenza Ranuccio I Farnese (1593-1622), who wanted to celebrate with pomp the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de’ Medici’s stop in Parma on his way to Milan to conclude a marriage agreement between the two families.
After Cosimo’s trip, the inauguration took place only in 1628, for the wedding between Margherita de’ Medici and Duke Odoardo, with the opera tournament "Mercury and Mars" (text by Claudio Achillini and music by Claudio Monteverdi) culminating in a spectacular naumachia. Due to the complexity of the stage settings and their high cost, the theatre was used only nine times, for ducal weddings or important state visits. Almost completely destroyed by an Allied aerial bombardment in May 1944, the theatre, rebuilt from 1956 according to the original design, has been the scenographic access to the museum’s exhibition spaces since 1986.
