The
Teatro della Pergola is a historic opera house in
Florence,
Italy. It is located in the centre of the city on the Via della Pergola, from which the theatre takes its name. It was built in 1656 under the patronage of Cardinal
Gian Carlo de' Medici to designs by the architect
Ferdinando Tacca, son of the sculptor
Pietro Tacca; its inaugural production was the
opera buffa,
Il potestà di Colognole by
Jacopo Melani. The opera house, the first to be built with superposed tiers of boxes rather than raked semi-circular seating in the Roman fashion, is considered to be the oldest in Italy, having occupied the same site for more than 350 years.