Palermo - Teatro Massimo

Returning to Via Maqueda we find ourselves in the Piazza Giuseppe Verdi, where Via Maqueda enters Via Ruggero Settimo, with its taxi-stands and post office. On the left side of the square Giovanni Battista Basile and his son Ernesto built the 3,200-seat theater between 1875 and 1897. It was officially opened on 16th May 1897 with a performance of Verdi's "Falstaff", and thereafter became one of Sicily's major opera houses. Unfortunately the theater has been closed since 1974, but is undergoing renovation and should now be open again.

The statue of Lyra is by Mario Rutelli (1850-1931).