"The Theatre of Treviso is the most lovely and charming example of its kind that anyone could ever imagine. The theatre's grace is born of the simplicity of its design, the fortunate blend of colours, the good taste and economy of the ornaments which ring the ceiling. The entire complex boasts such freshness and elegance that it would be difficult to find words to define it . . . . "  

 With these words, in an article which appeared in the Gazetta di Venezia in May 1836, the journalist Tommaso Locatelli (known as "not at all easy to please" and one of the most authoritative and highly-esteemed critics of the 19th century) sought to describe the Theatre of Treviso.  
 The building was originally known as the Teatro d'Onigo, inasmuch as it was erected through the efforts of Count Fiorino d'Onigo in 1692. In 1763, the Theatre underwent its first renovation and enlargement as part of a project by Antonio Galli Bibbiena and the architect Giovanni Miazzi. The Teatro d'Onigo eventually became one of the most famous theatres in Italy by offering presentations of every sort imaginable: from concerts to operas, from carnival balls to the sumptuous festivities arranged for Napoleon's marriage to the three evenings organised in honour of Paganini to the receptions for the Emperors Ferdinand and Francis I and the Viceroy Archduke Ranieri.  
 A flash fire in 1836 destroyed much of the theatre's wooden framework. As indicated by Semenzi, the repair work was carried out with extreme care: 

"The building was restored in 1846 and, thanks to the efforts of that excellent craftsman Negri, was richly decorated with gilded and greatly varied plaster additions, perfect for the theatre they adorn".  

 In 1844, the Società dei Palchettisti (Company of Box-Holders) was formed and the Theatre took on the title Sociale (indicating a corporation). Then another large fire completely razed the theatre in 1868; a reporter of the time tells us that that fire was caused not by gas lamps but by the theatre's custodian, a man named Triaca who used the stage for his hobby as an amateur maker of fireworks. After just one year, however, the theatre was rebuilt as we see it today. The rebuilding project was entrusted to Andrea Scala, an architect from Udine and the well-known designer of such theatres as the Manzoni in Milan and the Loggie in Florence, as well as theatres in Udine, Trieste, Gorizia, Vigevano, Pisa and elsewhere. The picturesque decorations -- in an excellent state of preservation -- were the work of professors Stella of Trieste and Andreotti of Florence, while the decorations in plaster were created by the sculptor Fausto Asteo of Vittorio Veneto. The front portions of the boxes and the proscenium were embellished with a rococo design studded with gilt Murano pearls.  
 The inauguration of the new and newly-named Teatro di Società (Corporate Theatre) took place in October 1869 with a production of Gounod's Faust as part of the Season of St. Martin. This is how the abbot Luigi Bailo described the new theatre to one of his friends:  

"When a place which is the repository of our memories is destroyed, we are bitter about the loss that strips from our recall the true source of the purest of our pleasures and perhaps the most endearing of those pleasures: those associated with memory. And when an untoward event destroyed the Theatre last year, many of us felt deep sorrow, so much so that we feared the financial problems facing the city might delay or even negate the rebirth of this small La Fenice, a theatre open to the vacationing public as well. The Theatre of Treviso attracted a large number of people who frequented La Fenice in  Venice, so it always boasted a public that was highly cultured, intelligent and fashionable, people who attended the most beautiful and maybe even most spectacular operas, works presented with great taste and blessed by the performance  of the  best voices in the land . . . "  

Between 1869 and 1930, the Teatro Sociale enjoyed a number of especially exciting moments. It was chosen as the site of the Veneto regional exhibition and for the programmes celebrating the 25th anniversary of the proclaiming of Rome as the capital of Italy. During the autumn 1890 season, the celebrated French soprano Emma Calvè made her debut and sang twelve performances in the role of Ophelia in Thomas' opera version of Hamlet. In 1894, the young but already well-known Toscanini directed Franchetti's Christopher Columbus and Falstaff, and the year following Wagner's Tannhauser and Catalani's Lorelei. Another legendary moment arrived in 1900 when Enrico Caruso sang the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini's La Tosca. But many other renowned singers have graced the stage of the Theatre of Treviso: Hipolito Lazaro (Gioconda in 1911, the year in which The Girl of the Golden West was presented under the direction of Serafin and featuring Carmen Melis and Viglione-Borghese), Elvira de Hidalgo (La Figlia del Reggimento, 1915), Toti Dal Monte (Lodoletta in 1920, The Barber of Seville in 1922, Sleeping Beauty in 1931, La Traviata in 1943, Madame Butterfly in 1945), and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Francesco Merli (Andrea Chénier in 1925). In addition to Toscanini, the theatre has seen performances by such famed orchestra conductors as Usiglio, Mugnone, Mascagni, Serafin and Zandonai.  
In 1945, after Treviso had been almost completed levelled by the war, the Common Council decided to sell the theatre -- now known as the Teatro Comunale  (Civic Theatre) -- to private citizens. The new owners retained possession of the theatre for five years, until such time as the Courts of Treviso declared that sale improper and the Common Council once again became owner of the building. In the meantime, the musical life of the theatre had continued on a regular basis, alternating the traditional autumn and spring music seasons during which the operas presented featured such famed artists as Mafalda Favero, Rosa Raisa, Licia Albanese, Tito Gobbi, Maria Caniglia, Mercedes Capsir, Aureliano Pertile, Lina Pagliughi, Mario Del Monaco, Iris Adami Corradetti, Gianna Pederzini, Cesare Valletti, Gianni Raimondi, Virginia Zeani, Magda Olivero, Margherita Carosio, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Nicola Rossi Lemeni and Ferruccio Tagliavini. In more recent times, the artists appearing at the theatre have included Piero Cappuccilli, Katia Ricciarelli, Renato Bruson and Leyla Gencer. And all this without even mentioning the honour roll of the winners of the annual "Toti Dal Monte" International Competition, established in 1969 and the springboard for such singers as Ghena Dimitrova, Marilla Devia, Alida Ferrarini, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Simone Alaimo, Fiamma Izzo D'Amico and Natale De Carolis, to name just a few.  
As of 1968, the Teatro Comunale di Treviso has been listed as one of the 24 Italian theatres considered by law to be national landmarks. The theatre has thus gained a position of vast importance within the national and international cultural geography, a position enforced by the recent "La Bottega" initiative created and directed by Peter Maag. This initiative has given birth to highly-rated musical seasons (including, for example, the complete works of Puccini presented in Treviso in 1994, the only theatre in the world to have dared such an undertaking), seasons that have demonstrated the great distance existing between local efforts and the routine and predictability of other theatres with capabilities and structures much greater than those available to the Theatre of Treviso.