The Greek Theater is near the entrance to Villa Adriana but little is left since for centuries it was a comfortable quarry of building materials. The inhabitants of Tivoli took advantage of it and the marbles disappeared. Recent excavations by the Pablo Olavide University of Seville (Spain) have brought to light many previously unknown structures.
The Theater was oval in shape i
n Francesco Contini's plan of 1668, because it was not excavated and full of water.
In the eighteenth century Giovan Battista Piranesi designed it more accurately because in the meantime it had been excavated by Count Giuseppe Fede, who had bought a large part of the Villa's land at the beginning of the century.
During his excavations
Count Fede found two beautiful herms depicting Tragedy and Comedy, which were restored by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, one of the most skilled restorers of the time. At that time the restorations were integrative and reconstructed all the missing parts: this is why the two sculptures are so perfect.
The Herm della Tragedy has a beautiful crown with vines and bunches of grapes
. The Herm of the Comedy, on the other hand, has an elaborate hairdo with ringlets that fall on the shoulders. Today they are in the Vatican Museums, in the Sala Rotonda of the Pio-Clementino Museum.
The Hermes were
found near the entrance to the Greek Theater together with some portasanta marble columns that have disappeared. The stage front of the Theater was certainly decorated with columns and niches, but all the marbles have been looted. Only the foundation remains which is covered by a barrel vault.
Since there was no rocky bank on which to lean the steps of the cavea, it was necessary to build a substructure, i.e. a curved cryptoporticus that still exists. Only a few steps of the stairs of the cavea remain, while the blocks on which the spectators sat have disappeared. The excavation brought to light other very large rooms which surrounded the actual theate.
‼️ Two wonderful sculptures.