Teatro Farnese

However due to health problems, Cosimo II de' Medici cancelled the proposed trip to Milan and therefore the theatre could only be inaugurated 10 years later in 1628 for the marriage between Margherita de' Medici and the Duke Odoardo.  For the occasion the theatre hosted the "Mercurio e Marte" (Mercury and Mars) by Claudio Achillini and music by Claudio Monteverdi. The climax of the spectacle came with a extraordinary "naumachia" (naval battle) for which they flooded the platea of the theatre via a number of pumps located underneath the stage. The theatre also featured a balcony for the Dukes, perhaps the the invention of what would become common place in the greatest theatres around the world: the Royal Booth.