Designed in 1925 by the engineer Orazio Santalucia, the Kursaal became a theatre on November 5, 1927 and, later on, also a cinema hall. Teatro Kursaal is immediately recognizable for its late-Art Nouveau decorations and for its large openings on the first floor, decorated with high reliefs depicting theatrical figures. In 1989 the first restoration project was entrusted to the architect Paolo Portoghesi. Two years ago, the Apulia Region, owner of the theatre, started a second and radical restoration, bringing the Kursaal complex back to its original splendor, with the addition of an extraordinary avant-garde technological equipment functional to theatrical, musical and cinematographic activities.
