Teatro comunale Niccolò Piccinni is the oldest theatre in Bari. It opened on May 30, 1854, with a staging of Poliuto by Gaetano Donizetti. For decades it hosted the most important Italian and foreign theatre companies. After the fire that destroyed the Teatro Petruzzelli in 1991, it was for almost twenty years the most important theatre in the city in terms of capacity and tradition. Piccinni is, by size, the fourth Italian style theatre in Apulia. After a long work of restoration and with state-of-the-art safety facilities, the theatre was returned to the city in 2019. Since 2020 Teatro Piccinni is one of the venues of Bif&st activities.
