Built at the end of the 17th century, the former church of St. Theresa, now the Municipal Auditorium, formed with the adjoining building, current home of the State High School of Art, the professed house of the Society of Jesus. Abandoned by the religious a first time in 1774, then again in 1848, over time, the church has known different destinations: it was home for several decades to the State Archives, was used as an indoor gymnasium, then used for the needs of the adjoining public school. In the 1930s and until 1943, when it was severely damaged by bombing, it was used as a meeting place for fascist organizations. After the war the building served as an auditorium for concerts, then, after renovations in the 1980s, as a venue for events and performances. The interior, which houses the hall for performances with technical services, has now been profoundly transformed and it is no longer possible to read the original form, a Latin cross with a single nave and a dome at the crossing, while the elevation on Dettori Square with its “Doric order with Baroque pilasters,” as Canon Spano described it, has remained practically unchanged.
