The Italian Renaissance theatres Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza (Palladio, 1585) and Teatro all'antica at Sabbioneta (Scamozzi, 1590) -  present a clear blending of vernacular and high style. Each owes a great deal to the scaffold theatre as articulated by Serlio in his Treatise of Scenes (1545) but each also presents a very clear ‘idiosyncratic’ message. The interest in these theatres lies in the framing of the stage space. The development of permanent perspectival scenery in Vicenza and Sabbioneta is conceptually closely related to the development of two dimensional perspectival painting and concepts of the città ideale. The theatre at Sabbioneta, while demonstrating a strong sense of its context, represents a departure from classical idealism and the development of a new Italian architecture which acknowledges tradition while also making ideological statements which locate it within the project of the città ideale.

Reconstructions of these spaces have been undertaken from extant plans and surveys of the spaces.

The following contextual material is important to the interpretation of this reconstruction.