The theatre was opened in 1770, and it was built inside the old Town Hall. The theatre was made of wood and it consists of three rows of boxes and fourty seats in the stalls. The building hosted many performances. However, the theatre went down because of the limited number of seats and the difficulty in renovating it. Therefore, in 1869, the architect Giuseppe Sabbatini was in charge of doing the project for a new theatre. In 1884, masonry work was finished, except for the north-west facade which was never completed. Decorations, furniture and paintings were finished in 1889. Two years later, on the inauguration day, the building was officially called Theatre dell’Aquila and the “Maria di Rohan” opera  by the composer Gaetano Donizetti was performed. The opera was played by the famous soprano Maria Tassinari and directed by Goffredo Sacconi.