The Theatre "La Fenice" is the main lyric theatre in Venice. Destroyed completely from a fire on 29 January 1996, it has been rebuilt - in the style of the previous one - in approximately eight years; the new theatre has opened on 14 December 2003 with a concert directed by Riccardo Muti, that started the celebrations for a week.
In the exile years, the performances took place at Palafenice, one temporary structure purposely created at Tronchetto.
Already seat of one important opera festival and the international Festival of contemporary music, the theatre "La Fenice" was inaugurated in 1792 with the work of Giovanni Paisiello, "The games of Agrigento". Built with extreme rapidity, in spite of ceaseless controversies on the plan, it was opened on 16 May 1792.
On 13 December 1836 it was destroyed from fire and reconstructed identical to the original one. In the course of the 19th century it has been center of the début performances of future famous operas written by composers like Gioachino Rossini (Tancredi, 1813), Vincenzo Bellini (Beatrice di Tenda, 1832) and Giuseppe Verdi (Rigoletto, 1851). Just a work destined to success of the Parmesan composer, the Traviata, was hissed at the début at Fenice. In 1937 the theatre was restored on Eugenio Miozzi's plan.