The term festa teatrale (Italian: [ˈfɛsta teaˈtraːle], plural: feste teatrali [ˈfɛste teaˈtraːli]) refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular.
The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case feste teatrali tend to be split into two different sets: feste teatrali divided by acts are operas, while works in this genre performed without division, or merely cut into two parts, are serenatas.
Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, the first of his "reform operas" (also first seen at Vienna), is also often considered part of the genre of festa teatrale.
Handel's Parnasso in Festa, presented in London in 1734 as part of the celebrations for the wedding of Anne, Princess Royal, is another example of the genre.
[1] The genre does not seem to have survived after Metastasio, though it had been in existence for over a century – Francesco Cavalli wrote feste teatrali, among many other early composers.