Francesco Bagnara

Thanks to the interest of a local noble family (the Angarans), he was able to go to Venice, where he studied with Giuseppe Borsato and helped him paint decorations for the Teatro La Fenice.

Because they generally could not afford full new sets for each production, he created a series of scenarios (about a dozen) that could be easily readapted for the occasion.

[1] In addition to his theater work, he decorated churches and palaces and designed gardens featuring mounds, lakes, bridges and faux ruins; after the style of Giuseppe Jappelli.

His most notable work was at the Giardini Papadopoli, although much of it was later destroyed to create an extension for the bus terminal at the Piazzale Roma.

He was known for his lack of concern for historical veracity, once having set La sonnambula in what looked like a Roman forum (instead of an Italian village), for example.