Scaenae frons

The scaenae frons (Classical Latin: [ˈs̠käe̯näe̯ frõːs̠]) is the elaborately decorated permanent architectural background of a Roman theatre stage.

This form was influenced by Greek theatre, which had an equivalent but simpler skene building (meaning "tent", showing the original nature of it).

A feature often found in the Western Empire, but less so in the Greek-speaking areas, was the row of curved recesses in the face of the front of the stage, as at Sabratha and Leptis Magna.

[6] The roofed Renaissance Teatro Olimpico ("Olympic Theatre") in Vicenza, northern Italy (1580–1585, designed by Andrea Palladio) includes a fully decorated scaenae frons and gives a good general impression of what the Roman ones would have looked like in their original state, though it is in stucco over a wood framework.

The theatre is also famous for the trompe-l'œil scenery, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, behind the scaenae frons, which gives the appearance of long streets receding to a distant horizon; it is not clear how much this reflects ancient practice.