The Teatro all'Antica is a Renaissance theater in Sabbioneta, in northern Italy, on the town's main street, Via Giulia. Vincenzo Scamozzi, an architect from Vicenza, designed it for Duke Vespasiano I Gonzaga. It was built between 1588 and 1590, and it is called the first free-standing, purpose-built theater in the modern world.
Its horseshoe-shaped seating and rear colonnade show the influence of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. Unlike that theater, it has a single trompe-l'oeil street scene instead of a multi-part stage backdrop.
The 17th-century scenery was later replaced, but Scamozzi's plans survive, so new scenery was rebuilt in the 20th century. The theater is a rare surviving example of a Renaissance stage built for a small ducal court.
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