Teatro Dante (Sansepolcro)  Teatro Dante ("also called Cinema Teatro Dante") is an Italian theatre in Sansepolcro, a town in Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo. The theatre was inaugurated on September 1, 1836 and was originally known as the Royal Theatre Dante ("Regio Teatro Dante"). The premiere performance was Vincenzo Bellini's opera La sonnambula ("The sleepwalker"). The building, remained the property of the Accademia dei Risorti ( "literally "Academy of the Resurrected"" ) until today. The building began as a simple theater for the people, nowadays it is also a movie theater, not precluding a theater season with comedies, operettas and concerts in a good level. The news reached the present day are fragmentary, but carefully preserved. We know that the project was commissioned by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany in September 1674 to promote culture in the provinces of his grand duchy. So, he settled 1500 scudi d'oro for the construction of a large room then made it a theatre, to keep the youth well trained and better eloquent to serve the prince. The first name was Teatro della Fortuna ("the fortune theatre"), and was left under management to a local association, "Accademia degli Sbalzati", led by the poet Pietro Gherardi. The first theatre was built entirely in wood. In 1727 the academy ceases to exist. From the ashes of the old one, a new association was born with the name of academy of the nobles who will reevaluate the structure and it will enhance the activities. The activity of the theatre will proceed regularly until 1832 when the last known association will born after the merge of the two local academies: "The Nobles" and "The Resurrected", that will form the Academy of the Nobles Resurrected. To witness this union the new blazon of the association is an olive tree, cut at the lower end with new branches on the sides that are growing back, that which symbolizes the definitive rebirth of this association. The academy will not be the only one to be renewed. The old theater, now dilapidated and in poor condition, will be demolished in favor of a new building, built in stone in front of the old theater. Work will begin in 1833, a year after the birth of the new academy, led by the florentine Francesco Leoni and continued until August 1836.