Garibaldi Theater at the Kalsa

The theater was inaugurated in 1861 by Garibaldi, who gave a speech to the crowd. Since its inauguration it has undergone various transformations over the years.

It remained closed for a long time and only reopened in 1906.

From the mid-fifties to the early sixties it was also used as a cinema with the name "Araldo" and was subsequently abandoned to be reopened only in the nineties.

After a long period of decay, redevelopment works have begun which have aroused numerous controversies between the population and the art world because we are distorting this Italian theater by depriving it of that charm that has attracted numerous artists in the last twenty years: from Wim Wenders to Carlo Cecchi (who was its artistic director for about ten years).

Directed by Matteo Bavera, the Garibaldi theater has been engaged in productions and co-productions with Carlo Cecchi, Emma Dante, Peter Brook, Antonio Latella, Davide Enia and Wim Wenders (who shot a scene from his film Palermo Shooting inside ).

The theater underwent interventions that changed the interior which ended in May 2010.

On 13 April 2012 the theater was occupied by about sixty artists, workers and workers of the show business.

Between 2017 and 2018, in conjunction with the designation of the Sicilian capital as Italian capital of culture, the Garibaldi theater was the headquarters of the twelfth edition of Manifesta, a traveling biennial of contemporary art, as well as part of the event itself, hosting, among the other, works by Giorgio Vasta and Wu Ming.