The Goldoni Theatre was built in 1622 on behalf of the Vendramin family. In 1665, the first performance of Mutio Scevola by Francesco Cavalli took place. The theatre’s most important period was from 1752, when it hired Carlo Goldoni, at that time the city’s most important playwright, second in fame only to the conservative Carlo Gozzi. The theatre is also known in the chronicles of the Resistance. On the evening of March 12th, 1945, during a performance of Pirandello's Clothing the Naked (Vestire gli ignudi), a small group of the "Biancotto" Brigade broke onto the stage and, holding the fascists and Germans present at gunpoint, appealed to the struggle for freedom by throwing hundreds of small posters into the hall before moving away undisturbed. A marble plaque inside the theatre recalls the event, defined as "Goldoni's mockery.” Closed after the Second World War, the theatre was reopened in 1979 after complete restructuring. The first performance of the new season took place on April 22nd, 1979, when The Mistress of the Inn (La Locandiera) by Carlo Goldoni was staged, directed by Giancarlo Cobelli with Carla Gravina and Gabriele Ferzetti.