Angelo Carasale

Who was Angelo Carasale?

Angelo Carasale was an Italian architect, active mainly in Naples.

He held the primary responsibility for designing the elaborate furnishings of the San Carlo, which in 1737 was the new opera house in Naples. Alexandre Dumas, in his The Bourbons of Naples recounts the commonly repeated, yet likely apocryphal, tale that the king was so taken by the beauty of the theater that he personally presented Carasale to the public for applause, remarking that the only thing lacking from the new theater was a private passageway for royalty from the adjacent Royal Palace. The anecdote says that, a few hours later, upon completion of the opera, Carasale approached the king and notified him that the passageway was ready.

Carasale subsequently served as impresario of the San Carlo opera house for the first four years of its existence.

Earlier, Carasale had been the architect given the task of redesigning San Carlo's predecessor, the small San Bartolomeo theater, so that it might be converted into a church. He also worked on the interiors of a number of Neapolitan churches.