Nicola Sabbatini

Who was Nicola Sabbatini?

Nicola Sabbatini, also known as Niccolò Sabbatini or Nicola Sabbattini, was an Italian architect of the Baroque.

A native of Pesaro, he was extremely influential at the time for his pioneering and inventive designs of theaters, stage sets, lighting and stage machinery. Working in the court of the Dukes of Urbino, he was among the first designers of sophisticated machines which created realistic visual and sound effects such as the sea, storms, thunder, lightnings, fire, hell, flying gods and clouds, etc. He wrote one of the most important books on how to construct and use a number of devices, scenes and machinery for the stage, Pratica di fabricar scene e macchine ne‘ teatri, which was published in 1638. The internal architecture of theaters, such as plans for building seats for the audience, was also advanced by Sabbatini.