Alfredo Pirri transforms Bari's Kursaal Santalucia with light and mirrors

After a two-year restoration by the Puglia Region and the local Superintendence, the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia in Bari has reopened after a decade of closure. The Liberty-style theater, designed in 1922 by Orazio Santalucia for his family, now features a permanent intervention by artist Alfredo Pirri on the floor and ceiling of the main hall, which he calls Sala Cielo. Pirri's work, titled 'Passi,' consists of a fractured mirror floor made of shattered glass layers fused together, and a transparent ceiling resembling a giant slide with three printed watercolors. The ceiling is divided into three inflatable layers with high-definition reproductions of Pirri's watercolors, arranged in a mandala-like pattern. The room also includes a new wall opposite the sea-facing one, with four luminous openings containing blue opal glass and feathers. Pirri describes the space as a perceptual filter that frames the sky and sea, with light changing throughout the day. The project was realized with engineer Miche Fuzio, architect Michele Carella, and surveyor Giuseppe Festa. The theater is located at Via Adua 5, Bari.