The La Fenice theatre fire
Venice, Italy, 1996
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
On the night of 29 January 1996, the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice's main opera house, was destroyed by fire. The theatre was closed for restoration work. The surrounding canals had been drained for cleaning and dredging, the fire boats could not get close, and water had to be pumped from farther away while a single helicopter made trips to the blaze. Only the outer walls of the auditorium survived.
The investigation concluded the fire was arson. In 2001, a Venice court convicted two electricians who worked on the renovation: the company owner, sentenced to seven years in prison, and his cousin, to six. According to the prosecution, they set the fire to escape heavy contractual fines for the delay in the electrical work. The company owner fled after the final appeal and was only arrested in 2007, on the border between Mexico and Belize.
Sources
In the game
Embers at the Theatre
Venice, a winter Thursday, 9 pm. The fire started in the wooden attic of the San Fedele Theatre, the oldest opera house in the city, closed for renovation.
It was not the first time: La Fenice had already burned in 1836 and was rebuilt the following year. After 1996, it was remade "as it was, where it was" to a design by the architect Aldo Rossi and reopened in December 2003. The game borrows the attic under works, the fine for delay and the dry canal; the theatre, the characters and the investigation are fiction.
