The Teatro Civico is ideally located at the bottom end of Castello and only a few minutes walk up the hill from the shopping street via Manno. It is a living monument in itself, since the structure was originally built in 1836 following architect Gaetano Cima's project, on the site of an existing theatre. As a public institution, throughout the decades it both thrived and floundered and was almost completely destroyed during the 1943 bombings, which only left the lobby and the perametre walls standing. It was brought back to its original splendour in 2006 and has since become a point of reference for drama and comedy lovers in town.