Francesco Tortoli

Francesco Tortoli
Tortoli's signature, 1822
Born	1790 Florence, Italy
Died	20 May 1824 Naples, Italy
Occupation	Scenographer

Francesco Tortoli (or Tortolj) (1790 – 20 May 1824) was an Italian scenographer, active in Naples from 1808 at the city's principal theatres—Teatro San Carlo, Teatro del Fondo and Teatro dei Fiorentini. He was the creator of sets for numerous productions including those for the world premieres of Rossini's La gazzetta, Otello, Armida, Mosè in Egitto, and La donna del lago. Tortoli was born in Florence and died in Naples of cholera at the age of 35.

Born in Florence in 1790, Tortoli was the nephew and student of Antonio Niccolini, a Tuscan architect who later had a substantial career in Naples. Niccolini rebuilt the interior of the Teatro San Carlo after it burned down in 1816 and was also the theatre's chief scenographer. Tortoli was active as a scenery painter under the direction of Niccolini by 1808 when he worked on the sets for the first performance of Antonio Sacchini's Edipo a Colono at the Teatro San Carlo.

By the time Rossini arrived in Naples in the summer of 1815, Niccolini, at the height of his prestige and over-committed on multiple projects, was getting ready to concede the titular post of the San Carlo's chief scenographer to Tortoli. After the San Carlo had been destroyed by fire in February 1816, opera productions were held in other Neapolitan theatres during the rebuilding period. Tortoli was the scenographer for the premieres of Rossini's La gazzetta (Teatro dei Fiorentini, 26 September 1816) and Otello (Teatro del Fondo, 4 December 1816). When the newly rebuilt San Carlo was inaugurated on 12 January 1817, Tortoli was one of the scenographers for the gala performance of Simone Mayr's Il sogno di Partenope. By February of that year, when he designed the production of Carlo Saccenti's Aganadeca, Tortoli was the titular scenographer at the San Carlo, a post he would hold until his death, although Niccolini continued to provide overall artistic supervision of the productions there.