The iconic Teatro Colón, designed by Vittorio Meano.
Colón theater, when it was yet a project….
Who Was Vittorio Meano?
Vittorio Meano had been born in 1860 in Susa, a small Italian city about 50 kilometers from Turin. At 18 he graduated as a geometer and then studied architecture and engineering, where he met who he considered his teacher, Francesco Tamburini. When Tamburini traveled to Argentina, summoned to carry out a series of public works, including the expansion and reform of the Casa Rosada, he thought that the young and talented Meano could be a useful collaborator. He wrote inviting him to travel to join his team and Meano did not hesitate: shortly afterwards he started the boat trip to the Argentine capital, accompanied by Luisa, whom he had just married.
Tamburini and Meano worked side by side until the master’s death in 1890, when they were in charge of the project for the new Colón Theater building. Meano finished the construction of the Colón theater and directed the construction of the new National Congress building.
The Tragic Death of Vittorio Meano
Meano, 44 years old at the time of his death, used to walk back every noon from the Congress to his house, also designed by him, at Rodríguez Peña 30, near the corner of Rivadavia. It will never be known why the architect Vittorio Meano returned early and without warning to his house on the morning of June 1, 1904. He arrived just in time to see how a former employee of his, Carlo Passera – Italian, 28 years old -, ran from his own bedroom. Meano, raising his staff, tried to stop the intruder from escaping. He intercepted him by the stairs leading to the front door and he already thought he was holding it when Passera took a revolver from a pants pocket and shot him twice. The first shot missed and the bullet was embedded in the door frame, but the second shot was accurate: it hit the engineer’s chest and pierced his left lung.
The story doesn’t have to end here. You can walk those same streets.
The walls of the Colón Theater and the National Congress hold secrets that only Spanish speakers can fully uncover. Imagine walking through their halls, understanding the details of their construction in the architects’ own language, and asking a local about the ghost of Vittorio Meano. Make that story yours. Experience Buenos Aires in Spanish with our in-person courses.
