Teatro Colón: originally planned by Francesco Tamburini, substantially redesigned by Vittorio Meano and completed by Jules Dormal.
Who Was Vittorio Meano?
Vittorio Meano was born in Susa, Italy, in 1860. He trained as a geometer in Pinerolo and is believed to have continued architectural studies in Turin. He came to Buenos Aires in 1884 and worked with Francesco Tamburini.
Francesco Tamburini created the original project for the Teatro Colón. After Tamburini’s death, Vittorio Meano continued and substantially modified the design. Following Meano’s death in 1904, Jules Dormal completed the building and contributed much of its final French-influenced decoration.
Meano won the international competition for the design of Argentina’s National Congress Palace in 1895. Construction began in 1898. Meano directed the project until his death in 1904, and Jules Dormal later continued the work.
The Tragic Death of Vittorio Meano
Meano was murdered on June 1, 1904, by Juan Passera, a former employee of the family. The recovered account describes an unexpected return home and a confrontation with Passera, but those reconstructed details should not be read as an established sequence of events.
Contemporary reports later linked Passera romantically to Meano’s wife, Luisa Fraschini, after compromising letters were found. The exact sequence of events and motives has been interpreted differently in later accounts.
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.