The difficulties of the Social Theater, towards the end of the 19th century, became emblematic of those of the Upper Town. Sporadic openings gave only a semblance “of that past life, which an unstoppable, overpowering force has pushed elsewhere,” as the local newspaper commented in December 1878. Already during the Austrian years, the construction of the Porta Nuova propylaea and the Ferdinandea road, but above all of the station and its railroad connection with Milan (1857), constituted as many stages in the emancipation of the Lower Town, crowned in 1872 with the relocation of the Town Hall.
The opening of the funicular railway in 1887 would improve relations between the two parts of the city, but the fortunes of theSocial Theater would equally tend to decline. A significant indicator of that decline was the Sociale’s substantial marginality at the 1897 Donizetti celebrations, which had instead in the Riccardi and Lower Town center and backdrop. Around 1900 and in the first decade of the century, the hall (undergoing restoration in 1902, visible in the 1903 season; then in 1907, for the 1908 season) would also open to new genres such asoperetta (1898, from 1908), or even to performances of modern technology such as the gramophone (1898) and the cinematograph (from 1908), which, while in other conditions might be signs of openness to novelty, in that context of increasingly difficult life appear as retreats to less demanding repertoires. Good seasons will still occur, in 1915, and less sporadically in the early 1920s (1921, 1922 and 1924): but that for the Social Theater had begun a new era of prosperity, was a short-lived illusion.
Music resonated there until 1929; the last performances date back to 1932. Subsequent history is marked only by demolition projects, adventuristic reuse intentions, and continuous changes of ownership. This while abandonment and decay became increasingly worrisome, at least until the acquisition of the building by the City of Bergamo (1974) and the extraordinary maintenance and safety works carried out between 1978 and 1981. Since then, the space has mainly hosted art exhibitions and expositions, until the definition and beginning of the restoration work undertaken through the joint initiative of the Municipality and the Superintendence since 2006.
