The oldest Opera House of the Varese region was founded around the middle of 1770 on the express wish of Francesco III d'Este, Lord of Varese. In fact, following the suppression of the Minorite Monastic Orders it was the Duke of Este who made the fine monastery of the Hieronymite monks available to the town and impresarios (this was a building of rare beauty which the citizens of Varese used to call The Palace.
The desire on the part of the Duke to 'import' Opera into Varese was not only dictated by his unquestionable passion for the theatre but was, above all, the ambition to create occasions to entice the rich and aristocratic Milanese families to come to the town, families which sojourned from March to October in the magnificent villas in the environs of the town, such as on the Colle di Biumo. [Hill of Biumo]. This was in fact the period in which Varese was a 'resort' for an elite tourism and Francesco III, evidently, had wanted to established profitable relations and secret alliances - the 'accomplice' being an opera or perhaps a game of cards in the foyer of the theatre.
The first opera in the Monastery of the Hieronymites was held in October 1776 when a certain Signor Bianchi, "Milanese", staged The Island of Alcina , a successful opera by Giuseppe Gazzaniga based on the libretto by Giovanni Bertati. The place which staged the opera was still not called the "Teatro Ducale" but the "Teatro della Ducal Signoria" [Theatre of the Ducal Seigniory], perhaps because the real theatre was not yet ready or perhaps because for the occasion a large room of the suppressed monastery had been used. It was only in 1779 that one began to talk about the Ducal Theatre. However, it is not clear if a special building was erected on the land owned by the Hieronymites or if, and perhaps more probably, the work of adapting the ex-monastery had been finished.
Irrespective of its nature as a permanent theatre or as a transitory solution, the fact is that the Ducal Theatre was officially inaugurated in October 1779 with a "very new" comic opera by Antonio Salieri.
From this point on - and up until 1790 when the Ducal Theatre was closed and the decision was made to construct a larger building, capable of satisfying the towns renewed needs - the Theatre was used to stage at least two comic operas a year, during the Autumn when the concentration of 'tourists' was at its height.
A gaming room and wine-shop were kept open during the performances, following a consolidated habit of eighteenth-century theatres.