Acoustic characterization of the ancient theatre at Syracuse

The ancient theatre at Syracuse, the largest open air theatre in Sicily, experienced many structural changes along its history. Today its very renowned drama festival attracts visitors from all the world that fill the entire cavea: customized seats accomodation and a prominent stage play an important role in the theatre acoustics. Because no data were available in literature on its acoustical perfomance a measurement session was carried out by our team in the framework of a wide research project on ancient theatres acoustics in the modern use. From data recorded "room criteria" parameters have been evaluated together with spectral analysis in order to gain a deeper information on the acoustic field. Main results are listed and commented and a comparison among data collected on field during the team experience in the past years is reported.