The Teatro Regio Ducal (Italian, "Royal Ducal Theatre") was the opera house in Milan from 26 December 1717 until 25 February 1776, when it was burned down following a carnival gala. Many famous composers and their operas are associated with it, including the premieres of Mozart's Ascanio in Alba, Mitridate, re di Ponto, and Lucio Silla. Variant forms such as Regio-Ducal Teatro and Teatro Regio Ducale are also seen.
The atmosphere in opera houses at the time was very sociable and congenial, and the Teatro Regio Ducal was no exception. The English traveller and music writer Charles Burney describes its faro tables for gambling, and gives this description:
The theatre here is very large and splendid; it has five rows of boxes on each side, one hundred in each row; and parallel to these runs a broad gallery ... as an avenue to every row of boxes: each box will contain six persons, who sit at the sides, facing each other. Across the gallery of communications is a complete room to every box, with a fireplace in it, and all conveniences for refreshments and cards. In the fourth row is a pharo table, on each side of the house, which is used during the performance of the opera.