You know the world’s oldest theatre. You just never knew one of Japan’s great travel stories is inside.
DISCOVER THE STORY →“contenti […] et molto sodisfatti”
Pleased and very satisfied. After a Teatro Olimpico reception of music, trombones, cornetts and verses written in their honour, the four Japanese envoys left Vicenza contenti […] et molto sodisfatti, as recorded by Mantuan diplomat Gabriele Calzoni in 1585.
Teatro Olimpico
PLAN THE VISIT →From Teatro Olimpico to Expo Osaka
A great travel story from Japan to Vicenza
A nanban ship crossing a world map, four teenage samurai and an invaluable gift to deliver in Europe. The four boys painted inside Teatro Olimpico belong to a great travel story. In Japan, the mission has been adapted into manga and television, commemorated on a national stamp, and represented at Expo Osaka 2025.
Teatro Olimpico →The search is still open
The Azuchi screen travelled from Japan to Rome with the four young envoys now painted inside Teatro Olimpico. Its last documented chapter was at the Vatican. More than four centuries later, Shiga Prefecture is still seeking information that might help locate it and, in 2026, the international search continues. Have you come across something worth reporting?
Report a lead →Hiroshi Sugimoto · Vicenza, 2015
One of Japan’s most important contemporary artists, Hiroshi Sugimoto was photographing Teatro Olimpico for his lifelong study of historic theatres when its director showed him the fresco of the Tenshō Embassy. From Vicenza, Sugimoto retraced the four envoys’ journey through Italy with his camera. The encounter became Quattro Ragazzi, his photographic series on the places they had seen more than four centuries earlier.
Fondazione Bisazza →NHK · Vicenza, 2025
Japan’s national broadcaster returned to Teatro Olimpico in 2025 to retrace the European journey of the Tenshō Embassy. Guiding the Vicenza chapter was Mari Yamazaki, creator of the internationally successful manga Thermae Romae. The programme was broadcast in Nagasaki, more than four centuries after the four young envoys left Kyūshū for Europe.
Japanese Nō · Teatro Olimpico, 2016
In 2016, Nō, Japan’s classical masked theatre and part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, was performed inside Teatro Olimpico in honour of the four Japanese envoys received there in 1585. The company was led by Sakurama Ujin, 21st head of a historic Nō family, for a programme dedicated to that Japanese visit to Vicenza.
Japan, Palladio and the city around the story
Play tennis inside a 19th-century monastery garden just 3 minutes from the city centre
Your next reason to visit Vicenza.
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