The Nuovo Teatro Regio (New Royal Theatre) was inaugurated on 26 December 1740 with Francesco Feo's Arsace. It was a sumptuously built seating 1,500 and with 139 boxes located on five tiers plus a gallery.However, the theatre was closed on royal order in 1792 and it became a warehouse. With the French occupation of Turin during the Napoleonic War the theatre was renamed the Teatro Nazionale and finally, after Napoleon's ascent to Emperor, renamed again as the Teatro Imperiale. Napoleon's fall in 1814 saw the Reggio returned to its original name, the Regio. In the years following the opera house went through several periods of financial crisis and it was taken over by the city in 1870.
Until February 1936, seasons of opera were presented until fire then destroyed all but the facade of the Teatro Reggio. It remained closed for thirty-seven years. Arturo Toscanini was the conductor of the Turin Opera from 1895 to 1898, during which time several production of works of Wagner were given Italian premieres.