The Trattato and the Costruzione are primary source books on 17th-century Italian theater architecture and stagecraft that have remained relatively unknown. The Trattato was first published in Italian in 1676, and this is the first published edition in any language of the Costruzione, which is little known even to Italian theater scholars. The Trattato is the prototype for the genre of books on theater architecture. It is the first volume to treat the theater auditorium as a separate edifice and is unique in its description of the shape and characteristics of theater auditoria, including an explanation of the arrangement of palchetti, the predecessors of the 18th-century loges as well as the first detailed description of the horseshoe-shaped auditorium. The Costruzione contains the first comprehensive description of the 17th-century stagehouse and the stage equipment normally installed. Together, the volumes reveal Fabrizio Carini Motta as a competent theater architect and stage machinist, easily equal to his more renowned contemporaries, such as Vigarani, Burnacini, or Torelli.