Examines the conflict between Lope's dramatic formula (comedia) and the new polytechnic formula that in the hands of Calderon merged dramatic poetry with visual and auditory effects (comedia de teatro). The author places the Spanish baroque theatre within the wider context of a revolution in the theory of representation, signs, and meanings that tool place at the beginning of the 17th century and marked the appearance of a new dramatic style: the "stile rappresentativo". Special attention is given to the techniques and applications of perspectival scenery, stagecraft, optics and the creation of visual and sound effects contributed by the Florentine "melodrama". The highlighting of Italian dramatic theory and practice reveals that Calderon was an innovator and creator of a new concept in theater.