During four generations, the history of the circus in France and even more particularly so, the history of the Parisian circuses were intrinsically linked to the Franconis' entreprises.

Names of places dedicated to equestrian entertainment led by the Franconis follow one another according to variable criterias. Sometimes the size of the establishments and its conformation - from the moment the stage is added to the ring the term "theater" is anchored but disappears when the stage vanishes - but also according to terms en vogue as well as to the succession of political regimes ("national" or "imperial"). 

Manège Franconi, Cirque Olympique, Théâtre du Cirque, Théâtre national ou Théâtre impérial, Cirque des Champs Elysées, Hippodrome de l'Etoile...: the circus is sometimes the designation, sometimes the noun. But above all, the denomination is linked to description of the space devoted to horse riding exercises and theatrical staging.

Manège, circus and hippodrome materialize the spaces devoted to equestrian exercices and spectacles attached to riding sports. Theatre, then circus and then "hippodrome", are also the spaces of equestrian, acrobatic and theatrical scenographies. which rely on the presence of horses to anchor the theatricals and the spectaculars of dramas on horses. The "hippodromes de spectacles" ("entertainment hippodromes" or "hippodromes dedicated to spectacles"), between 1845 and 1910 are in fact the town version of the three-rings (pistes) of stable circuses that one can see at Barnum & Bailey under their big top.

Until they disappeared from the urban sphere at the beginning of the 20th century, these "hippodromes de spectacles" epitomized the largest entertainment venues in cities. Horsereces were not yet taking place in so called hippodromes' racetracks and when the term came to be associated with horse racing in the mid-19th century, before then "hippodromes" referred to places of spectacular... equestrian stagings. The shift is therefore just not only semantic but sporty. .

​

Beyond describing a space and a place, the name of the Parisian establishments is also linked to each period of the history of the Franconi companies and to an economic and legal status. Tenant, owner, limited partnership, the walls do not always belong to the name that embodies the dynasty which is one the major strenghts of the Francionis:  to have established a genre, a style, an expertise, an art that has associated their name with a century of history of equestrian shows eventhough there were not always those in command.