From outdoor performances in Verona's first-century Roman arena to the world's most famous opera house at La Scala, Italy is an opera-lover's dream vacation.
Opera is so much a part of Italian life and the Italian soul that it’s not unusual to hear bus drivers humming a Puccini aria or to hear a twenty-something’s cell phone ringing with the opening measure of La Donna e Mobile. Far from the high-brow night-out it is in America, opera in Italy is the music of the people.
That’s where it started. In fact, in its early years, opera was considered quite de classe --entertainment for the masses, not for those of discriminating taste. Today it’s not only readily available – most cities have opera houses or theaters where it is performed – but it’s available at all levels. A pair of orchestra seats for opening nights at La Scala may cost as much as your flight to Italy, but balcony seats for performances in other opera houses often cost little more than movie tickets.
- La Scala – The queen of opera houses and the center of the opera universe, Milan’s famous theater has been freshly restored and its backstage enlarged to allow for even more expansive productions. Don’t even think about getting a seat for the highlight of Milan’s social season on December 7, opening night. Good seats for major operas or singers are difficult to get any time. La Scala Tel 39.02.861.827.
- Teatro Carlo Felice – Genoa’s opera house is sleek, modern and completely in contrast to most of the other gilded and glittering historic opera houses. It is so acoustically perfect that from a seat in the second balcony you can hear every nuance of the diva’s artistry. Teatro Carlo Felice Tel. 39.010.589.329 (no phone bookings) or Fax 39.010.538.1335.
- Arena de Verona -- June through August a full schedule of opera performances are staged four nights a week in the 2,000-year-old Arena, where Verona audiences have heard opera greats from Benjamino Gigli to Maria Callas and Leontine Price. The stage floor is the largest in Europe at approximately 145 feet by 86 feet, so it’s not unusual to see entire hillside villages rising on the stage or the River Nile flowing through it. Arena de Verona Tel 39.045.800.5151.
- La Fenice – Venice’s jewel-box opera house was well named for the phoenix, since it has at risen from the ashes of the fires that destroyed it in 1836 and again in 1996. Be sure to see a seating chart that shows visibility from the seats, since many have only partial vies of the stage. La Fenice Tel 39.041.2424.
- Terme di Caracalla – In July and August, Rome’s Teatro del’Opera moves its performances to the dramatic ruins of the ancient Roman Baths of Caracalla for spectacular open-air opera, Terme di Caracalla Tel. 39.06.481.601, Fax 39.06.488.1755.
