4 Best Performing Arts in Rome, Italy

A small concert hall with an internationally recognized series of Baroque classics, the Oratorio del Gonfalone's mid-16th century frescoed walls are painted in high Mannerist style—a beautiful accompaniment to the music.

World-class headliners as well as its beautiful location in Villa Ada, a former monarch's residence, make Roma Incontra il Mondo one of Europe's most impressive world-music festivals. The summer concert series is held in the middle of the park and begins at 10 pm, followed by dancing until 2 am.

For six weeks in early fall, the RomaEuropa festival ignites stages and theaters as a collective, multi-venue avant-garde performing and visual arts program, showcasing international artists, installations, film, and performance.

Designed by Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini, Rome's opera house dates back to 1880 and is still world famous for its extraordinary acoustics. Not even these famed halls could have saved Maria Callas's 1958 performance of Norma, where she infamously walked out on the President of Italy due to health reasons. Today, the theater seats 1,600 in glamorous tiered boxes under a frescoed ceiling. It's an excellent venue to see opera in its original language or a contemporary ballet performance.