After looking through several Italy opera schedule web sites suggested by many of you, I?m still confused on the schedules and seasons. We plan on spending approximately three weeks next summer (or late spring) in Italy and would like to go to a couple of operas, preferably the one in Verona, in the outdoor arena. That opera season seems to be July-August. The ones in Milan, Rome, and Padua indicate their seasons ends in May. June seems to be the month between seasons for all cities. So my question is: if we choose an opera in Verona, will that be the only choice for opera in July-August? Any suggestions are appreciated.

This summer, operas will be staged at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in July and August. This is the first time in several years that operas will be performed there, so if all goes well, hopefully operas at the Baths will once again be available in July and August on a regular basis.

Grinisa, Thanks for your quick response. I'm excited to hear about the Baths of Caracalla being open again. Hopefully we can attend performances in both places. How far in advance should booking take place for either arena, months? weeks?
Also, to all, please forgive my misspellings in the previous post. I really should proofread. Kathy

Also worth checking out for summer festival opera performances: Macerata (just south of Ancona & minutes from the Adriatic coast), Pesaro, Torre del Lago (Puccini festival), Arena Flegrea (in Naples). These are outdoor venues (well, Pesaro uses many venues for its Rossini festival). The Rome Opera House sometimes has operas scheduled in summer as I nearly went to one in early August of 2001.
Macerata has a website you can google, as does Pesaro. I haven't checked the others recently, but their schedules surely are available.

Thanks, Eliztrav, I will check out those web sites. We plan on traveling through several regions, so its likely a couple of those cities could be included in out trip. Kathy

We went to the opera recently in Florence, part of a summer festival. See http://www.maggiofiorentino.com/ for some idea of the schedule.

Thanks, Dedlaw. I just pulled up this web site and it already is listing events for next year- April through June. So maybe events are scheduled throughout the entire summer. Kathy

Grinisa,
I am thrilled to learned that the Baths of Caracalla will be serving as an opera venue this summer. Can you point me (web) to where I might book opera tickets????

Bardo, I just checked with SelectItaly, which is one source of opera tickets, but they don't list the performances at the Baths of Caracalla. With only 5,000 tickets per performance, and these being highly coveted tickets, they may only be available at the ticket office in Rome. I'll keep checking some other sources.

Bardo - The Caracalla season is on NOW and finishes on 2nd August.

There are performances of CARMEN on:
24th, 29th, 31st July and 2nd August.

This Saturday 26th July there is a performance of:
BEETHOVEN Symphony No 9

Here's the link:
http://www.operaroma.it/CLIP/Esta2003.htm

If any tickets are still available you can buy over the phone by credit card or online at:

www.charta.it OR
http://www.amitonline.it/eventi/view_eventi.php


Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks for your help. We'll be arriving in Rome on Sunday, Aug 3. [