opera attire in rome
 

hi everyone,

i see that Tosca is being performed in rome while we're there at the Amit - Teatro Flaiano. DH and i are trying to pack light. here in LA i usually wear a dress, with appropriate accessories and he wears a suit, tie, etc., to the opera, but i hate the idea of packing all the fancy clothing, as we're traveling about europe on a budget for 16 nights. we packed formal clothes when we went to NYC to the Met and only broke them out for that occasion, yet had to drag all that extra weight around for our 10-night trip (went on to D.C., too).

can we get away with nice dress slacks, a nice sweater, and a jacket?

thanks!

Yes, you should be fine dressed like that, no problem at all. That is not one of the grand opera houses of Italy, so it would be more casual, and people tend not to dress up too much for opera performaces, unless it is an opening night at a major opera house (also depending on where they are sitting as well-people go dressed in jeans when sitting in the upper balconies and gallerias of the opera houses, but more formally when they have good seats).

DH takes a semi-structured light suit (light-coloured linen in summer, dark-coloured but not sure what material in winter) to wear with plain black t shirts (summer) or black cashmere polo neck (winter) in the evenings generally, and that's been fine at each opera house we've been to. He usually travels in the suit too, in the summer.

thanks to you both! our seats will be in the most affordable sections, so we won't be competing to look great with those close to the stage ;)

caroline, it sounds like your hubby has great taste! it's like pulling teeth to get mine to put on nice clothing ;)

Aw, thank you Lynne ! He just finds that a casual-ish suit is easiest as it covers most options on holiday - for more casual & hotter evenings he can just wear the trousers, the jacket is useful when travelling, and wearing it when travelling means no need to pack it.

lynnejoel.... I've been a Met subscriber (NYC) for 41 years ( Ye gads!) We've always sat in the Grand Tier... and I've never felt a need to "dress".(Of course, we don't go to opening nite or fancy fund raisers, etc.) Nice, neat and black is usually the solution. My husband is of the old school and often wears a vest (oy vey .. but it seems that's now fashionable with the young). In Venice, La Scala we found that seating dictated clothes. At Scala the people in the orchestra were very well dressed... ditto in Venice. Up in the rafters anything went. No shorts or sneakers and you should be fine (tho... you don't sound prone to shorts and sneakers to begin with -:)

thanks to you, too, grandma!

when we went to the Met in fall 2005 we saw Lucia di Lammermoor (wish we'd seen Aida, frankly!), and we were by far the most dressed up people in the nose bleed seats. oh well! it was our first and only time, so far, at the met. love those gorgeous chandeliers.

and then we took the subway back to where we were staying! :)