We are heading to Italy next Aug/Sept and would love to see an Opera while there. We will be in the Venice area, Perugia area and Rome.
Anyone have any recommendations??

My wife is also interested in seeing an opera on our Italy trip in April. We'll be in Venice, Florence, and Rome.

Verona at the Arena!!! Google for their website.

Rome has brought back opera perfomances at the Baths of Caracalla in the summer, usually July and August.

Go to www.operabase.com and that will give you a good start. Also try typing in "opera" in the seach box here.

Grinisa you have ruined my day. I always wanted to do the opera at the baths of Caracalla and have been in Rome during either July or August three times in the last few years when they weren't doing it. This year we'll be there in June, so I guess no luck again.

Patrick: Sorry to hear that; it certainly wasn't my intention. If it's any comfort, I too have yet to see an opera at Caracalla. We had the opportunity in 1990 on our honeymoon. Aida was being performed. When my husband saw that the tickets were $100 each, he balked. This year was one of the few years we didn't go to Rome in July.

And Patrick, I've already informed my husband that we need another trip to Italy because all my exhaustive opera searching turned up no operas anywhere in the month of September!

Wow! What memories!

Aida in the Baths of Caracalla with live elephants and horses! Who cares that the singing was terrible?

My first opera in Rome - poor student seats WAY UP THERE! Well, the floor boards were of wood and, when we poor students couldn't hear the singer, we would all stomp our feet on the wooden boards! Opera in Italy is Everyman's music, not your snobby affair at all, at all!

Thanks all for the memories!

Jason

I saw Tosca at the Baths of Caracalla years ago - it was unbelievably exciting to be there, in Rome, and be watching an opera which takes place in Rome - the Castel Sant'Angelo huge on stage...thanks for the memory!

For opera in Florence have a look at this website: www.maggiofiorentino.com
It's the site of the biggest opera and concerts house in Florence.
You can buy tickets online and get them directly at the theatre one hour before the beginning of the opera.

They had opera in Florence throughout all of September from a schedule I saw for just last month, at the Teatro Comunale. I think it was something by Verdi. I agree operabase is a great resource.

Aw, Christina, why did you have to say that...we were so close to Florence...only last month!

Is the opera house open in Venice again? I read that it was destroyed by fire, but they were rebuilding. Any details?

Teatro La Fenice in Venice burned in 1996 and has been plagued with problems ever since. It was to be done by 1999, work was stopped due to a lot of political disagreement and cost overruns, and the last date I heard was for early 2003. But I haven't been able to find any updates on the progress. Last I knew, work was still halted on it.

What a bummer. We're planning a trip for mid May next year and I'd love to catch an opera. Is there anywhere else in Venice that's good? Do they start that early in Verona?

La Fenice will reopen on 14 December 2003 with a week-long series of concerts including the London Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and Elton John.

However, it appears that no operas will be performed in the new house until the autumn of 2004. Perhaps the stage machinery is not ready yet. Or perhaps the sets have already been constructed for their temporary performance venues at Palafenice and Teatro Malibran.