Teatro alla Scala
Milan's opera house of 1778, home to its own orchestra, chorus, ballet company and theatre museum.
The Teatro alla Scala was built after fire destroyed the ducal theatre, on the site of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, and opened on 3 August 1778 with Salieri's L'Europa riconosciuta. Giuseppe Piermarini gave it a restrained neoclassical front and a horseshoe auditorium of six levels, whose acoustics are among the most admired in Europe. Bombing in 1943 gutted the building; it was rebuilt under Luigi Lorenzo Secchi and reopened in 1946 with a concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Premieres given here include Bellini's Norma, Verdi's Nabucco, Otello and Falstaff, and Puccini's Turandot. The house maintains its own orchestra, chorus, ballet company and an academy training singers, dancers and technicians. Between 2002 and 2004 Mario Botta added a new stage tower and an elliptical office block behind the historic shell. The season traditionally opens on 7 December, the feast of Milan's patron Saint Ambrose, and the theatre museum displays costumes, instruments and portraits.
Highlights
- Piermarini's horseshoe auditorium with six levels of boxes and gallery
- Season opening each 7 December on the feast of Saint Ambrose
- Resident orchestra, chorus and ballet company, with a training academy
- Museo Teatrale alla Scala, reached from the same building
