Officially called Teatro alla Scala, the La Scala opera house in Milan is a legendary theater. Since opening in 1778, dozens of now-iconic operas premiered there. Today it’s one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. And, like many opera houses, touring it revealed plenty of surprises, secrets, and incredible facts about La Scala in Milan.
Ever since I discovered opera in 2009, seeing the opera at La Scala has been the top of my bucket list. So I finally booked a trip to Italy to do just that, and coincidentally saw my 100th opera there. I also toured opera house with a private, personal tour. It even included going backstage and in the catwalk above the stage. Touring the opera house allows you to truly take in a theater, plus you can learn a lot about a city by what the opera house reveals. Here’s are the incredible facts about La Scala.
5 Incredible Facts About La Scala in Milan
1. La Scala is the best opera house in the world.
Opera is synonymous with Italy both as opera’s birthplace and because of the popularity of Italian operas. Florence, Venice, and Rome were important places throughout opera history, but Milan emerged as a prominent place later on. Milan — and La Scala — were important to the operatic world because of the number of premieres held there. Many now-iconic opera premiered at La Scala, especially many of Verdi’s, cementing its place in operatic history.
Today La Scala is famous for its acoustics. Architects and engineers considered the acoustics of every single element in the theater, down to the type of rope used to hoist scenery backstage. While metal would be more efficient, natural rope fibers have better acoustics so they use hemp. They even recently replaced the velvet lining of the seats and boxes with a more acoustic-friendly synthetic version.
2. Even the best performers are nervous to perform at La Scala.
Incredible acoustics can be a blessing, but they can also be a curse. When even the tiniest sound is amplified, every mistake is audible to the entire audience. So even the best, most prepared singers get nervous to sing at La Scala. A good performance can make a singer’s career, but a bad one can just as easily destroy it.
Not only acoustics excellent, Italians know their opera — and they love it. Which makes singers nervous for another reason, which brings me to my next point.
3. The theater’s second gallery is the most important part of the audience. That’s because…
… it’s where the harshest critics sit. They aren’t there to see and be seen, like many people at the opera. (Most opera houses are actually designed specifically for that.) They are there to listen — and judge accordingly.
Known as the loggione, those sitting in the second gallery are opera aficionados famous for their vocal opinions. Once they booed a singer off-stage in the middle of Aida, causing his understudy to take his place wearing his jeans.
My tour guide said Italians are especially critical of modern interpretations of opera. But that’s exactly what the opera rehearsal was during my tour. They were rehearsing Handel’s Guilio Cesare in Egitto, a classic Baroque opera, but set in the 1990s Gulf War. She said the singers were mentally preparing to hear boos on opening night. (Spoiler alert: the loggione didn’t boo them.)
(I saw The Elixir of Love, a wonderful performance that received an enthusiastic response. But at the opera in Rome, the crowd booed and hissed at the modern version of Don Giovanni. I agreed with their disapproval!)
4. La Scala was the first place in Milan to have electric lights.
When La Scala first opened in 1778, oil lamps lit the stage and theater. Fire was an obvious risk, so as a precaution, workers filled several rooms with hundreds of buckets of water. The oil lamps were replaced by gas lamps, and in 1883 La Scala was the first public building in Milan to have electrical lights. The central grand chandelier, lit with 383 bulbs, was so bright, critics originally called La Scala “floodlit.”
In 1943 World War II air raids destroyed the original chandelier, but the current chandelier is an exact replica of the original.
5. The box seats used to be privately owned — so that’s why…
… some of them are decorated vastly different than others. After Milan’s original opera house burned down in 1776, a group of 90 wealthy Milanese people bought theater boxes to cover the cost of a new house. Because they were privately owned, owners decorated them however they liked.
The boxes were a display of wealth, since they could be seen from other parts of the theater. (And, back then, the house lights didn’t dim during performances.) So people decorated them with elaborate carvings, lavish mirrors, and more. Today they are no longer privately owned, but 15 boxes still have the original, unique decorations.
What to Know if You’re Going to La Scala in Milan
- Performances sell out quickly so get tickets early. Italian classics like Verdi are especially difficult, according to my tour guide. (I bought tickets the minute they went on sale, requiring me to get up in the middle of the night!)
- Tickets to La Scala aren’t exactly cheap. There’s a discount if you’re under 30 and for the ScalAperta performances. Each production (both opera and ballet) has a ScalAperta performance, where tickets are 50% off.
- Remember, not all seats have stage visibility. The topmost tier may be “listening only” and likely the third row of each box has limited visibility. You can check the view from the seats here.
- Note there is a dress code at La Scala for all performances and formal dress is required for premieres.
There is also a museum at La Scala. The Scala Museum contains operatic artifacts like costumes, historical instruments, and theater mementos. Tours of the opera house include access to the museum, or you can visit the museum only.
Opera house tours are offered in English and Italian. Book in advance and discover more incredible facts about La Scala in Milan!
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Related :: Three Days in Milan, Why Italy is the Perfect Place for a Solo Trip, and Incredible Facts About the Paris Opera House.
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