Verona itself is nicknamed "the city of Aida".
In the middle of August, when wood and stone crackle from the heat, in the centre of the Italian city of Verona, crowds of people queue patiently in front of the forum. Arena di Verona - the largest open-air theatre in the world, continuously operating and home to perhaps the best opera festival, attracts thousands of tourists and audiences every day.
Once the host of gladiator fights and staged "hunts" of exotic imported animals, today the Arena di Verona is one of the symbols of opera, where examples of elite art continue to be performed - "Tosca", "Carmen", "Madame Butterfly", "Turandot" and many others, reports BGNES.
Verona itself is nicknamed "the city of Aida". The reason for this is that in 1913, the opera was performed for the first time in honour of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, commissioned by the Veronese tenor Giovanni Zenatello. So for more than 100 years (except for two brief interruptions during the world wars and the COVID-19 pandemic), every summer the Roman amphitheatre has been transformed into the largest open-air opera house in the world.
In the square in front of the forum and around the whole arena one can see the real sets from the most popular performances. The impressive set of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca is located literally on the street, next to the giant statue are the sets of houses from Georges Bizet's Carmen and the huge red roses used in the scene for The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini.
The Arena di Verona is the eighth largest of all Roman amphitheatres in Italy, and fourth after the Colosseum in Rome and those in Capua and Milan. Perhaps the most impressive fact about it and its condition these days is that the forum has been undergoing restoration since 500 years ago.
Like any historical monument, facts are often bound up with myths and legends. According to one, the remains of the arena's outer ring, which tourists first notice, say that a once-noble made a deal with Satan to build the Arena overnight in exchange for freedom from certain death. The noble was aided by the Devil's helpers, but with the call of the Hail Mary at dawn they abandoned their tasks, leaving the Arena unfinished and the noble to his fate.
According to legend, the arena served as Dante's inspiration for the "Circles of Hell". The Dante Alighieri monument itself and the small street named after the medieval Italian writer are located a few blocks from the forum - in Signoria Square. |BGNES
