Verona Arena

Verona Arena in 2009
Inside the Verona Arena

The Verona Arena (Arena di Verona) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy built in 1st century. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. In ancient times, nearly 30,000 people was the housing capacity of the Arena. Nowadays, for security reasons, the maximum attendance is 15,000 people.

Amphitheatre

The building itself was built in AD 30 on a site which was then beyond the city walls. The ludi (shows and games) staged there were so famous that spectators came from many other places, often far away, to witness them. The amphitheatre could host more than 30,000 spectators in ancient times.

The round façade of the building was originally composed of white and pink limestone from Valpolicella, but after a major earthquake in 1117, which almost completely destroyed the structure's outer ring, except for the so-called "ala" (wing), the stone was quarried for re-use in other buildings. Nevertheless, it impressed medieval visitors to the city, one of whom considered it to have been a labyrinth, without ingress or egress.[1] Ciriaco d'Ancona was filled with admiration for the way it had been built and Giovanni Antonio Panteo's civic panegyric De laudibus veronae, 1483, remarked that it struck the viewer as a construction that was more than human.[2]

Musical theatre

Aida by Giuseppe Verdi
The Arena di Verona Festival

The first interventions to recover the arena's function as a theatre began during the Renaissance. Some operatic performances were later mounted in the building during the 1850s, owing to its outstanding acoustics.

And in 1913, operatic performances in the arena commenced in earnest due to the zeal and initiative of the Italian opera tenor Giovanni Zenatello and the impresario Ottone Rovato. The first 20th-century operatic production at the arena, a staging of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, took place on 10 August of that year, to mark the birth of Verdi 100 years before in 1813. Musical luminaries such as Puccini and Mascagni were in attendance. Since then, summer seasons of opera have been mounted continually at the arena, except in 1915–18 and 1940–45, when Europe was convulsed in war.

Nowadays, at least four productions (sometimes up to six) are mounted each year between June and August. During the winter months, the local opera and ballet companies perform at the L'Accademia Filarmonica.

Modern-day travellers are advised that admission tickets to sit on the arena's stone steps are much cheaper to buy than tickets giving access to the padded chairs available on lower levels. Candles are distributed to the audience and lit after sunset around the arena.

Every year over 500,000 people see productions of the popular operas in this arena.[3] Once capable of housing 20,000 patrons per performance (now limited to 15,000 because of safety reasons), the arena has featured many of world's most notable opera singers. In the post-World War II era, they have included Giuseppe Di Stefano, Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi and Renata Tebaldi among other names. A number of conductors have appeared there, too. The official arena shop has historical recordings made by some of them available for sale.

The opera productions in the Verona Arena had not used any microphones or loudspeakers until an electronic sound reinforcement system was installed in 2011.[4]

In recent times, the arena has also hosted several concerts of international rock and pop bands, among which Elisa, Laura Pausini, Pink Floyd, Alicia Keys, One Direction, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Deep Purple, The Who, Dire Straits, Mike Oldfield, Rod Stewart, Sting, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Björk, Muse, Paul McCartney, Jamiroquai, Whitney Houston, Mumford & Sons, Kiss (band) and Spandau Ballet.

In 1981, 1984 and 2010 it hosted the podium and presentation of the Giro d'Italia with thousands packing the arena to watch the prizes being handed out.

The 2011 Bollywood film Rockstar directed by Imtiaz Ali starring Ranbir Kapoor with music composed by Academy Award winner A.R.Rahman opens and closes with musical concerts shot here.

On 25 June 2013 Paul McCartney performed at the venue as part of his 2013 Tour.

British-Irish boy band One Direction performed on 19 May 2013 as part of their Take Me Home Tour.

Spandau Ballet played a concert at Verona Arena on 6 July 2015, as part of their Soul Boys Of The Western World Tour.

On 21 September 2015 the operatic pop group Il Volo performed in Verona for their final date of the Grande Amore Tour. The evening was recorded and broadcast by Rai1 and gained a share of 23%

See also

References

  1. ↑ altum lambyrintum in quo nescitur ingressus et egressus, quoted in Roberto Weiss, The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity, 1969:117 and note 7.
  2. ↑ Weiss 1969.
  3. ↑ Festivals in Italy 2009
  4. ↑ "Verona Opera Festival Outfitted with New Audio". AVTechnology. February 7, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arena di Verona.

Coordinates: 45°26′20″N 10°59′40″E / 45.43889°N 10.99444°E / 45.43889; 10.99444

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