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Milan

Teatro alla Scala

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Piazza della Scala
Milan, Italy 20121
+39 0288791

Cantin2
Cantin2
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La Scala

  • April 7, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Cantin2 from Quogue, New York
If you are not fortunate enough to attend an opera or ballet performance at La Scala, you must at least take a glimpse of the theatre - this is possible as part of the museum admission - 5 Euros for adults/4 Euros for seniors.

La Scala museum is open most every day, but closes for an hour at 12:30PM - Make sure you allow yourself enough time so that you won't be escorted out too soon. We did not see any guided tours or guides when we were there - arrangements I'm sure can be made. It was easy enough to read(in a few languages) about composers, musicians, performers, instruments or painting displayed in each room.

At one point during your visit, a guard will open a "viewing box" for you to see the theatre- an orchestra was practicing during our visit. You only spend a couple of minutes there and cannot use cameras, but it is magnificent.....the immenseness alone is breathaking.....a hugh chandelier.....the many, many, many opera boxes - gold with red velvet curtains - row upon row- upon row....Probably 9 tiers of boxes surround the entire theatre, yet you feel so close to the stage. What a privilege it must be to attend a performance.

We spent time enjoying busts of composers and performers, musical instruments of the 1800's and miniature porcelain figurines of musical significance. I especially was interested in the paintings of La Scala - "In the rays of the sun" - "In the mist of New Year's Eve" and the rendering of the original La Scala Theatre - you can feel the elegance and the "party atmosphere" of the time.

But....best of all....was the 2nd floor - Probably four rooms of manequins in costume!!! Such magnificent costumes, masks and headdresses - beads and sequins....So elegant and must be so heavy!!! These are not even protected behind glass walls - you could possibly touch them, but there were guards around to discourage this.

Unfortunately, we had only 45 minutes to enjoy the museum because of the midday break at 12:30PM - Plan accordingly if you like more time in a museum....We could have used our ticket all day but were on to other activities in the afternoon.

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