Opera attire in Florence

I go to operas and classical concerts when I am traveling in Italy. He doesn’t need a sport coat.

I usually wear a washable dress that I also wear for evening dinners and some days, or I wear black pants with a pretty top or sweater, depending on the weather. Everything I bring gets worn multiple times during my trip. The only time the dress code is different is if you’re attending a premiere or opening night.

Another idea depending on the month you’re traveling. My husband has a nice very thin dark green Italian wool pullover sweater that he wears sometimes with a dress shirt. It doesn’t take much room in his suitcase.

Thanks, Jean! And the sweater is a good idea.

Out of respect for the orchestra and conductor, have your husband wear a jacket. It’s the right thing to do.

OTOH, I recently went to an evening of Mozart at Walt Disney Hall in LA and man, was there a range of attire. Even hoodies with college names emblazoned on them. I guess this is an age-dependent thing. If it's not hard to pack a sport coat, why not make an event out of it (there are many lightweight non-wrinkle jobs available).

Florence opera house worker here. Are you coming to see Turandot?

Frankly we see every kind of attire, so it would be hard to criticize your husband on factual grounds. But: 1. half of the fun of going to opera is dressing up a bit (our house is modern so black tie is almost always overdressing); 2. I remember doing a concert in Mumbai, where the gentleman conducting Turandot in April was born; his friends invited us to a posh party in a beautiful hall, asking to attend in coat and tie. The problem was, all the players had their concert attire in the orchestra flight boxes, travelling on their own, venue to venue. Very few of them (actually, only two, an orchestra tech and me) had packed a coat and tie in the day-by-day baggage. The old gentleman (I find that old Indians are the last true and authentic British people still on earth) was disappointed and told me: when you leave for another country, you should always take a coat and a tie with you: you never know who you are going to meet....

Thanks to all! My husband will take a jacket…and maybe I can talk him into a few “special” evenings out during our 10 week trip to Tuscany…a long awaited adventure!