OPERA Verona HELP!!!

According to your other question, I suspect your bigger issue will be getting back to Brescia after midnight? Performances I'm seeing all start at 9:00 PM and last close to 3 hours or more.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/verona-to-brescia-no-train-available-that-late

This is the Opera di Verona calendar I'm looking at:

https://www.arena.it/arena/en

Hi, yes I asked that same question on an earlier post. We will have a car, so if worse comes to worse, we could drive.

Ah, good! That's a useful piece of info that you may want to include in your other post?

It is a °must do° if you enjoy the opera. We saw °Aida° a few years ago and the arena is a magnificent venue, ut my husband almost threw me (the opera fan) over the edge when he saw it ran four hours. There are two long intermissions as the staging is changed. We got out at 1:00 am and people were dining and enjoying the night in Piazza Bra as we crawled to our B&B.

FYI - no need to dress up. You will be sitting on stone. Bring a cushion. Our B&B had some to loan.

Whether it is a “must do” depends on you and your interests. It is an amazing experience to sit in that arena to watch an opera; the crowd energy is fantastic. We saw Aida and loved it.

We sat in the stone seats (with a rented cushion) and the dress there is very casual. People seated on the arena floor in chairs dress up.

According to your other question, I suspect your bigger issue will be getting back to Brescia after midnight? Performances I'm seeing all start at 9:00 PM and last close to 3 hours or more.

I had read and seen the time frame. I was trying to keep the posts separate to answer different questions. That is how my brain works. ;-)

We got out at 1:00 am and people were dining and enjoying the night in Piazza Bra as we crawled to our B&B.

That is a concern of mine also. I am torn on if this is something I really want to do.

If you are torn, skip it. It is a lot of money for something you might not enjoy. You can see the arena during the day time.

We've enjoyed the opera at the arena twice in past years. While we don't seek out operas normally we do try to attend unique locations and well respected productions like the summer ones in Verona and most recently the opera on the lake (Bodensee) in Bregenz Austria. With all of these outdoor operas we've needed to reserve a hotel or b&b inorder to deal with the late night ending. We just factored that into the price of the spectacular evening. Also the HARD stone steps--rent or bring cushions, were not too expensive and it was a lot of fun to sit with a very international crowd enjoying our light picnic snack and watch the "fancy people" arrive at their seats a little before the production.

The show will end past 1am. So be sure you are not falling asleep at the wheel when you drive back. The closest large car park is on Piazza Cittadella. It’s an underground multistory garage. I usually park there, but on Opera night I used the hotel shuttle. The attire is very casual and if you are on the stands you arse will hurt if you don’t have a cushion. The Aida is certainly worth it. I wouldn’t see the Aida anyplace else.

I've also enjoyed the opera there twice, in past years, Aida and Carmen. Fantastic evenings, both times. And both times, friend and I did NOT sit on the stone seats, but paid a bit more to be in the reserved area, where the arena folks have installed plastic seating with seats and backs, over the stone steps. It's a bit tight on the knees, but everyone is happy, and courteous (at least they were around me). As I recall, it didn't cost a lot more (certainly less than the opera in many US cities) to purchase reserved seating. I'm not talking the fancy seats on the arena floor, but those reserved seats on the steps This way, you also can leisurely saunter to your seat and don't have to line up extra early for the rush for the unreserved section. We also rented cushions to put on the plastic seats, and were very glad that we did, and brought in our own wine, cheese and crackers to enjoy as the orchestra warmed up. Do case out where the restrooms are, as there are long lines during the intermissions. It was amazing to watch these productions, under the stars, with huge casts (including, in Carmen, horses and dogs), great music, fabulous sets, and world-class operatic voices. Highly highly recommend!! (In both cases, we also got a room for one or two nights, in order to not have to figure out how to leave Verona at midnight or 1:00 am with no public transportation running.)

We also went to see Aida in Verona a few years ago now. I'm not a big opera fan (God knows I've tried!) but I really enjoyed the opera as an event (spoilers - they all die) and although no judge, because it's in the Roman amphitheatre ruins, I've since described it as a 'Pink Floyd' type of opera, plenty of spectacle to accompany the music. We sat in the last row of comfort 'bucket' seats before the stone amphitheatre steps - which are the 'cheap seats' - and as I recall the prices (as opera goes) weren't too steep. The visibility of the stage was good, even from where we were sat, which was quite away back and quite high up. I dressed 'smart casual' which was essentially linen jacket (which I never wore as it was too warm), collared shirt, no tie, chinos not jeans and the most sensible shoes I had with me (previously we'd been walking and via ferrata-ing in the Dolomites).

It did run late, and I equally enjoyed sitting outside afterwards in Piazza Bra with our friends drinking a bottle of pink fizz until 2.00 am. We were staying in a hotel right next to the piazza so if you if you were planning to go to the opera, and I'd recommend it if only as a 'one off', perhaps an overnight in Verona would be a sensible idea. The morning after - not early! - we toured the amphitheatre as an historic ruin and were also able to watch Aida being dismantled to be followed that night by Turandot!

Hope you have a great trip!

Ian

You do not have to stay for the whole thing. You can leave at the intermission (we did). And many people get up and move around (or leave) during the performance. Regular opera rules (no movement from the seats during the performance) do not seem to apply to the cheap seats on the stones.

If you have a choice of days, you may have a choice of opera. Listen to the operas on YouTube and then decide if you want to see it. I'd go to Carmen in a heartbeat, Nabucco did nothing for me (though the production at the base of Masada was spectacular).

Yeah. There's a reason why Carmen is a perennial favorite of figure skaters--pretty much guaranteed to be heard at every competition. It's very accessible. Nabucco? Never heard of it.

We saw Aida there about 20 years ago. I have certainly been to concerts where I was more moved by the music, but it was THE most spectacular theatrical experience I have ever experience. The orchestra was huge, literally double the size of a normal orchestra. In the scene where they have the triumphal return to Thebes, they had elephants! on stage. The most amazing thing that I still remember: The king is sitting on a throne at the top of a set of stair. Guards come out with a rolled up carpet, and they roll it down the stairs so that Radamès can ascend the stairs up to the King. As the carpet is completely rolled out, in the center of the roll was a ballerina who rolls out onto the floor, gets up and dances. How she did that without being dizzy, I have no idea, but it was a jaw dropping moment.

I'm prejudiced because I'm an opera singer but you won't find much else that is more Italian than an evening at the Arena di Verona no matter what the opera is. Get cheap seats (actually, they aren't seats - it's just an area) but get there early to stake out your claim. CUSHIONS! Those stone steps get mighty hot and uncomfortable. Aida there is a great opera. There's only one scene that really fills the stage, the rest is duets. Carmen is in French. Hmmm, going to Italy to listen to French. Ok, but . . . Nabucco is a huge chorus opera from Verdi's earlier days. If the soprano is on the fireworks will be really hot. The other singers have some beautiful pieces and the Arena does get some of the best singers available. However, there is a chorus number, Va Pensiero, that is the unofficial national anthem. When Verdi died, people stood outside and sang this chorus. When Italy won the World Cup, after cheering loudly the crowds sang this chorus. Traditionally the chorus is sung twice (an encore). At the Arena everyone lights candles for the second singing and many people will sing along . . . if they can hold back their tears. I never can get past the first line. Yes, the opera gets out late so take a nap! Yes, everyone goes out for a late night snack, drink, gelato. Go with them (you'll avoid the traffic at least) and pretend to be Italian for one night. You won't find this experience anywhere else!

Thank you for asking this question! I have a ticket for Aida in August, and the responses have given me a much better idea of the evening. Does anyone know if people are allowed to step outside the arena during intermissions? My hotel is within sight of the arena, and I’m thinking the toilet break might be faster just heading to my hotel room.

Yes you can leave the arena area during intermissions. Many people do so to walk around the piazza with drink in hand. Ushers hand out a card as you leave the arena which you then hand back to an usher when you re-enter.