I’ve read that buying La Scala tickets online gives a limited choice of seats. Can I do better going through an agency or another site (like Stubhub)? Does anyone have experience with this or recommendations? Thanks!
Posted by
Green Bay
21274 posts
I have always used the official website, http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/index.html
This site will show if tickets are on sale yet, or when they will go on sale.
I was just looking at "Ernani" for Oct 9. They show the seat map when you go to buy. I saw seats on the main floor in the back and sides for 276 EUR, and other seats in the tiers, but all the cheap seats were sold out and the lowest price tickets were "obstructed view" seats for 90 EUR. I have no experience using 3rd party vendors for operas in Italy.
La Scala is not that big. Only 2000 seats, about half the size of The Met.
Posted by
281 posts
I've purchased tickets on the La Scala website, but planning as far in advance as possible improves the seat choice. As in most opera houses, subscriptions are filled first, so what remains is left for public sale. If you can buy tickets as soon as your performance goes on sale, that gives you best choice. You could check the site for what's available for your date before contacting an agency. They may buy tickets in groups and may have better seats than what's on the site, but since they will probably charge a lot more, it would be best to make sure that they can do better than you can on your own. If you haven't been to most European opera houses, be aware that box seats may have a couple of rows, and if you're in the back with tall folks in front, sight lines may be tricky!
I have found that ticket prices for good seats are comparable to prices at the Met--could be $250-300. Similar in Paris. I have tickets for the Verdi Festival in Parma in October, and I think the four tickets we have were about $275 each. But definitely worth it!
Good luck with getting tickets. It's a marvelous experience.
Posted by
3124 posts
Be aware that the cheaper seats are very narrow with very little legroom. I can't speak for the more expensive ones, having not sat in them. La Scala is a historic theater, of course -- not built like NYC's Alice Tully Hall (where, the story goes, Miss Tully had her 6'4" nephew sit while workmen adjusted the row ahead of him so he could judge when the seat rows were far enough apart).