Will be on Venice tour in the fall, on a free night would like to visit the Opera House. I usually by a middle of the road priced ticket but would pay more if the seating situation would provide a more enjoyable experience. Any recommendations for what seats are the best for the price. On the La Fenice website it states Loggione or Galleria seats have low visibility so will avoid those. Any advise is appreciated.
Posted by
Green Bay
20087 posts
Main floor is just fine.
Posted by
Orinda, California, United States
286 posts
I recently sat in the 2nd row behind the larger aisle that is parallel to the stage on the floor. I didn't buy the tickets so not sure what that area is called. The cross aisle is about 2/3 back from the stage. I would have liked to sit a row or 2 before this aisle as late comers interfered with the view at the beginning.
Posted by
271 posts
Be careful of box seats in any opera house if they are not in the front of the box. Seats in the back row (there are usually two rows) can be a problem if tall people are in front, as the boxes aren't raked and there may not be much room to move your chairs to a better position.
Posted by
TX
42 posts
Agree with Lois above about the box seats. Also the seats aren’t comfortable at all. We had the two front of the box seats to the right center facing the stage, and we had to angle our bodies which added to the already uncomfortable seats. There was a bit of angling to see the entire stage and also we were being courteous by slumping down a bit for the two back seats behind us. Seats description copied from our tickets: “Palco centrale III-par. Ordine 3, Palco 24 Posto 1 & Posto 2”
I would try the main floor seats near the stage if I could afford it. It was still a great experience and the opera house is stunning! Arrive earlier to take a look around. Also, would have taken the day tour to hear the history and get behind the scenes next time. Enjoy!
p.s. When I was picking our seats, I found a good post on TripAdvisor travel forum that gave you ideas about specific seating.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16260 posts
We saw Carmen at La Fenice in 2013, about ten years after the newly-rebuilt theatre reopened.
I loved the experience of sitting in one of the boxes, up where we could see the theatre as well as the stage. Opera was originally a social occasion: people went to "see and be seen." This box seating gave us the feeling of participating in that. We were in the back seats, but the two women in front kindly sat apart from one another so we had a good view of the stage.
If you are interested in Venice and La Fenice, I highly recommend reading the book "City of Falling Angels" by John Berendt.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Falling_Angels
This non-fiction book covers many topics, but the theme running in the background is the story of the fire that destroyed the opera house in 1996 and the controversy around re-building it "com' era, dov' era" (as it was, where it was). It was from this book that I learned that the restaurant where my husband and I dined on our honeymoon in 2003, Antico Martini, had a role in the fire-fighting efforts: because the canal nearest the opera house had been drained for cleaning, fireboats had to approach from another side, dragging hoses right through the restaurant.