Milan · Stage
Prima della Scala
The opera season opens on the feast of Saint Ambrose and the country watches on television
Every 7 December, the feast day of Milan's patron saint, La Scala opens its season with a new production that is broadcast live nationally and treated as a civic event. Politicians attend, protesters gather outside, the loggione prepares its verdict and the whole thing runs until well after midnight.
It is the single most formal evening in European culture and the gallery tickets still cost less than dinner.
Milan
While you are in Milan
Opera houseBook aheadMilan · Centro
Teatro alla Scala
The most demanding audience in opera sits in the cheapest seats, right at the top
LandmarkBook aheadMilan · Santa Maria delle Grazie
The Last Supper
Fifteen minutes, twenty-five people, one wall that has been failing since the day it dried
MuseumMilan · Brera
Pinacoteca di Brera
Napoleon's art seizures, hung above a working art academy
Stage
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The largest arts festival on earth, with no selection committee and no quality control