Teatro La Fenice

The auditorium in gold and blue, reconstructed from photographs and a film

Verdi premiered five operas here and Rossini three, which makes the building a primary source. It has burnt down three times, most recently in 1996 when two electricians set it alight to avoid a penalty for late work. The rebuild was done "as it was, where it was", using nineteenth-century plans and, for the details, stills from a Visconti film shot in the auditorium.

The result is a reconstruction of a reconstruction that nonetheless works completely: a small horseshoe of about a thousand seats, all gold, with boxes that are mostly restricted-view and entirely worth it.