Teatro La Fenice

In 1789, a few years after the destruction of the San Benedetto Theater is when everything started for the Teatro La Fenice. It was then that the leading opera house at the time was destroyed by a large fire and several wealthy Opera lovers of the city, joined forces to add a new leading opera house to the city’s roaster.

Their dream was for it to surpass the fame of San Benedetto and dwarf the competition by the already rich roster of opera houses in Venice. By naming it after the phoenix (La Fenice) – the mythical bird who arose from its ashes – they could not have possibly predicted how appropriate the name would be, and how many times would the theater rise from its ashes.

Twenty-nine designs were presented with the one by Giannantonio Selva (1753-1816) winning with seventy-two votes for and twenty-eight against. Selva’s proposition was simple in its exterior, maybe too simple for the hungry aesthetics of the Venetian people that were inflamed by the competition for the new theater.

Amidst considerable controversy, the demolition of the old houses that occupied the site started in June of 1790. In April of 1792, it was inaugurated with its first opera play.

Until the time of its first destruction by fire in 1836, the Opera had already gained fame as one of the leading operas of Europe with many world premieres and Opera masterpieces presented on its stage.

In December of 1837, like the true mythical bird, a new, reconstructed, redecorated, the more elegant theater opened its doors exactly one year after it had been brought down to ashes. Another mythical figure, composer Verdi, the most important composer of the 19th century would intertwine his career with that second period of the theater. In 1842 he would be hosted with one of his first-ever operas “Nabucco”.

In total five of his operas would be commissioned to him by La Fenice, the theater with the most premieres of his work after La Scala in Milan. The theater’s glorious course through the years was to be interrupted by a new devastating fire in recent times.

In 1996 two electricians whose company was facing heavy fines over delays in repair work in which they were engaged, set a fire that destroyed the building. In December of 2003, a new modern in its acoustics and true to its neoclassical past theater opened its doors again. Even if you don’t have the time to book a ticket for a show, you should at least try the cocktail-guided tour. At least you will miss out on style. More