Teatro alla Scala

In front of you is La Scala. Perhaps you expected something showier: the façade is surprisingly modest. What matters is inside, in a horseshoe-shaped hall with six levels of boxes and galleries and legendary acoustics.

1A theatre born from a fire

On 26 February 1776 the Teatro Regio Ducale, inside the Royal Palace, burned down. Milan's noble families asked Empress Maria Theresa for a new one, and the job went to Giuseppe Piermarini. The chosen site was that of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, founded in the 14th century by Regina della Scala, of the family that ruled Verona. The church was demolished and its name passed to the theatre. It opened on 3 August 1778 with Antonio Salieri's «L'Europa riconosciuta».

2Verdi, Toscanini and 7 December

«Nabucco» premiered here in 1842 and «Otello» in 1887, and in 1926 Toscanini conducted the premiere of «Turandot», which Puccini left unfinished. In August 1943 bombs wrecked the auditorium. It was rebuilt quickly, and on 11 May 1946 Toscanini reopened it with a concert.

Every 7 December, Saint Ambrose's day, La Scala opens its season: it is the most glamorous night in Milan.

3What to look for

• The three-arched portico, designed so carriages could drop off theatregoers under cover.
• The Leonardo monument by Pietro Magni (1872), in the middle of the square.
• Palazzo Marino, opposite, Milan's city hall.