Teatro di San Carlo

Interesting facts

With no curtains on any of its 184 boxes, the original hall ensured that no member of the audience could escape the king's gaze.

When it opened in 1737 the San Carlo was the largest opera house in the world, able to hold more than 3,000 people including standing room.

Its construction cost 75,000 ducats, and the architect Medrano had also been a tutor to the young King Charles.

At the opening night the hero Achilles was sung by a woman, the contralto Vittoria Tesi, as was customary at the time.

The composer Louis Spohr judged the hall in 1817 ideal for staged battles and sea storms, but too large for the tender moments of opera.

The interior was redecorated in 1844, when the Bourbon blue and gold gave way to the red and gold seen today.

Verdi suggested creating an orchestra pit in 1872; electric light arrived in 1890, ending the era of the great central chandelier.

Verdi's Gustavo III, written for Naples, was so mangled by censors that it reached the stage in Rome as Un ballo in maschera.

Naples-born tenor Enrico Caruso was booed by part of the audience in 1901 and vowed never to sing in his home city again.

Why it is worth it

Naples' royal opera house opened on 4 November 1737, the name day of its patron, the Bourbon king Charles, with Domenico Sarro's Achille in Sciro. Designed by the Sicilian architect Giovanni Antonio Medrano and fitted out by Angelo Carasale, it replaced an older theatre that no longer suited a capital with ambitions, and it was built directly against the Royal Palace. The San Carlo is the oldest opera house in the world that has remained in continuous use, older than both La Scala and La Fenice.

Inside, the auditorium is a deep horseshoe of 184 boxes in six tiers, rising around the great royal box; the original decoration was in blue and gold, the colours of the Bourbons. A fire during a rehearsal in February 1816 gutted much of the building, and King Ferdinand had it rebuilt in about ten months by Antonio Niccolini, and performances resumed in January 1817. The painted ceiling, by the Cammarano family, shows Apollo presenting the great poets of the world to Minerva. After a long restoration completed in 2009, the theatre returned to the stage in 2010, with around 1,380 seats.

For half a century the San Carlo was the centre of Italian opera. Rossini served as house composer from 1815 to 1822 and wrote works such as Otello and Armida for it; Donizetti followed as artistic director, and Lucia di Lammermoor had its premiere here. Bellini and Verdi also wrote for this stage.

Getting there

The theatre stands in the San Ferdinando quarter of central Naples, beside the Royal Palace and a few steps from Piazza del Plebiscito and the Galleria Umberto I. Naples International Airport (NAP) is about 6 km away. The nearest metro stations are Municipio and Toledo on Line 1, each a short walk away.

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From the encyclopaedia

The Real Teatro di San Carlo, as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is a historic opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent to the Piazza del Plebiscito. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world, having opened in 1737, decades before either Milan's La Scala or Venice's La Fenice.

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Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia