Arena

L'Arena di Verona

This summer between 21 June and 31 August, half a million people filled l'Arena di Verona for its 81st stagione lirica, the finest open air opera event in the world. For 2000 years, l'Arena has attracted people to its centre to watch the spectacles of the moment. They have applauded the latest stars of the opera world, and the slaying of gladiators.

Built in the First Century, l'Arena is the 3rd largest Roman theatre in existence today and the best preserved. Although originally built outside of the city walls, over time Verona has expanded to include the pink-marble amphitheatre into its heart and the centre of its history. Arena comes from the Latin for sand, which was scattered on the ground of the internal oval in preparation for the first of the theatre's shows – the gladiators.

For the first four hundred years, gladiators fought and died in l'Arena, and bloody sacrifices were made to various gods. Even though the growth of Christianity meant that in 325 Emperor Constantine forbade the shows, the crowd was still so attracted to them that it was nearly a hundred years before they were finally finished by Emperor Onario.

Although the Roman Empire fell, l'Arena stood strong and despite earthquakes damaging sections of it, the audience still came. In mediaeval times, justice provided the shows. Criminals were executed, duels were held to settle disputes, and innocence was proven or not before God by extracting objects from vats of boiling water. In the late 13th Century under the rule of the Scaligeri family, 200 heretics were burnt at the stake there.

During the Renaissance l'Arena became less a place of the people and more of the nobles. Entertainment was in the form of jousts, horse shows, comedy, plays, and bull hunts with dogs. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the amphitheatre's sand became less soiled with blood. Circuses and plays became more popular, along with shows of the new phenomenon of hot-air balloons.

In 1913, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, a legendary performance of Aida heralded the entrance of the annual stagione lirica onto what has become a world stage in l'Arena di Verona. Although most famous now for the cultural elite and opera, l'Arena still boasts an impressive calendar of rock and pop musical events to do what it was built for 2000 years ago " attract and entertain the people. For more information and details of this year's stagione lirica, visit l'Arena's website at: www.arena.it    

stagione lirica  season of opera