Arcadia Italy

By Ilaria d'onofrio, program assistant, summer 2018

On Friday night, the 13th of July, we went to see the opera show titled La Traviata, immersed in the beautiful scenery of the Baths of Caracalla.

First of all let’s talk about the place we were that night, the Baths of Caracalla. Called in Italian Terme di Caracalla it’s one of the many public baths of the Roman empire. It was built between the  AD 212 and 235, named after the emperor Caracalla who commissioned the construction. The baths remained in use until the 6th century and, as it was usual for ancient roman people, it was more a leisure center than just a series of baths. Besides being used for bathing, the huge complex (approximately 62 acres) also offered facilities for taking walks, reading, studying, exercise and body care. Unfortunately, after the arrival of barbarian population like Ostrogoths and Vitiges and the beginning of the Gothic war the baths were abandoned, and finally destroyed during the earthquake of the 847, which caused damage even to other Roman structures. Nowadays you can still admire some of the giant walls of the main structure and some ruins of the splendid mosaic floor. Unfortunately, most of the internal statues and decorations were lost with the passing of time, but the ones that were found are now preserved in different roman palaces or in museums spread in the Italian territory.

Now that you have an idea of the beauty of the location, let’s talk about the opera show: the original opera was written by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Alexander Dumas’s novel La Dame aux Camelias, and the music of the Italian artist Giuseppe Verdi. The show of the other night was instead created by Lorenzo Marina and the conductor of the orchestra was Yves Abel. The general idea of the creator was to set the story during the years of the roman la Dolce Vita, with lots of cinematic quotes of Federico Fellini movies, from the costumes of the dancers to the world of actors and paparazzi. But the passionate and heart-breaking love story between the two main characters, Alfredo and Violetta, remain the same. It will move your soul from joy to tears. The singers were all divine, and their voices merged perfectly one another and with the amazing music played by the orchestra. Listening live the lovely song Amami Alfredo (in English Love me Alfredo) was a true pleasure and honor, for all of us.

I definitely recommend to everybody to keep an eye on the summer program of the Opera Theatre.