Venice - La Fenice Theater

(Local Name: Teatro La Fenice) The Teatro La Fenice is the opera house of Venice. Built between 1790 and 1792, it was rebuilt in its original Neo-Classical style in 1836 after a fire.

Its interior is richly decorated with gold, pink and white stucco, carvings and gilding. Rossini, Bellini and Verdi composed operas specially for this splendid theater which thus saw the first performances of Verdi's "Ernani" (1844), "Rigoletto" (1851), "La Traviata" (1853) and "Simon Boccanegra" (1857). It also staged the première of Benjamin Britten's "The Turn of the Screw".

Incidentally, the rapturous reception for Verdi and the incessant chants of "Viva Verdi" were not simply on grounds of artistic merit. VERDI spelt out the clarion call of Italian opposition to Austrian rule and stood for Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia (Victor Emanuel, King of Italy).

La Fenice is the most important opera house in Italy after La Scala, Milan.

La Fenice is one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world and the place where Verdi's Rigoletto and La Traviata had their first performances. The building was gutted by a fire in January, 1996 but recreated to reflect the original. The theatre re-opened in 2003.