Teatro San Carlo and Memus Museum
Of Italy's opera houses, La Scala in Milan is the most famous, but San Carlo is perhaps the most beautiful, and Naples is, after all, the most operatic of cities. The neoclassical structure, designed by Antonio Niccolini, was built in a mere nine months after an 1816 fire destroyed the original. Many operas, including Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Rossini's La Donna del Lago, were composed for the house. Its nearly 200 boxes are arranged on six levels, and its 12,000-square-foot stage permits large-scale productions.
If you’re not attending an opera, you can still experience the splendid theater on a 30-minute guided tour and a visit to Memus (Museo Memoria e Musica). The theatrically lit museum and archive have props, costumes, stage sets, multimedia displays, and documents galore.
