La Scala Theatre & Museum Guided Tour Milan

Teatro alla Scala: History of Milan's Opera House

When the old court theatre of Milan burned down in 1776, a new opera house was built in just two years on the site of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, which gave the theatre its name. The Teatro alla Scala opened on 3 August 1778, with a sober neoclassical façade that hides one of the most sumptuous interiors in Europe. Through the 19th century it became the stage where the great Italian composers premiered many of their best-loved operas.

In August 1943 bombing destroyed much of the building, and its reconstruction became a symbol of the city's rebirth; it reopened in 1946. A major restoration between 2002 and 2004 modernised the stage machinery while preserving the historic hall. Each year the season opens on 7 December, the feast of Milan's patron saint, one of the great events of the European cultural calendar.

The Auditorium and the Royal Boxes

The heart of the visit is the view into the auditorium. Its classic horseshoe shape rises through four tiers of boxes and two upper galleries, all in red velvet and gilded stucco, around a great crystal chandelier. The shape was designed for acoustics as much as elegance, and singers still say the hall carries the voice like few others in the world.

With your guide you look into the hall from one of the boxes, close to the royal box in the centre, while learning about the traditions of opera nights, from the boxes once owned by noble families to the demanding audience of the upper gallery. Please note that when rehearsals or private events are taking place, access to the auditorium can be limited and the visit may focus on the museum.

The La Scala Theatre Museum

The La Scala Theatre Museum opened in 1913 in the building next to the opera house and is reached through its own entrance on the square. Its rooms gather costumes worn in famous productions, sketches and models of set designs, portraits and busts of composers and performers, original scores and letters, and historic musical instruments such as spinets and early pianos.

The collection also includes porcelain figures of characters from the commedia dell'arte and ancient ceramics showing scenes from Greek theatre, which link La Scala to a far older tradition of performance. Your guide picks out the stories behind each piece. Many visitors ask whether La Scala Museum is worth visiting without seeing a performance, and this guided tour is the best way to understand its place in music history.

Piazza della Scala and the Heart of Milan

The opera house faces Piazza della Scala, a small elegant square with a monument in its centre and, opposite the theatre, Palazzo Marino, a 16th-century palace that is today Milan's city hall. From the square, the arch of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the glass-roofed shopping arcade opened in the 1860s and 1870s, leads straight to Piazza del Duomo.

This location makes the La Scala tour easy to combine with a visit to the cathedral, the Galleria and the Royal Palace on the same day, all within a few minutes on foot. The nearest metro stations are Duomo, on lines M1 and M3, and Montenapoleone on line M3. Morning slots are the calmest time to visit before the centre gets busy.