La Scala is the heart of opera in Milan, and a day around it is one of Italy’s most graceful cultural plans. You’ll walk through a museum of scores and costumes, look into the great red-and-gold auditorium, and step out into a glass-roofed arcade for coffee. Here’s how to shape the day.
The Museo Teatrale alla Scala
The museum sits in the Casino Ricordi, right beside the opera house at Largo Ghiringhelli 1, opposite Palazzo Marino. Founded in 1913, it follows roughly 240 years of opera, ballet and orchestral life. The first room holds Franz Liszt’s Steinway. Beyond it, portraits of Verdi, Puccini, Callas, Tebaldi and Toscanini line the walls.
Look closely at the manuscripts. Pages from Verdi’s Requiem and Rossini’s Tancredi sit among costumes and stage sketches, and the Livia Simoni Library upstairs holds more than 150,000 books. Most visitors need about an hour and a half.
Seeing the auditorium
A museum ticket includes a view of the theater from a box on the third level, as long as no rehearsal or performance is under way. To see the Royal Box, the historic foyers and the stalls, join a guided tour; English-language tours have been offered in the afternoon. As of this writing the museum opens daily from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, with last entry at 5:00 pm, but confirm times and ticket terms on the official site before you go.
Coffee in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Walk across the piazza to the Galleria, Milan’s glass-domed arcade, and look up. The mosaic floor, the iron-and-glass roof, the shopfronts: it all feels staged for an audience. Camparino, the historic bar inside the Galleria, makes a fine stop for an aperitivo before an evening performance.
A second stop: Pinacoteca di Brera
If you’d like to add a painting gallery, Brera is a short walk away. Its collection includes Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin, Mantegna’s foreshortened Dead Christ and Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus. Pair it with a long lunch nearby, then return to the opera district as the light turns golden.
Planning an evening at La Scala in Milan
Performances are ticketed separately, through the theater’s official site or its box office at Largo Ghiringhelli 1. The season traditionally opens on December 7, the feast of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan’s patron saint, with a broadcast gala that draws national attention. Tickets for that night are rarely easy to find, so for a first visit a quieter date in the season is a lovely alternative. Evening dress is smart rather than strict.
For more of Italy’s cultured side, see our guide to Modena and Alba at the table, or our walk through Florence’s apothecaries and perfume ateliers.
