The 85th Opera Festival of the Fondazione Arena di Verona will take place this year between June 22 and September 1, with five different operas and a total of 49 performances. This year Nabucco, Aida, La Boheme, Il Barbiere di Sivilglia, LaTraviata will be performed. The summer season will begin with Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco, a new production by Denis Krief, who, as well as director, is also stage and costume designer for the opera. Nabucco is Arena’s third most-performed opera (after Aida and Carmen), with 16 different productions and a total of 146 performances. Visit www.arena.it/
The restored Teatro Verde, an open air theatre in a cypress garden on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore, reopens next month – a spectacular setting (so long as it doesn’t rain). Strauss’s comic opera A Night in Venice will be performed every night this summer from May 18. For somewhere to stay, log on to Venetian Apartments’ website (venice-rentals.com, Call 020-8878 1130), which has several apartments available for three- or four-night stays from £210pp. Opera tickets from €59pp. Visit www.teatro-verde.it/
