Teatro di San Carlo

The standard tour brings you into the horseshoe-shaped hall: red velvet, gilded boxes stacked in tiers, the royal box facing the stage and the painted ceiling above. It is short, and when rehearsals are on the route changes, so do not expect to see the stage machinery or backstage.

The booking line works Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Groups over 35 and school groups get quotes on request.

The theatre also sells a private special tour of 90 minutes. It goes much further than the standard visit:

• the boxes and the royal box;
• Rossini's historic barcaccia, the stage-side box of the Rossini era;
• the Salone degli Specchi, which leads to the gardens of the Royal Palace;
• the upper gallery and the painted ceiling seen close up;
• the terrace over the Romantic Garden, the dressing rooms, and a room dedicated to the soprano Renata Tebaldi.

It is priced per group: €450 for 1 to 5 people, €950 for 5 to 10 and €1,800 for 10 to 20. It runs only when there are no shows or rehearsals, is refunded if cancelled, and is not suitable for people with walking difficulties or children under 8. For most visitors the €9 tour plus a cheap opera seat is the better use of money.

The 2025/26 season runs into the autumn. On the theatre's calendar, checked on September 30, 2026:

• Mitridate, re di Ponto (Mozart): September 24 to October 1.
• Anita Rachvelishvili, recital: October 2.
• La Scuola Napoletana in Russia: October 3.
• Alcina (Handel), in concert form: from October 9.
• Yunchan Lim, piano: October 12.
• La Cenerentola (Rossini): from October 20.
• Il giovane Verdi: from October 24.

The 2026/27 season opens on December 2, 2026 with Verdi's Luisa Miller, followed by Madama Butterfly. Under the 2025/26 rules, opera and ballet start at 8 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. on Sundays, concerts at 7 p.m. and chamber music at 6 p.m. Doors open an hour before, and latecomers wait for the first interval. Operas have surtitles in Italian and English.

Prices change with the title, the day and the seat. For a mid-range opera such as Mitridate or La Cenerentola on a weekday, the 2025/26 tariff table gives:

Opening nights run far higher: up to €800 in the front stalls. Under-30s can buy reduced seats (€10–€50 depending on the show) only at the box office with ID. Online sales through Vivaticket are full price only and add a service fee. The theatre warns against resale sites, which it says sell marked-up and invalid tickets.

The theatre opened in 1737. On February 13, 1816 a fire during a ballet rehearsal destroyed much of it, and Antonio Niccolini rebuilt it; a recent restoration aimed to return the hall to his post-fire design. Today it seats about 1,380 people in the stalls and six tiers of boxes.

• Dress: the theatre publishes no dress code. Smart-casual is normal for evening performances; nobody checks on a tour.
• Children: admitted to performances from age 6, with their own ticket.
• Photos: not allowed in the hall during performances.
• Next door: Piazza del Plebiscito and Gambrinus are two minutes away; the Via Toledo and Municipio area has the metro.