Slow Travel · Palazzo dei Mutilati, Verona
A tenor, a mezzo-soprano and a pianist sing the best-known arias and duets for an hour in Sala Antonio Girelli, the wood-panelled hall of the 1934 Palazzo dei Mutilati, five minutes on foot from the Arena. Pick it when the Arena is dark, sold out or simply too long a night: it plays outside the festival months, ends in time for dinner, and the singers come out to meet you afterwards.
The evening starts with a glass of prosecco in the palace, then a 60-minute programme of opera's greatest hits. The listing names Verdi's La donna è mobile, Donizetti's Una furtiva lagrima, Bizet's Habanera and the Intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, sung by a tenor and a mezzo-soprano with a pianist. Afterwards the performers come out to the atrium for photos and a chat. The hall itself is part of the show: Palazzo dei Mutilati opened in 1934 to a design by Francesco Banterle, with Quinzano stone figures at the entrance and the original wooden furnishings inside Sala Antonio Girelli.
Be clear about what you're buying. This is a recital in a room, not a staged opera: no sets, no chorus, no orchestra, three musicians. It is not an Arena di Verona ticket either. GetYourGuide and Viator don't sell the festival; for a night in the Arena, buy on arena.it and read our Arena tickets guide. What this concert does well is give you real voices at close range, any month of the year, in about 90 minutes door to door.
Two small things. Your booking counts as a donation to the Ubaldo Composta Cultural Music Association, which runs the concerts without state funding, so at check-in you fill in a membership card with your name and country. And the seats are period wooden chairs; one guest called them very uncomfortable. The same hall hosts the cheaper Sala Girelli concert with the same line-up of tenor, mezzo and piano under a different organiser. This one costs more and adds the prosecco, assigned seats and the meeting with the singers.
Palazzo dei Mutilati is a short walk from Piazza Bra. Climb the stairs and go in through the big front door; wheelchair users enter from the side of the building.
Fill in the association's membership card with your name and country, take your glass of prosecco, and staff show you to your seat.
Arias and duets by Verdi, Donizetti, Bizet and their peers, with the Cavalleria rusticana Intermezzo on the piano in between.
The performers come out to the atrium. Guests report the singers happily chat and pose for photos.
You're back on the square in a few minutes, early enough for a relaxed dinner.
★★★★★It was perfect. My first opera experience and I loved it. I was blown away by the singers and the pianist. It has made me want to to experience more opera. Can’t recommend enough
★★★★★The two singers and pianist were wonderful. This was my daughter’s (12 and 10) first taste of opera and they thought it was amazing! My elder daughter said she loved it and couldn’t describe her emotions but she was transfixed!
★★★★★Wonderful intimate Opera with amazingly talented opera singers and their pianist. The best way to spend an hour before dinner when in Verona.
★★★★★Absolutely brilliant. The small theatre room was amazing. The singers and pianist were outstanding. Very enjoyable indeed.
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No. It's an independent concert in Palazzo dei Mutilati, a few minutes from the Arena. Festival tickets are sold only by the Fondazione Arena on arena.it, its box offices and the Vivaticket network.
The music lasts 60 minutes with no interval. With the prosecco on arrival and meeting the singers afterwards, plan on about 1.5 hours.
It's the same hall, Sala Antonio Girelli inside Palazzo dei Mutilati, and the same format of tenor, mezzo-soprano and piano. The organisers differ. This listing adds prosecco, assigned seats and the meet-the-singers moment; the Sala Girelli listing is cheaper with a welcome drink.
None is listed, and smart-casual is fine. The strict dress rules you may have read about apply to the Arena's stalls, not to this concert.
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An hour of opera's great arias by a tenor, a mezzo-soprano and a pianist in an Art Deco palace near the Arena, with prosecco.
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