Arena di Verona

This guide to the Arena di Verona traces how a Veronese tenor named Giovanni Zenatello, testing the ancient amphitheatre's acoustics around 1912, convinced an impresario to attempt something nobody had staged here in centuries: a full opera under the open sky, timed to a Verdi anniversary. It follows the young architect handed the impossible design brief, Ettore Fagiuoli, who had never worked in theater before and chose to build his set forward from the Arena's own Roman stone rather than hide it behind a painted backdrop. Clap once from the top tier and listen for how long the sound takes to come back to you.