The Fenice Opera House

　　The theatre rapidly established a reputation as one of Europe's foremost opera houses. Major works by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti were premiered at the Fenice during the years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

　　This theatre was also destroyed by fire shortly before the Christmas of 1836. Immediately after the disaster occurred, its managers instructed the brothers, Tommaso and Giambattista Meduna, to design another theatre on the same site. Within a year, the second Fenice was staging productions.

　　The composer most associated with the second Fenice is Giuseppe Verdi. Between 1844 and 1857 he premiered several of his most famous works there, including La Traviata and Rigoletto.

　　The Fenice was closed during the WWI but quickly regained prominence in the 1920 and '30s. In 1930 it staged the First International Festival of Contemporary Music.

　　It is a mark of the pride and affection which Venetians feel for their opera house that after its destruction for a third time, following an arson attack in 1996, the authorities decided to construct a virtual replica designed by Aldo Rossi.

　　The fact that the third Fenice unashamedly attempts to mimic its predecessor has resulted in fierce criticism by those who believe that the city should have built a modern theatre instead of a "fake, kitsch 19th century imitation."

　　Leaving this issue aside, it does seem that the third Fenice, which first opened in 2003, has poorer acoustics than its predecessor. Its furnishings are also rather too bright and garish for those with more conservative tastes.

　　It nevertheless remains one of the world's great operatic venues.