Teatro Massimo by 12vic
The Teatro Massimo is the main opera house in Palermo (there is another, the Politeama). It sits in it's own piazza on Via Maqueda, looking exceptionally elegant. This is, in my opinion, one of the more pleasant spots in Palermo, a city somewhat bereft of piazzas.
The opera house was closed for many years and has not long been reopened. It is designed internally in a similar manner to the San Carlo in Naples, with stalls, as usual but then lots and lots of boxes, indeed, if you sit in any row above the stalls you will have a box (apart from the very cheap tickets at the very top).
There are some wonderful productions of opera and ballet on here and if you turn up before the performance, the tickets at the top are sold very cheaply (in 2002/3 they cost between 3 and 5 euro depending on if it was an opera or ballet that was playing).
When there is a show on, they will put a red carpet down the steps and you can't help but feel very elegant as you wander down them after a show.
The opera season runs through the winter but if there is something on when you're in town it is definitely worth checking out, even if you aren't into the music because the interior is spectacular.