La Traviata by barryg23
The highlight of our stay in Verona was seeing La Traviata at the Roman Arena. Verona's opera festival runs for most of the summer, with performances almost every night and the Forum, with its excellent acoustics, is a perfect venue. It was quite an experience to be there as darkness fell, as the music began, and as the candles were lit. This tradition of each spectator ligthing a candle dates back to 1913, when opera was first performed here and in order to illuminate the stage and to read the programmes, the audience brought small candles with them. All was going great - but then the rain came! Halfway through the first act the first drops started to fall, members of the orchestra then walked off the stage and we were left waiting in frustration. We had a half-hour wait until it cleared, then another rain-delay followed the briefest of restarts. Luckily we had brought two bottles of wine and plenty of munchies. Finally, the bad weather passed and the opera continued. Despite the delays, we had a memorable evening and I would recommend this festival to anyone who visits Verona in the summer months.
