- world-renowned Opera house in Milan. Was inaugurated in August 1778, the year, and was originally called the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro Alla Scala. First production at the theatre was "Recognized Europe" Antonio Salieri. Over the past 200 years on the stage of La Scala were almost all great Opera singers of Italy and a huge number of celebrities from around the world. Today, La Scala is considered one of the leading Opera and ballet theatres in the world. Season at the theatre traditionally begins December 7 — the Day of Saint Ambrose, the patron Saint of Milan.

In the La Scala theatre Museum, to get to that through the theatre foyer, houses a collection of paintings, drafts, statues, costumes and other exhibits relating to the history of theater and Opera in General.

In 1776, a terrible fire destroyed the Milanese theatre Teatro Regio Ducale. Immediately after this, a group of wealthy citizens who had their own lodges in the theatre, wrote a letter to ERC-Duke Ferdinand of the Austrian with a request to build a new theatre to replace burned-out. On the project of the new building worked neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini, but his first draft was rejected. Only some time later, the Empress Maria Theresa had approved some variation of the idea of the architect.

The new theatre was built on the site of the Church of Santa Maria Alla Scala — hence its modern name. For the past 2 years on the construction of the building architects worked Giuseppe Piermarini, Pietro Nosetti and Antonio and Giuseppe Fe. New La Scala has accommodated over 3 thousand spectators, and the scene was already one of the largest in Italy (16, 15 m * 20, 4 m * 26 m). The construction costs of the theatre were offset by the sale of lodges, which were richly decorated by the owner (one of the first, for example, was Stendhal). Soon La Scala became the meeting place for noble and wealthy residents of Milan, but to visit the theatre could and poorer sections of the audience for them was provided by the so-called "Logone". As in most theatres of that time, La Scala was also a casino, players who was placed in the lobby.

Initially, La Scala has covered more than a thousand oil lamps, and in case of a fire a few rooms of the building were filled with hundreds of sump pumps. In the future, oil lamps were replaced by gas, and they, in turn, in electrical in 1883, the year.

In 1907, the year the La Scala building was renovated, and the number of visual locations fell slightly to 2800. During the Second World war the theatre was severely damaged by airstrikes, but already in 1946, the year was restored and opened again. The first post-war production was the concert under the direction of Arturo Toscanini, a disciple and colleague of the great Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.