Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele

Italy, the land of commedia dell’arte and the birthplace of opera, boasts a fine selection of theatres, found in both its biggest cities and its smallest towns. While Palermo is home to at least a dozen, our favourite has to be the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele. The city’s former mayor ordered the construction of this majestic tribute to music and the performing arts, with work beginning in 1875.

The project was so ambitious that three churches and monasteries were demolished to make room for it. The first architect was Italian, and when he passed away, his son took over, seeing the colossal work through to completion. The result was so grand that when King Umberto I of Italy attended the inauguration in 1897, he reportedly questioned whether Palermo really needed a theatre this size.

A stunning example of neoclassical architecture, inspired by both Greek and Roman design, the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is Italy’s largest theatre, and the third-largest in Europe, just behind those in Paris and Vienna. As if that wasn’t enough, the theatre made its mark in pop culture when its monumental staircase was featured in the unforgettable final scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part III, released in 1990.

Some say the theatre is also home to the ghost of a nun, said to wander its backstage corridors. It’s elegant, iconic, and just a little haunted…