Patriots and arias: Italian opera seeks UNESCO recognition

Opera originated in Italy, it was sung by Italian patriots and some of the world’s greatest arias came from the peninsula. Now Rome wants credit where credit is due.

Home to Scarlatti and Verdi, Italy has put in a bid for UNESCO – the UN’s cultural agency – to recognise the art of Italian opera singing on its list of intangible global heritage. A decision is due at the end of the year.

“Opera was born in Italy,” said Stephane Lissner, the French director of the San Carlo theatre in Naples, which opened in 1737 and claims to be the oldest opera house in the world.

After various experiments with musical theatre in the 16th century, opera came into being around 1600 in Florence, with the founding of an academy promoting an innovative combination of sung text and music.

The first great composer of opera is considered to be Italy’s Claudio Monteverdi, who lived from 1567 to 1643 – and that was just the start.

French theatre director, head of the San Carlo theatre in Naples, Stephane Lissner.

“If you look at the history of opera in the 18th century, there were 400 new compositions during that century” in Naples alone, Lissner told AFP. The southern city was, at the time, the capital...