Teatro di San Carlo, Naples

The Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, seen from the stalls: tier upon tier of gold-and-white boxes curving around to the royal box, under a ceiling painting of Apollo presenting the great poets to Minerva. It opened on November 4, 1737, decades before La Scala or La Fenice, and is often called the oldest opera house in continuous use. A fire on February 13, 1816, gutted it during a rehearsal; Antonio Niccolini had it rebuilt in less than a year, and that is the room you see. Red and gold, horseshoe-shaped and stacked with boxes, it is the classic Italian opera house in its purest form.