2026 Arena di Verona Opera Festival brings Moulin Rouge to Italy

From June to September, Arena di Verona Opera Festival will open its 103rd season with Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata. The exciting twist: an historically accurate reconstruction of France’s historic Moulin Rouge is in the making, decorating the arena and bringing audience members to early 20th-century Paris with its spirited nightlife and, most of all, its cabaret. 

No effort is spared. The opera will also be directed by none other than Paul Curran, who worked on the production of the film Moulin Rouge!. Into this Parisian hub of the arts and intellect, Verdi’s Violetta Valéry is launched into the public limelight. 

The open-air Arena di Verona has hosted the opera festival since 1936, but its first operas were performed in 1913 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi. Its venue, being an ancient Roman amphitheatre, is perhaps one of the most iconic for opera productions.