[June 2024] In Mantua, a historic town in Lombardy, northern Italy, we parked our car in the same large car park, Campo Canoa, as we did last time.
This car park faces Lago Inferiore, one of the three lakes that surround the old town.
It is on the opposite side of the old town, and last time we walked across the long pavement leading to the old town, but this time we took the shuttle bus.
Both the parking and the shuttle bus are free.
What generosity!
It must be proof that the town is wealthy.
Our destination this time was Teatro Bibiena in the old town.
The reason we planned this short trip in the first place was because my husband happened to find a photo of this theatre on the internet and we both wanted to go there once.
When we went inside, we found that it was as luxurious as we expected.
Usually, theatres have a reddish image, but this one is a little different.
It has four layers of box seats like a balcony facing the outdoors.
All the seats are boxes except for the stalls.
Each box seats four people, and the walls are decorated with frescoes.
It’s a small theatre with a capacity of only 363 people.
It didn’t seem that small to me, though.
The theatre opened in December 1769, and shortly thereafter, in January of the following year, Mozart, who was 13 years old at the time, performed here.
In this beautiful theatre with such a history, we listened to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50.
The performers were Russian female pianist Alexandra Troussova, her brother, violinist Kirill Troussov, and Italian cellist Giovanni Gnocchi.
Gnocchi in particular gave a passionate performance with his cheeks trembling.
Troussova’s strong upper arms gave a powerful performance.
Troussov was a narcissistic guy with long hair, bare feet and loafers.
There was a part where the violin and cello seemed to be having a conversation with the sound of gently lapping waves (piano) in the background, which was very pleasant.
Tickets for the wonderful music in this wonderful theatre were only €10.
I didn’t know this until I went, but it was apparently part of a music festival held all over Mantua.
