Last night was the villa's night out at the opera. After scarfing down a dinner, we boarded the 7pm train into Florence. It was a very nervous train ride, since the ticket validator had recently broken. If the Italian train officials see you on the train without a validated ticket, its a huge fine, regardless of the strength of your case. Anyway, they weren't there, so we got off safely.
Arriving well before the opera began, many of us headed across the street to a local caffe where I enjoyed a dish of tiramisu. I'm trying to decide what is better, tiramisu or tiramisu gelatto. They each have their strengths. Right now I think the gelatto might actually better. That's definitely the case with chocolate mousse.
The opera began, and of course, it was in Italian. The opera was Rossini's famous "L'Italiana in Algeri," a comedy about an African king who kidnaps an italian woman. Here is what I think happened:
The king of the oompa-loompas, who also happened to be the sultan from Aladdin (whose pet was Simba from the Lion King), was bored with his wife, who looked like peach from Mario Brothers (all her servants looked like that mushroom guy from Mario... I guess Mario is an Italian name right?). So, she tries to marry her off to one of his slaves, who happens to be an Italian guy. Searching for a new wife, the sultan from Aladdin gets his buddies to go to Italy and kidnap a woman in a wedding dress, which of course they do. However, they also bring back her uncle, who looks just like Willie Wonka (do you see the connection yet?). Willie Wonka I guess was also her lover, that part of the show went way over my head.
But he wasn't her real lover, her real lover was the prisoner of the sultan. The second act of the show is about their attempts at escaping back to Italy together, leaving the sultan in Algeri. In my favorite scene of the performance, the Italians dance around with balloons shaped like Italy, ride on a giant cannon in the shape of a wine bottle, and wave a giant Italian flag around. Their plan is brilliant: feed their captor Italian food, and convince him that Italian people only eat and sleep. Of course, this sultan is an intelligent man, so he falls for it (I would have too). They begin shoveling massive quantities of Italian cuisine in his face.
While he is eating, a ship magically shows up. They get on this ship and sail back to Italy.
At least, that's what I thought happened, though I was likely very wrong. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the experience. My favorite part was just listening to the orchestra- especially their intonation. Sounded just beautiful. Apparently the overture from this opera is one of the more famous orchestral pieces.
So a fantastic night of cultural enrichment. Planning on heading to Bologna and Parma this weekend, with a possible Sunday day trip to Perugia!
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