After visiting Teatro San Carlo, Stendhal wrote in his 1817 travel journal, “Rome, Naples and Florence”, “There is nothing in all of Europe comparable to this theatre, that gives the slightest idea of what it is like. It dazzles the eyes, enraptures the soul”.

The theater is, indeed, an overwhelming triumph of beauty. Built in 1737 by King Charles III of Spain, it is the oldest continuously active opera venue in Europe and in the world. Although it is named after Saint Charles – and opened on 4 November, when the saint is celebrated – it was designed by Spanish military architect Giovanni Antonio Medrano and the director of the San Bartolomeo, Angelo Carasale to represent the king’s power and Naples’s status of great European capital.