Fedora

About

Teatro Massimo Bellini’s Fedora, directed by Salvo Piro with sets and costumes by Alfredo Troisi and originating from Teatro Umberto Giordano (Foggia), features elegant, mobile Art Nouveau scenery that enables fluid transitions and reflects the opera’s aristocratic world. The staging largely follows the libretto, emphasizing key dramatic points such as Fedora’s grief after her fiancé’s death. Though essentially traditional, it includes striking liberties: in Act II, an onstage pianist (Paola Selvaggio) replaces Olga’s famed salon pianist, and the ending has Fedora walking toward the back of the stage like a tragic heroine instead of collapsing from poison. This symbolic gesture was amplified by a workers’ protest: theater staff appeared onstage with a banner reading “Non facciamola morire” (Let’s not let it die), highlighting the institution’s precarious finances amid funding cuts.