The Arena of Verona has now opened ticket sales for the 2026 season of the Opera Festival. From 12 June to 12 September, there will be three whole months of live shows, including 50 evenings of opera, great music and dance. Opening the festival are two performances of a new production of Verdi’s La Traviata on 12 and 13 June, and Zeffirelli’s magical rendition of Turandot returns, 100 years after the opera was first performed.
Two different versions of the Arena’s top opera Aida will be performed: the “crystal” production created by Stefano Poda to mark the 100th edition of the Arena di Verona Festival, between 19 June and 24 July. And, for seven evenings between 30 July and 10 September, the Franco Zeffirelli production.
Stefano Poda’s 2025 production of Verdi’s lyrical drama Nabucco will also return to the Arena for 10 performances in 2026, between 26 June and 9 September.
The production of La Bohème directed by Alfonso Signorini for the 2024 edition of the Festival will also return to the stage for four nights between 3 and 25 July. Celebrating its 100th birthday, Puccini’s masterpiece Turandot will return for six evening performances of Zeffirelli’s magical production (a box-office record holder at the Arena) between 7 August and 11 September.
Anyone planning to be in Italy next year might be interested to take a look at the programme. If you are joining our Austria and the Dolomites tour in July 2026, then the day the tour ends in Verona there is a performance of Aida that same evening at 9.15pm. Seeing a production in the spectacular setting of the Roman amphitheatre is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we would highly recommend it. For more details, take a look at the Arena website.