Record takings and spectators from abroad for the Arena di Verona

The premises for an excellent edition were all there, but superstition, as we know, is a must in the world of show business, so the top management of the Arena di Verona had not wanted to give too many details. Now, with the curtain closed on the 101st Opera Festival on 7 September, after three months and 50 live evenings, the numbers confirm the auspices and perhaps even exceed them, given that the summer season of the Veronese Foundation recorded the best ever takings, for a total of 33.6 million euro, higher even than the 100th edition, which in turn had set a box-office record.

There were 417,354 spectators, 15,000 more than last summer, confirming not only the excellent state of health of the live performance sector in Italy (and opera in particular), but also its ability to attract international audiences and young people: most of the Festival's audiences (57%) came from abroad, from 136 countries including, for the first time, Barbados, Cambodia and Aruba. Germans confirmed themselves as the greatest admirers of the Arena di Verona, while the number of spectators from the United States, Canada, Spain and Korea increased. Young people are also on the increase: 3% in the under-30s and 5% in the 30-40 age group.

In just three months of the Festival, the Arena di Verona managed to attract almost 20 per cent of the total number of spectators who attended an opera in Italy last year, according to the latest Siae report, some 2.1 million people.

There were 16 sold-out evenings, four of which for Giacomo Puccini's Turandot alone, the title that inaugurated the theatre's summer programme, with over 40 thousand spectators, setting a further record on the opening night (8 June), that of takings, with 1.2 million euro, the highest ever for an evening at the Arena, thus surpassing the previous record of the Domingo gala, unchallenged since 24 July 2009. Average takings per performance were close to 700 thousand euro (698,664), again the highest value recorded so far by the Festival, compared to 674,490 euro last year and 575,575 euro in 2022. The same applies to the average number of spectators per evening, at 8,627, higher than the 8,219 of summer 2023. And if, as mentioned, the under-40 audience increased by 8%, the average age of Arena-goers is a little under 50, with around 85,000 people attending the Opera Festival for the first time.

Finally, on a positive note, the contribution of partners and private sponsors to the Foundation's activities, which this year raised EUR 2.1 million through the '67 Columns' fundraising project, plus EUR 2.7 million from sponsorships.