Valditara: ‘From next year, opera will also be included in the Italian curriculum’

From next year, opera will also be included in the Italian literature syllabus for sixth-form colleges. This was announced at La Scala by the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, during a meeting entitled ‘Opera as national literature’ before an audience of pupils from the Milanese schools Tito Livio, Virgilio and San Carlo.

Valditara highlighted the importance of opera in shaping the Italian identity. ‘The ordinary citizen did not recite Leopardi’s *L’infinito* but sang *Va’, pensiero*,’ he observed. Opera ‘will be a chapter in the history of Italian literature’ and ‘will be included in the syllabus alongside Manzoni’. Italian teachers will therefore cover it without the need for training courses or additional funding.

“There will be no specialist teachers; we must not assume that a teacher of literature is unfamiliar with *Nabucco* or opera,” added Valditara, flanked by the theatre’s superintendent, Fortunato Ortombina, who highlighted the link between Verdi and Manzoni and the importance to Italia of figures such as Verdi and Toscanini. Valditara explained that the history of classical music will form part of the curriculum from primary school onwards as ‘an element of personal development’. This initiative includes the National Orchestra of Music High Schools, which is set to make its debut at La Scala on 6 March. ‘La forza del destino, Don Carlo and Simon Boccanegra,’ emphasised Ortombina, ‘I regard them as no less than novels.’