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Palermo’s opera house located on Piazza Verdi. It is the largest theater in Italy, the 3rd largest opera house in Europe, & is renowned for its perfect acoustics. The theater opened in 1897 after 22 years in the process due to political infighting, the death of the original architects, cost over runs, etc.. (Enrico Caruso was one of the young singers at the inaugural performance.) The exterior was designed in the late-Renaissance style incorporating elements of the Greek temples found at Selinunte and Agrigento.(We went there.) Although it was designed to seat 3000, the current version seats 1350 in 7 tiers of boxes shaped in the typical horseshoe style, rising up around an inclined stage.
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Western Europe
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