Teatro San Carlo

Theater Naples, Italy

The Real Teatro di San Carlo (Royal Theatre of Saint Charles), its original name under the Bourbon monarchy but known today as simply the Teatro di San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples. It is located adjacent to the central Piazza del Plebiscito, and connected to the Royal Palace.

It is the oldest continuously active venue for public opera in the world, opening in 1737, decades before both the Milan's La Scala and Venice's La Fenice theatres. The opera season runs from late January to May, with the ballet season taking place from April to early June. The house once had a seating capacity of 3,285, but has now been reduced to 1386 seats. Given its size, structure and antiquity, it was the model for the following theatres in Europe.