Museo Teatrale alla Scala
Backstage of La Scala in object form — autograph scores, foyer board games, and ceramic commedia dell'arte clowns that never made the stage.
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Opened in 1913 around a private collection bought at auction, the museum traces Italian theatre from commedia dell'arte and Eleonora Duse through to La Scala's own opera history. The second-floor library holds 140,000 works — librettos, periodicals, and the personal correspondence of musicians, actors, and dancers.
What to look for
- Autograph scores — composers' handwritten manuscripts on display among the instruments and costumes
- Precious ceramic figures portraying commedia dell'arte characters
- Board games that used to be played by audiences in La Scala's foyer
In Piazza della Scala, entered through the building directly adjacent to the opera house.
Museo Teatrale alla Scala is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Milan, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Milan pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Milan
- San Siro — Giuseppe Meazza StadiumTwo rival clubs, one ground: the 75,817-seat arena where Milan's football fault line runs.
- Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano)Construction started in 1386 and the final details were finished in 1965 — the city couldn't stop adding to it.
- La ScalaThe gallery gods who booed tenor Roberto Alagna off stage mid-Aida in 2006 still haunt the loggione — the cheapest seats in opera's most feared house.
- Santa Maria delle GrazieThe wall Leonardo painted on was sand-bagged against Allied bombs in 1943 — and held.
- Sforza CastleLeonardo da Vinci painted the ceiling here. Bramante did the walls down the hall.
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele IIThe direct ancestor of every enclosed shopping mall on earth — and there is still a worn hole in the floor where Milanese spin a heel for luck.