Northern Italy’s two grandest cities share many qualities: both are artistically bountiful, architecturally grandiose and have played vital roles in the formation of modern Italy. For over 200 years, they have also both been considerable players on the Italian opera scene.

Turin’s Teatro Regio, commissioned by Carlo Emanuele III and built in just two years under the architect Benedetto Alfieri, was inaugurated in 1740 with Arsace by Francesco Feo and remains one of Italy’s premier music venues.

The leading city of Piedmont, Turin was formerly capital of Savoy and later of the kingdom of Sardinia. Developed on a grand scale in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the historic centre is laid out on a regular plan with broad avenues and spacious piazze. Architecture is mainly Baroque and classical. Guarino Guarini and Filippo Juvarra, among the best architects of their time, worked here for much of their lives.

The world’s most famous opera house, with an unrivalled history and prestige, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan was inaugurated in 1778. After its extensive refurbishment from 2002 to 2004 and the melodrama of recent management controversies, La Scala is now very much back to its artistic best, the world’s greatest performers ensuring a packed house.

While rightly renowned as the world capital of fashion (as well as opera), and as a commercial and financial powerhouse, Milan’s fascinatingly rich historical character is often overlooked. Indeed, it has one of the proudest and most illustrious histories of all Italian cities, not least its influential role in the Risorgimento. Characteristically eschewing such short-sightedness, we have allowed time to visit several of the city’s historical and artistic treasures.

There is a visit to the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, whose dining hall walls boast the fresco of The Last Supper by Leonardo. Time is also devoted to La Scala’s museum, which provides a fascinating insight into the theatre’s history.

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