Teatro Massimo

The Teatro Massimo in Palermo is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in Europe, a monumental neoclassical temple to the lyric arts that dominates the Piazza Verdi. Designed by Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile and completed by his son Ernesto in 1897, the theatre is an architectural masterpiece immortalized in the climactic scene of The Godfather Part III. After a twenty-three-year closure for restoration, the Teatro Massimo reopened in 1997 and has since reclaimed its place among Italy's most important operatic stages.