Museo Teatrale alla Scala

The museum's origins trace to 1911, when a group of Milan's leading cultural figures, including librettist and composer Arrigo Boito, artist Lodovico Pogliaghi, and Ettore Modigliani, director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, convened at the Teatro alla Scala with the goal of establishing a museum. Their opportunity came when the Parisian antiquarian and theatre enthusiast Jules Sambon put his prestigious collection of theatrical memorabilia up for auction on 1 May 1911. The acquisition was not straightforward: Sambon initially rejected an offer after J.P. Morgan expressed interest in purchasing the collection. The Milanese group, sustained by the reputation of La Scala, successfully persuaded Morgan to withdraw. The purchase price of 450,000 lire was raised through a combination of government funding and a public subscription organized by fifty citizens. The museum officially opened on 8 March 1913. During the Second World War, the collections were moved to secure locations for safekeeping. After the war, the museum was reinstalled under the direction of Fernanda Wittgens. The institution has since grown substantially through donations and acquisitions.

The museum's holdings span multiple media and centuries of theatrical history. The displays occupy fourteen rooms and include costumes, set designs, autograph scores, musical instruments, paintings of musicians and actors, and related paraphernalia. The collection of musical instruments is of particular historical interest, featuring harpsichords, fortepianos, violins, and harps, some associated with famous composers. A significant porcelain collection from the manufactories of Capodimonte, Doccia, and Meissen depicts commedia dell'arte masks, musicians, instruments, and dancers. The museum also preserves precious ceramic figures, board games once played in the theatre's foyer, and an archaeological section with ancient vases showing dancers, musical instruments, and gladiatorial games. The puppet and marionette collection includes examples from Venice, Sicilian Opera dei Pupi, and works by Enrico Manzoni and Francesco Campogalliani, as well as Burmese marionettes. The archive holds 2,255 set designs, 6,959 costume sketches, 3,000 theatrical posters, 6,000 opera librettos, 10,300 autograph letters from actors, directors, composers, and singers, 30 complete musical manuscripts, and 300 scattered musical leaves, alongside 7,000 photographs and over 10,000 engravings.

Among the museum's signature objects is a seventeenth-century virginal by Francesco Guaracino, completely decorated with paintings. The portrait collection includes Luigi Pedrazzi's portrait of Maria Malibran, Gioacchino Serangeli's portrait of Giuditta Pasta, and Achille Scalese's portrait of Giuseppe Verdi. Antonio Canova's marble bust of Nicola Tacchinardi and a Steinway & Sons piano that belonged to Franz Liszt are also displayed. Paintings of the Teatro alla Scala itself include Angelo Inganni's 1852 view of the theatre's facade before the creation of the piazza. The set design collection features Giacomo Balla's sketches for the ballet Feu d'artifice to music by Igor Stravinsky, and Enrico Prampolini's designs for Il mandarino meraviglioso by Béla Bartók, alongside albums by the Galliari brothers and Alessandro Sanquirico. The archive preserves major musical manuscripts including Verdi's Messa da Requiem, Rossini's Tancredi, a page from Beethoven's second quartet op. 18, a brief Mozart autograph, and Paganini's holograph will.

The museum is housed in the Casino Ricordi, located immediately adjacent to the Teatro alla Scala on the Piazza della Scala in Milan's Municipio 1 district. The building's proximity to the opera house allows visitors to view the theatre's auditorium from one of the boxes, observing the horseshoe-shaped hall and its central chandelier without disturbing rehearsals or performances. The museum is situated near the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and Piazza Duomo, placing it at the heart of Milan's cultural district. The Biblioteca Livia Simoni occupies the second floor of the museum building.