{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='The tradition of set and costume design for Rome\u0026#39;s opera house' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d4c3d8eafeecae1f5579' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d4c3d8eafeecae1f5579' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nThe tradition of set and costume design for Rome\u0026#39;s opera house\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eLEADIN: Rome's Teatro dell'Opera has played host to the world's most revered classical musicians for nearly 150 years. But no orchestra or soprano is complete without the atmosphere created by the set and costumes. For more than 80 years...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eLEADIN: Rome's Teatro dell'Opera has played host to the world's most revered classical musicians for nearly 150 years. But no orchestra or soprano is complete without the atmosphere created by the set and costumes. For more than 80 years these have been created in a former pasta factory tucked away in the side streets of the capital.  It's here that building and tailoring techniques are passed down through generations to ensure that the cherished tradition of Italian opera is maintained. STORYLINE:Inside a former pasta factory that looks onto the Circus Maximus is one of Rome's best-kept secrets. This is Rome's Opera Theatre's set design workshop and costume warehouse. Since the early 1930s, the four floors of the building have been home to carpentry, sculpture and painting workshops, and provided storage for the theatre's 60,000 costumes.Sat in what was once Rome's industrial centre, the former Pantanella pasta factory was bought by Rome's municipality in 1928, with the aim to transform it into a museum documenting the history of the city. However, after only a few years in activity, the museum was first closed and then transferred to Rome's Palazzo Braschi and part of the building was given to the city's Teatro dell'Opera for the production of its scenery. Italian architect Clemente Busiri Vici worked on renovating the building to make it suitable to house tall scenery panels and wooden structures. The renovations included the construction of one of the first examples of A-frames made of armoured cement, creating a beautiful, light-filled space that overlooks some of Rome's most important sights - from the Circus Maximus to Saint Peter's dome.On the ground floor, carpenters cut and assemble wood, creating the scenic elements for all of the theatre's shows, from canvasses, to backdrops, to more complex structures. A tall wooden structure and many smaller elements are currently being built for a new production of Bizet's Carmen, with costumes and scenery that reference Mexico and the country's border with the United States.The theme can also be seen on the building's top floor, where artists work on painting the backdrops for the show. Maurizio Varamo, who has been in charge of the theatre's scenography workshop for the past 20 years, follows all phases of the construction and painting process, travelling up and down the building's freight elevator multiple times a day.To him, this building is the stuff of dreams. \"For me, this is a dream factory. It's a place where an ancient tradition is carried on, the tradition of Italian scenography, especially with regards to painting - which is a source of pride for Italians, it's an excellence that as Italians we exported all over the world, together with Italian theatre. It is a great tradition, which is passed down only from master to master, there are no schools that can teach this job,\" he says.  Varamo has worked on many shows and a large variety of productions both in Italy and abroad, from Prokofiev's Cinderella to Puccini's The Barber of Seville. One of the things he is most proud of, however, is the internship programme that he helped launch at the theatre's workshops. Every year, art school students and graduates who have a passion for scenography are chosen to work in Varamo's \"dream factory\", learning the tricks of the trade and carrying on a tradition that is centuries old.They also have the chance to learn and work in the same building where great masters have created their art.\"We've  had De Chirico, Guttuso, Manzù, Cambellotti, masters like Visconti, Zeffirelli. I was able to work with many of them, including one of the latest contemporary artists, Turcato, who worked on a show here. This is the main feature of this theatre, of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera: it welcomed artists from the 1900s, we have many works of art by these artists who painted here, they came here and they painted,\" he says. One of the main attractions of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera is its importance as the centre of the Italian scenographic painting tradition. The colours are still created in the workshop by mixing natural and chemical pigments with glue. They are then put in buckets and carried around the painting workshop in a big cart. They are applied to the canvas with long paintbrushes which are used from a standing position, allowing the painters to have a unique view of their work.\"It (scenography tradition) was born here in Italy, it's an Italian tradition. It wasn't taught in schools, but it is passed down on the job, in this theatre, in Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. In the past Rome was the centre of this technique. It is a unique technique, because the paintings are done on the ground with long paintbrushes. What does this mean? It allows us to work faster, and to have a view of what we are doing from a distance,\" explains Danilo Mancini, Deputy Manager of Set Design.Over the years, there have been numerous plans to transfer the theatre's workshops out of their current home and to transform the former pasta factory once again into a museum.But no plan was ever brought to completion, and for the time being the workshops and their longstanding tradition continue to overlook the Circus Maximus.As the workshops still stand strong, their historical importance is also felt inside Rome's Teatro dell'Opera.Carlo Fuortes, Superintendent of the Fondazione Teatro dell'Opera di Roma says the workshops are the theatre's crown jewels, as in some ways Rome's theatre can be considered the birthplace of these traditional crafts.\"Carpentry, stagecraft, scenography, building, costume workshops - we have a collection of 60.000 costumes, which is most likely the main opera costume collection in the world. So from this standpoint obviously for the opera world it is unique. Any scenery or costume designer who comes to this theatre is fascinated by these places,\" he says. The theatre's historical costume collection is mostly stored within the walls of its workshops on the Circus Maximus — which appears to provide particularly favourable conditions for the conservation of textiles thanks to its past as a pasta factory.However, Rome's opera theatre still has a busy in-house costumes department inside the theatre's main building.Behind the wings of the main stage, a cluster of rooms crowded with racks and costumes is home to a team of seamstresses, that works on the various phases of costume production.The theatre's costumes department has a long and recognised tradition. All the phases that lead to the completion of the costumes, from their design, to the choice of textiles, the use of colours and dyes, takes place inside the department's walls.\"To create a costume properly, cutting it and building it in the proper way, the process is a little longer compared to those made in a factory. The guarantee is that our costumes are durable, because they are made properly,\" explains Anna Biagiotti, head of the theatre's costumes department.\"We defend this sartorial tradition, and it is also passed down, as we are lucky to have some young people who joined our department and are picking up from the older workers a tradition that can't be lost, because it is an extremely important artistic craftsmanship,\" she concludes.Rome, 23 May 20171. Wide shot of carpenter painting the scenery for the upcoming Carmen2. Close shot of carpenter painting the scenery3. Close shot of wood being sawed 4. Medium shot of carpenter sawing wood5. Various shots of wood being handled by carpenters on a scaffolding6. Medium shot of Maurizio Varamo explaining a design to two carpenters7. Close shot of hands holding set design drawings8. Medium shot of carpenter rolling out a sheet of paper9. Medium top shot of interns painting styrofoam skulls10. Medium shot of painted styrofoam skulls11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Maurizio Varamo, Head of Scenography at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera\"For me, this is a dream factory. It's a place where an ancient tradition is carried on, the tradition of Italian scenography, especially with regards to painting - which is a source of pride for Italians, it's an excellence that as Italians we exported all over the world, together with Italian theatre. It is a great tradition, which is passed down only from master to master, there are no schools that can teach this job.\" 12. Zoom out of intern painting styrofoam skull13. Close shot of styrofoam skull being painted14. Medium shot of a cutout of Giuseppe Verdi and worker leaning on a cart with paint buckets15. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Maurizio Varamo, Set Design Manager at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera\"We've  had De Chirico, Guttuso, Manzù, Cambellotti, masters like Visconti, Zeffirelli. I was able to work with many of them, including one of the latest contemporary artists, Turcato, who worked on a show here. This is the main feature of this theatre, of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera: it welcomed artists from the 1900s, we have many works of art by these artists who painted here, they came here and they painted.\"16. Close shot of paintbrush mixing green paint and glue17. Medium shot of Danilo Mancini painting the scenery with traditional long paintbrush18. Close shot of paintbrush painting scenery19. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Danilo Mancini, Set Design Deputy Manager at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera\"It (scenography tradition) was born here in Italy, it's an Italian tradition. It wasn't taught in schools, but it is passed down on the job, in this theatre, in Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. In the past Rome was the centre of this technique. It is a unique technique, because the paintings are done on the ground with long paintbrushes. What does this mean? It allows us to work faster, and to have a view of what we are doing from a distance.\"20. Wide shot of scenography workshop 21. Close shot of scenery for the upcoming Carmen22. Wide shot of exterior of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera23. Close shot of banner for Gioacchino Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims opera24. Medium shot of Superintendent Carlo Fuortes entering 25. Close shot of Superintendent Carlo Fuortes looking out over the theatre stalls26. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Carlo Fuortes, Superintendent of the Fondazione Teatro dell'Opera di Roma\"Carpentry, stagecraft, scenography, building, costume workshops - we have a collection of 60, 000 costumes, which is most likely the main opera costume collection in the world. So from this standpoint obviously for the opera world it is unique. Any scenery or costume designer who comes to this theatre is fascinated by these places.\"27. Moving shot of costume hanging on racks in the costume department28. Wide shot of costume department29. Close shot of seamstress cutting cloth30. Tilt up of costume for Il Viaggio a Reims hanging on a mannequin31. Pan right of costumes for Il Viaggio a Reims hanging on racks in the costume department32. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Anna Biagiotti, Head of Costumes at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera\"To create a costume properly, cutting it and building it in the proper way, the process is a little longer compared to those made in a factory. The guarantee is that our costumes are durable, because they are made properly. We defend this sartorial tradition, and it is also passed down, as we are lucky to have some young people who joined our department and are picking up from the older workers a tradition that can't be lost, because it is an extremely important artistic craftsmanship.\"33. Medium shot of costumes for Il Viaggio a Reims hanging on racks in the costumes department34. Tilt up of costumes made out of paper for the opera Lulu, and other costumes for Il Viaggio a Reims hanging on racks35. 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