The La Fenice Theatre in Venice and the film ‘Senso' by Luchino Visconti

The La Fenice theatre is one of the most important monuments of Venice and one of the best opera theatres in Italy.

Unfortunately, this theatre was twice destroyed by fire and the one that exists now is a copy completed in 2003.

If you want to get an idea of what the old theatre looked like, we suggest you watch ‘Senso' a great film of the Italian tradition directed by the acclaimed director Luchino Visconti.

Filmed in 1954, it tells the story of a young Venetian countess who despite her love for Italy, falls in love with an Austrian soldier in Venice still occupied by the Habsburg troops in the summer of 1866, just before the annexation of Veneto to new Kingdom of Italy.

The beginning of the film opens right at La Fenice, with the patriots who launch from the stage three coloured nosegays as a sign of defiance against Austrian troops during a performance of La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. Right at La Fenice there will be the fateful encounter between the two protagonists...

Visconti's film was viewed several times and proved to be very useful after the fire of 1996 to reconstruct the decoration of the stage and the auditorium of the theatre, which had been destroyed.

Venice has always been a very popular location with filmmakers around the world. If, in addition to the La Fenice Theatre, you want to discover other places chosen by filmmakers for their films we invite you to try the Venice Cinetour offered exclusively by venetoinside.com. It will be a perfect opportunity to see Venice from a different perspective and relive the emotions of the unforgettable scenes filmed in this unique city.