HOTTEST TICKET ARENA ARIAS SHORT TURANDOT AT TORRE BUT SUITE THE FAT LADY’S FINNISH

The Rossini festival, in his home town of

Pesaro on the Italian Adriatic, is only two weeks long. But this year, to mark the 150th anniversary of his death, it packs in six operas including new productions of Ricciardo e Zoraide, Adina and The Barber of Seville. Aug 11-23 (rossinioperafestival.it). The first Savonlinna Opera Festival in 15th-century Olavinlinna Castle, overlooking the lakes of eastern Finland, was held in 1912. But it had a patchy history until the Sixties, when it re-established itself as a leading player. Most performances take place in the covered courtyard of the castle, and this year’s new production is Tchaikovsky’s

The Queen of Spades. July 6-Aug 4 (operafestival.fi). It’s touristy, and uses amplification, but what a setting and what an atmosphere.

The Arena,

Verona’s Roman amphitheatre, is right in the centre of town and comes alive on most summer nights at 9pm. Italian opera rules the roost, but Carmen is also staged this year. June

22-Sept 1 (arena.it). Puccini came to the Tuscan village of Torre del Lago, squeezed between a lake and the sea, at the end of the 19th century and made it his home. His presence lives on with a festival of his operas every summer, performed in a 3,400-seat outdoor theatre with the stage floating on the lake. Five operas this year, opening with Turandot.

July 6-Aug 25 (puccinifestival.it).