Donizetti's 'Lucrezia Borgia' at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a new production set in post-World War II Rome.

From November 9 to 16, 2025 to the Theater of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino goes on stage Lucrezia Borgia of Gaetano Donizetti, in an original reading set in the post-war period and far from the cliché of the ruthless woman, focusing instead on her relationship with motherhood.

The opera, with libretto by Felice Romani taken from the homonymous tragedy by Victor Hugo, which appeared only twice on the Florentine stage (in 1933 and 1979), is proposed in new layout made in co-production with the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari; the direction is entrusted to Andrew Bernard, while on the podium, leading the Orchestra and the Choir of the Maggio, rises Giampaolo Bisanti.

In the lead role, Jessica Pratt, the 'queen of bel canto' who has chosen Florence as her adopted homeland and considers Maggio her second home: for her it is a second debut after the success in Norm last spring. By his side, Mirco Palazzi (Alfonso I d'Este), René Barbera (Gennaro), Laura Verrecchia (Maffio Orsini).

The scenes are signed by Alberto Beltrame, the costumes are from Elena Beccaro, and lights are taken care of by Mark Alba. The choir master is Lorenzo Fratini. Among the novelties of this production is the first use of a revolving stage, which allows for the reproduction of the opera's speed and seamless transition from one scene to the next.

After the debut on the calendar on Sunday November 9 (5pm), the show will be repeated November 11th and 14th at 8pm and the 16 at 3.30 pm.

“The public will certainly be amazed by the figure of Lucrezia Borgia, a thousand miles away from the classic iconography of the woman thirsty only for power and sexually unbridled – explains the superintendent Carlo Fuortes "At the heart of the story is her relationship with her missed motherhood, sought but not found, with her son Gennaro. It's not a bizarre idea from the young director; it's something present in the works of Romani and Donizetti" and "even more so in the works of Victor Hugo. It's an absolutely philological interpretation, but I think it's very new.".

“The version we will propose – confirms the maestro Giampaolo Bisanti  – is decidedly unique. We drew on the 2019 critical edition, but we drew extensively from the appendices, consisting of the many revisions that Donizetti and librettist Felice Romani made to the libretto over time. Far from being a haphazard cut-and-paste, however: our version is uncut, enriched by additions that complete the dramatic narrative.

Director Andrea Bernard transposes the original setting to different places and times, from Renaissance Venice and Ferrara to Rome between the late 1940s and early 1950s, "because," he explained, "it's a period that has profoundly affected our generation," with cinematic references to Ettore Scola and Elio Petri. "A time suspended between the desire for rebirth and the fear of change, in which faith intertwines with politics and power disguises itself as morality. It's the era," he adds, "of Pius XII's centralization of power and the birth of Christian Democracy.".