Opera in three acts (1893)

New Production! Verdi’s final opera returns to the Teatro Costanzi in a sparkling new production by award-winning director Tatjana Gürbaca (her first-ever engagement in Italy, after a career built in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and Zurich), conducted by Michele Mariotti and led by one of today’s foremost Verdi baritones, Luca Salsi, as the irrepressible Sir John Falstaff.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, the opera follows the ageing, cash-strapped knight as he plots to seduce two resourceful wives to restore his fortunes – only to become the target of their brilliantly orchestrated revenge.

As jealous husbands, quick-witted women and young lovers collide, Verdi’s late style fizzes with razor-sharp ensembles, flowing lyricism and a jubilant final fugue that wryly reminds us that “tutto nel mondo è burla” – everything in the world is a joke.

"Falstaff is not a comedy about an old man who fails, but about humanity itself: about our illusions, our desires, our weaknesses and our tireless attempt to transform the brief miracle of life into something meaningful." - Tatjana Gürbaca