The dream couple of opera, Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo, returns to the breathtaking open-air stage, to perform Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca—a dramatic and tragic story of passion and jealousy set in Rome during a time of political unrest in 1800. The plot centers around three main characters: Rome’s opera diva Floria Tosca, her lover Mario Cavaradossi, and the corrupt police chief, Baron Scarpia, who has long lusted after Tosca. Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is “one of the best Toscas currently singing” and tenor Vittorio Grigolo “the most Italian Cavaradossi we know.” (Online Merker). The captivating staging by Argentine director Hugo de Ana, who masterfully exploits the amphitheatre’s vast space by placing huge elements on the stage that are reminiscent of or borrowed from the locations of the action, makes the opera a “spectacle of monumental opulence” (Online Merker). Film image, synopsis and related credits courtesy of Fondazione Arena di Verona (c) EnneviFoto.