Tosca's real-life locations

Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca is a truly thrilling piece of drama, with a story that unfolds over the course of just 24 hours in Rome. It's a thriller known for the realism of its plot and characters.

But more than that, the settings where it unfolds are, literally, real. Each act of Tosca is set in a specific location in Rome, in June 1800, when the Catholic Church and the Pope were ruling over the city with a firm hand. All of the sites depicted in Tosca are still standing today.

Our new production doesn't take too many design cues from the real locations (although the giant dome that hangs over the stage is reminiscent of the dome in Sant'Andrea della Valle, the first act's setting), but these buildings, and the history within them, embed themselves deeply into any staging of Tosca.

Act One: Sant'Andrea della Valle

Tosca opens with a scene in one of Rome's most beautiful (if not necessarily most famous) churches. Sant'Andrea della Valle is a basilica in the Renaissance style, completed in 1650. It sits in the historic city centre, near the Piazza Navona.

It's here where we find Cavaradossi working on a new painting for the church, when the political prisoner Angelotti storms in, having just escaped from the sadistic Chief of Police, Scarpia. It's also where we first meet our unlikely heroine, an opera singer called Tosca.

The first act culminates in a spectacular choral piece, a musical setting of the Christian hymn 'Te Deum laudamus'. It serves as a backdrop to Scarpia's celebration of military victory; not only an extraordinarily powerful spectacle, but a terrifying show of Scarpia's power both within the church and in government.

Act Two: Palazzo Farnese

The second act takes place just a five minute walk away from the first: in the imposing Palazzo Farnese. This palace was completed in the 1500s, and has served a wide range of purposes over the course of Rome's history.

Initially built for the wealthy Farnese family, the palace has also been a Papal residency, and currently serves as the French Embassy in Rome.

In Tosca, it's depicted as Scarpia's office and residence. A terrifying sequence of events take place in this building, where the full extent of Scarpia's corruption is revealed, and Tosca's resolve is put to the test.

Act Three: Castel Sant'Angelo

We cross the River Tiber for the final act, wrapping up the opera at the Castel Sant'Angelo, a building rich in history, overlooking the water.

The central rotunda on this site was initially built in the 2nd century AD as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian. In the centuries since, it's been a military fortress, a papal residence and, most significantly for Puccini, a prison for the Papal States. Executions on this site were routine.

Tosca

Margaret Court Arena
24–30 May 2024

Sydney Opera House
25 June–16 August 2024