For opera lovers visiting Milan, attendance at an opera performance at Teatro alla Scala is a must. However, one must really plan far in advance. Tickets go on sale two months before the first performance of an opera. Ticket prices range from 44 Euros in the high galleries to 204 Euros in the orchestra area. I have noticed that almost all tickets to the performances are sold within 24 hours! What to do? One can go to the ticket office late on the day of the performance to see if anyone has returned a ticket; or wait around the theatre and talk to perhaps a few ticket scalpers who will want to sell you their tickets. Or you could try a method that takes half a day of your time. Your seats will not be the best and you won't be able to see the stage very well, however, the sound will be great and you will be rubbing elbows with real opera lovers. And...the best part is that your price per ticket will be a mere 12 Euros.

On performance day, you must get your name on a list at a specified time. (Check for the notice posted at the Opera outside the ticket office.) Next you return at 5:30 in the evening to hear your name called and receive a number on a ticket . Then, when the ticket office opens at 6 o'clock your ticket number will be called out and you can enter the ticket office to buy your opera ticket.

I had to get my name in to the "L'accordo" at 1:00PM for the opera Madama Butterfly. Luckily however, I came across Gianni, an assistant L'accordo, whom I had met last year, taking names at 11:30AM in front of the ticket office. I gave him my name and my wife's. We returned at 1:00PM to hear our names called to go into the official L'accordo's list. We returned at 5:30PM to hear our names called to get our ticket for our opera seat tickets. 6:00PM, our number was called and we got our opera tickets. With our tickets in hand we left for a quick dinner and returned for the 8:00PM performance. Not an easy way to go to the opera but well worth it.