The Caracalla Festival, Rome’s outdoor opera festival returns with a programme of opera, ballet and concerts up to 7 August.
Works by Verdi, Mozart and Bernstein
Set in of the old Roman Baths of Caracalla and, for the first time, in the Basilica of Maxentius, the 2025 edition is a blend of past and present, spirituality and humanity. In addition to the Baths, one of the largest and best preserved thermal complexes of antiquity, this year the Basilica of Maxentius, located along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, is also involved in the event. The programme includes Verdi’s La Traviata’ (Terme di Caracalla, 19, 23, 27 July and 1, 2, 3 August), ‘Don Giovanni’ (Basilica di Massenzio, 20, 22, 24 and 25 July) and the musical ‘West Side Story’ (Terme di Caracalla 9, 13 and 17 July).
Two evenings dedicated to ballet
On 15 and 16 July the Terme di Caracalla baths will host the traditional dance performance “Roberto Bolle and Friends,”, while on 30 and 31 July the corps de ballet of the Rome Opera, directed by Eleonora Abbagnato, will perform “The Rite of Spring” by Stravinsky, “Bolero” by Ravel and ‘Within the Golden Hour’ by Christopher Wheeldon. The festival will end with Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, a cantata based on 24 poetic texts from a medieval collection.
The Basilica of Maxentius was a Roman wellness centre
The Thermae Antonianae, built by Emperor Caracalla between 212 and 216 A.D., were a vast wellness, sport and cultural hub in ancient Rome. They still impress with their architectural grandeur and are only a stone's throw from the Circus Maximus. The Basilica of Maxentius, in the Roman Forum, is an imposing building dating back to the 4th century, once a seat of public and judicial functions. Today only the north aisle remains, where there was a colossal statue originally depicting Maxentius and some fragments of the statue are now on display in the courtyard of the Capitoline Museums.
