The Arena di Verona in Italy is the biggest opera house in the world. Today, it seats 15,000 people, but in ancient times, when it was built in 30AD, its capacity was double that.
The Arena Foundation of Verona supports the resortation of the opera house and promotes musical art and education. While meeting with members of the Foundation, Pope Francis applauded their generosity and dedication to art, which he said is highly important in everyday life.
POPE FRANCIS
I see with you the even larger crowd of men and women who have gone before you and whom you ideally bring here: a crowd always present, even on stage, at every performance, reminding us how important it is, in art as in life, to be humble and generous. Humility and generosity: two virtues of the true artist that your story tells us about!
The Pope then extended a blessing over the Foundation members and their work.
The Arena di Verona has hosted an opera festival in their open-air theatre every summer for the past 110 years, except for during the two World Wars.
AT
