Milan's La Scala Tightens Its Dress Code for Audiences

Milan's La Scala opera house has tightened its requirements for the appearance of spectators. Guests in shorts, T-shirts or flip-flops will no longer be admitted to performances, and the price of the ticket will not be refunded. And yet the theatre's director once declared that guests in any old attire were better than empty seats.

The theatre notes that the offenders have often been tourists, who allowed themselves to carry sandwiches and drinks into the house to see them through the intervals. This practice is now forbidden too.

The theatre has always had a dress code; it was officially introduced in 2015, but in recent years the rules on the appearance of spectators have not been observed.

The news is interesting as an effort to raise the norm of decent appearance to a new level, and yes, it is a good way to call to order those who like to dress anyhow and turn up everywhere in a slovenly state. On the other hand, I can say that I have never once seen a person in shorts or flip-flops at La Scala. This is not the Louvre, where people turn up even with mountaineering rucksacks.

But the problem is, of course, more visible from the inside. And since the management draws attention to the fact that the appearance of guests does not befit the status of the theatre, it should be remarked that it most likely concerns not so much Milanese as tourists. After all, of the almost 10 million visitors to the city and the tens of thousands of people who attend the theatre, very many come here simply as to one more tourist attraction, and not at all for the productions, but rather for a selfie and a stroll inside. True, the theatre also functions as a museum and is open for tours in the daytime, but that is not at all the same thing.

We are witnessing another object of cultural heritage become the victim of photo-pilgrims of an initially not very lofty cultural level, who visit museums, palaces and theatres not so much to commune with the great as to document the fact of having visited an important tourist hotspot and to harvest likes.