Teatro alla Scala

Teatro alla Scala museum: a look into the auditorium from the boxes

The visit to the Teatro alla Scala museum can start in the boxes on the third tier, above the stalls. The museum publishes the times when they’re open, and visitors go in six at a time.

You can take photos without flash, for your own use. A dedicated lift takes visitors who need it to the museum rooms and the boxes, and the museum’s free app has an audio guide.

The Sambon collection, commedia dell’arte figures and Eleonora Duse at La Scala’s museum

The museum began with the collection of Jules Sambon, an antiques dealer. It was auctioned in 1911, with J. P. Morgan among the bidders, and the museum opened on 8 March 1913 in the old Casino Ricordi.

Its rooms now hold costumes, set designs, autograph scores, historic instruments and portraits of musicians and actors, along with ceramic figures from the commedia dell’arte, Italy’s old masked comedy. One section is given over to the actress Eleonora Duse, and the Livia Simoni library is on the second floor.

Teatro alla Scala tickets: the guided tour with the museum

An hour in the theatre and the museum with a live guide costs €39, with entry to both included. Children up to 3 go free. The tour can be cancelled any time before your date.

La Scala opens the theatre to visitors from Monday to Saturday, on days without rehearsals, performances or events, and visits can be called off at the last minute for technical or artistic reasons. It doesn’t recommend the theatre visit for people with reduced mobility.

The other two are small-group tours of the theatre, with a guide and a skip-the-line entry, and the museum isn’t on their list. The first costs €38 and comes with a headset to hear the guide, and the second costs €47 and lasts an hour and a half. Both can be cancelled up to 24 hours ahead.

The La Scala museum on a city pass

We don’t sell the museum on its own, but both YesMilano City Passes and The Milan Pass include it. On the YesMilano it’s one of the 14 premium activities, so on the Standard it uses your one pick.

No pass covers a tour of the theatre or a performance. You’ll find what each pass does cover in Milan Pass and Milan’s city passes.

Teatro alla Scala museum: open every day of the week

The museum keeps the same hours all winter, apart from 24 and 31 December, and it opens on Mondays too.

The closing that matters most this year is 7 December, the night the opera season opens.

Why it’s called La Scala: the theatre’s history

On 25 February 1776 a fire destroyed the Teatro Regio Ducale, the court theatre. Maria Theresa of Austria commissioned Giuseppe Piermarini to build a new one on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, which gave the theatre its name, and the Teatro Grande alla Scala opened in 1778.

Allied bombs badly damaged it on 15 and 16 August 1943, and it reopened on 11 May 1946 with a concert by Arturo Toscanini. Between January 2002 and December 2004 the architect Mario Botta restored it and added two towers, the fly tower over the stage and an elliptical one.

Seeing an opera at La Scala: the Prima and the 2026–27 season

A performance is a different ticket altogether. La Scala sells them through its own box office and webshop, they’re in the buyer’s name, and they can’t be changed or cancelled. The 2026–27 season opens with the Prima, the opening-night performance, and the museum stays shut that day.

Largo Ghiringhelli, the entrance to the La Scala museum

The museum entrance is at Largo Ghiringhelli 1, beside Piazza della Scala, a short walk from the Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.