Piccola Lirica

It finds on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, to the opposite side of Piazza Navona, in direction of Piazza Argentina. His "toponimo" "of the Valley" ago reference to the depression, from the ancient said "valley caprea", where they were picked up the waters that went down from the Quirinale and from the Pincio forming a great pond, and in which had originally put the area of the church. The dome, work of the Maderno (1622) is among the more halt in Rome and it is painted by Lanfranco with the “Gloria del Paradiso” (1625-1628), first grandiose paint realized in Rome...

ACT I: Cesare Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner, rushes into the church of Sant ' Andrea della Valle to hide in the Attavanti chapel. As he vanishes, an old Sacristan shuffles in, praying at the sound of the Angelus. Mario Cavaradossi enters to work on his portrait of Mary Magdalene - inspired by the Marchesa Attavanti (Angelotti's sister), whom he has seen but does not know. Taking out a miniature of the singer Floria Tosca, he compares her raven beauty with that of the blonde Magdalene (" Recondita armonia"). The Sacristan grumbles disapproval and leaves. Angelotti ventures out and is recognized by his friend and fellow liberal Mario, who gives him food and hurries him back into the chapel as Tosca is heard calling outside. Forever suspicious, she jealously questions him, then prays, and reminds him of their rendezvous that evening at his villa (" Non la sospiri la nostra casetta? "). Suddenly recognizing the Marchesa Attavanti in the painting, she explodes with renewed suspicions, but he reassures her (" Qual' occhio al mondo"). When she has gone, Mario summons Angelotti from the chapel; a cannon signals that the police have discovered the escape, so the two flee to Mario's villa. Meanwhile, the Sacristan returns with choirboys who are to sing in a Te Deum that day. Their excitement is silenced by the entrance of Baron Scarpia, chief of the secret police, in search of Angelotti. When Tosca comes back to her lover, Scarpia shows her a fan with the Attavanti crest, which he has just found. Thinking Mario faithless, Tosca tearfully vows vengeance and leaves as the church fills with worshipers. Scarpia, sending his men to follow her to Angelotti, schemes to get the diva in his power (" Va, Tosca !").

L' ancient name of Piazza Farnese Plaza was "the Duke's Piazza" in how much it was turned to market of the horses and for the parties of the French ambassadors "ceremonies", typical of the Kingdom in Naples, developed on the occasion of the presentation to the pope of the mule white (the chinea) symbol of the vassalage. The Palazzo Farnese, nicknamed "the die", it represents the greatest private building in Rome: the building was initiated by Antonio da Sangallo the Young in 1517 (for the cardinal Alessandro Farnese), then continued by Michelangelo that it drew the second floor, the moulding and the two superior orders of the courtyard and finally finished by Giacomo della Porta in 1589. The materials for the building originate partly from the recovery of ancient ruins, very beautiful the courtyard inside (hardly visitable) and sumptuous the gallery, richly painted by Annibale Carracci (1597 – 1604)...

ACT II and III (Piccola Lirica version): In the Farnese Palace , Scarpia anticipates the sadistic pleasure of bending Tosca to his will ( " Ha più forte sapore" ) . The spy Spoletta arrives, not having found Angelotti; to placate the baron he brings in Mario, who is interrogated while Tosca is heard singing a cantata at a royal gala downstairs. She enters just as her lover is being taken to an adjoining room: his arrogant silence is to be broken under torture. Unnerved by Scarpia's questioning and the sound of Mario's screams, she reveals Angelotti's hiding place. Mario is carried in; realizing what has happened, he turns on Tosca, but the officer Sciarrone rushes in to announce that Napoleon has won the Battle of Marengo, a defeat for Scarpia's side. Mario shouts his defiance of tyranny (" Vittoria ! " ) and is dragged to prison. Scarpia, resuming his supper, suggests that Tosca yield herself to him in exchange for her lover's life. Fighting off his embraces, she protests her fate to God, having dedicated her life to art and love (" Vissi d'arte" ). Scarpia again insists, but Spoletta interrupts: faced with capture, Angelotti has killed himself. Tosca, forced to give in or lose her lover, agrees to Scarpia's proposition. The baron pretends to order a mock execution for the prisoner, after which he is to be freed; Spoletta leaves. No sooner has Scarpia written a safe-conduct for the lovers than Tosca snatches a knife from the table and kills him.

The plaza, was anciently the area of the footstep of the stadium Domiziano, first stadium in Rome (81-96 ds.c.), entirely built in travertino, of which it traces the lengthened form. The stadium (whose chisel they are still visible) was wide 54 meters and along 276 meters, it welcomed around 30.000 people and it entertained the athletic ludis and the runs of horses (or him "agones", then transformed "in athletic contest", therefore "nagone" corrupt in "navone"). The Church Sant’Agnese in Agone is building by Borromini…

The name of the plaza has uncertain origin:it is thought that takes the name from Flora, loved by Pompeo, or perhaps from the in bloom lawns that occupied the area of it. The plaza took importance to move some centers of traffic from the slopes”capitolini” toward the new city of it, that, after the popes' return from the exile avignonese, started to gravitate toward the Vatican; this area was of passage forced of the papal processions and of the pilgrims that proceeded verse the Peregrinorum street…

Its original construction was erect between 27 and 25° a.C. to want of Marco Vipsanio Agrippa in honor of Augusto, conceived as place of collective cult of a lot of divinities (choices among those protectresses of the Gens Julia), and whose actual forms subsequently go up again a first years of the Kingdom of Adriano (between 118 and the 125 d.c. In period of Renaissance (1520) there was buried Raffaello and became place of burial of artists and some italian kings (Vittorio Emanuelle I, Umberto I e la Regina Margherita)…

It is born as sepulchre wanted by the emperor Adriano in a peripheral area in the ancient Rome and it acquits this native function of his up to the 403 d.C. around. In 1367 the keys of the building are delivered to pope Urbano V to solicit the reentry of the Curia to Rome from the exile avignonese. From this moment in then Castel Sant'Angelo it ties inscindibilmente its fates to those of the pontiffs, that use it as fortitude, court and prison. Opponents of the pontifical authority, carbonari and patriots consume their days of imprisonment among these mighty boundaries, at least up to September 20 th 1870, year when Rome was proclaimed capital of the young Kingdom of Italy…

(End) Mario awaits execution at the Castel Sant'Angelo; he bribes the jailer to convey a farewell note to Tosca. Writing it, overcome with memories of love, he gives way to despair (" E lucevan le stelle"). Suddenly Tosca runs in, filled with the story of her recent adventures. Mario caresses the hands that committed murder for his sake (" O dolci mani"), and the two hail their future. As the firing squad appears, the diva coaches Mario on how to fake his death convincingly; the soldiers fire and depart. Tosca urges Mario to hurry, but when he fails to move, she discovers that Scarpia's treachery has transcended the grave: the bullets were real. When Spoletta rushes in to arrest Tosca for Scarpia's murder, she cries to Scarpia to meet her before God, then leaps to her death. But on Castel Sant'Angelo the lovers story...

The zone of the historical city is full of surprises and preparing himself to finish the tour to arrive to theater, in his near you cannot be skipped: the Vittoriano and The Sacred Area…