If Venice needs evidence to justify possibly raising its tourist tax then Andrea Bocelli’s stunning performance in the city could be presented as proof of its exceptional status.
On Saturday night Piazza San Marco was packed as the Italian opera star took the stage to mark 30 years since his worldwide smash hit 1997 album Romanzia. If the goal was to remind everyone why he’s sold over 90 million records and generated more than 16 billion streams, mission accomplished.
As the first notes from the Orchestra Filarmonia filled one of the world’s most beautiful squares, several women dressed in Rococo-era outfits saunted through the seated crowd setting the scene for what appeared to be a homecoming rather than a standard tour stop.
A square, an orchestra and a medley of classics
The open-air setting of Piazza San Marco is unforgiving — water, wind, and centuries of stone can swallow a voice but the Tuscan Maestro took firm command extolling his operatic virtues with works from Verdi, Puccini and Bizet, including ‘La donna è mobile’, “Bevo al tuo frescho sorriso’ and ‘Au fond du temple Saint’ from ‘The Pearl Fishers’.
