Arena for all

The Arena Opera Festival is increasingly accessible, thanks also to its partnership with Müller

More about the initiative

In 2023, Fondazione Arena, with the support of Accessibility partner Müller, presented the most accessible Arena di Verona Opera Festival ever. Multi-sensory paths, sensory and cognitive aids, inclusive materials and 1,500 extra seats for people with disabilities Looking forward to 2024, take a look at the numbers for the first edition of 'Arena for All'.

Accessible materials and sensory aids

In 2023, as part of the “Arena for All” project, sensory and cognitive aids were created for the operas Aida, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Nabucco, in Italian and English, with the intention of adding new ones in the coming years to make more and more operas fully accessible. Inclusive trailers, subtitles, audio descriptions, inclusive and digital programmes, and info sheets in Easy To Read language:

See more about the accessible materials

Multisensory pathways

In 2023, the Fondazione Arena inaugurated an inclusion programme, coordinated by Prof. Elena Di Giovanni with the support of Prof. Francesca Raffi of the University of Macerata, during which people with sensory and cognitive disabilities and their carers were introduced to opera by exploring sets, costumes and props.

Tickets for disabled persons and accompanying persons

In the Arena, opera is accessible every evening! Find out about prices and admission reserved for people with disabilities and their accompanying persons.

Info and Prices

Partecipa all'edizione 2024: scopri come

Un testo che vuole Samanta! "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."

Compila il modulo per partecipare

Past editions

Edition 2023
In 2023, the Arena for All initiative was launched for a more accessible Festival. For people with disabilities, 1,500 more places were made available than in previous editions.

The operas Aida, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Nabucco were made fully accessible with dedicated free tools:

inclusive trailers, in Italian and English, with subtitles, voice, Italian and international sign language translation, audio description of images;

audio introductions and audio descriptions for blind and visually impaired persons;

subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing people;

inclusive, digital programmes, in Italian and English, with simplified texts, editable and enlargeable fonts, voice, audio description of images, and texts translated into Italian and international sign language;

info sheets for the operas, in Easy To Read language (promoted by “Inclusion Europe”, the European Association for people with cognitive disabilities), in Italian and English;

Experiential paths before the operas

The numbers of the initiative

In total there were 766 participants, including spectators (466) who took advantage of the sensory and cognitive aids, and participants in the multi-sensory pathways (300), who were lucky enough to enjoy the Arena backstage experience. The operation expanded the Arena's audience: for 63.7 percent of visitors it was their first time in the Arena.

The age range most involved was the 45-54 age group (27.2% of the total). The region of origin of most visitors was Veneto, followed by Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Marche. The most frequently used free tools were accessible trailers, inclusive and digital programmes, and easy-to-read cards. Read the detailed report here.