Observed Through Wonder: Paolo Gavazzeni Unpicks The Milanese Festive Mood
The second chapter of our holiday campaign is Observed Through… Wonder, so what better example of Milanese wonder in the festive period than the world-famous Teatro Scala? We asked Artistic Director Paolo Gavazzeni, grandson of the famous Orchestra Conductor Gianandrea Gavezzani, the secret to its excellence.
Few things encapsulate the tension between sobriety and spontaneity in Milan than the world-famous Teatro Scala, its splendour wrapped up in a construction that nods to the city’s architectural austerity – and never more so than during the festive period, specifically the Prima della Scala. As the opening event of the Scaligera Season, it’s a tradition that takes place on December 7 (the day of the Patron Saint of Milan, St. Ambrose) and is a night of awe and wonder.
For that reason, for the second chapter of our 2022 holiday campaign, Observed Through… Wonder, we could think of no-one better to talk us through this memorable night than artistic director Paolo Gavazzeni. With a grandfather who directed numerous Prima de la Scala evenings and an uncle who was a director of the Teatro Scala’s internationally renowned orchestra, the passion for music and expression runs in the family – as does the secret to what makes the evening a magical event.
“The answer must be sought in its most recent history,” he says. “At the end of the Second World War, a large part of Milan and the Milanese soul needed to be rebuilt. The then mayor Antonio Greppi promised the city of Milan "Pane e Scala" and made the courageous choice to rebuild a theater in the first place!”
The gesture, says Gavazzeni, was an intense one, which involved hundreds of donors for the reconstruction, including Arturo Toscanini. The opening night of the Teatro alla Scala coincides with the day of the Patron Saint of Milan, St. Ambrose, to deeper emphasize its link with the City.
Photography: Fondazione Teatro alla Scala
"This event is dear to everyone, not only to lovers of opera, dance or music, because Teatro alla Scala is a good for everyone,” he says. “Beyond the works on stage, the backstage is studded with magnificence, from the care of the costumes, exclusively tailored, to the hand-painted backdrops, up to including every craftsman, from the toolmaker to the dancer, from the conductor to the musician and singer.”
For this reason, he continues, “the La Scala Theatre represents Italian excellence in the world in many respects, and puts it on stage. But that's not all: it is an undisputed container of craftsmanship, quality and elegance”.
They are the same values which drive Valextra, our artisanal craftsmanship and commitment to urban craft evident the year round, year after year. This exchange between excellence, rigor, exclusivity and desire is only achieved with rigor and perseverance, continues Gavazzeni.
“From here excellence is created, which gives rise to the desire in the observer,” he says. “The bodies of the dancers, when they dance, draw precise lines in the air, which are the result of hard training and work, but which appear light. And as a lover of Made in Italy and its precision, I think that a Valextra object reflects this vision a little: the same rigorous elegance of the lines of those who dance can be found in one of your creations.
Valextra represents the sobriety of Milan and makes it known to the world: an apparently rigor city, which contains enchanted gardens and internal places. Formal rigor and professional ethics are the signature of Milan, which makes this city timeless. Valextra interprets all this, combining elegance, design and attention to detail.”