Arena per Tutti 2025. Third edition kicks off

A day of celebration. Saturday 28 June marks the entry into effect of the European Accessibility Act, the European directive that establishes minimum accessibility standards for products and services, supporting the rights of people with disabilities. It also sees the opening of the 2025 edition of Arena per tutti, the biggest accessibility project in Europe, launched three years ago by Fondazione Arena di Verona in collaboration with Müller.

An initiative at the forefront of the Opera Festival programme that not only promotes the live performances but also accessible tourism in the city. From the organisation and promotion offices to the Arena staff who regale participants on the multisensory tours with stories, anecdotes and interesting backstage insights before each opera, the entire Fondazione Arena works to ensure this project grows year by year. Müller's participation in this major musical and cultural event is part of Müller For People, the long-term social sustainability path the Verona-based organisation has mapped out for the coming years.

Until 5 September, encompassing 26 live evening performances, everyone will have the opportunity to follow the opera with ad hoc media including digital libretti, audio descriptions for the blind and visually impaired, and specific subtitles for the deaf. These media are available in three different languages: Italian, English and German In the front rows of the stalls, 2600 seats will be reserved for people with disabilities and their companions: 100 for each evening. Brand new for 2025 will be the multisensory singing tour: three dates to discover, using the senses and touch, how the diaphragm and voice are used to create a myriad of nuances and notes. The ‘traditional’ backstage tours of the Arena are also back from today, with bookings having already exceeded the 1000 mark. A record considering that last year there were 1002 participants in total across the entire summer.

This morning the third edition of Arena per tutti was officially opened at the Arena in the company of the Mayor of Verona and Chairman of Fondazione Arena Damiano Tommasi, General Manager Cecilia Gasdia, Undersecretary for Culture Gianmarco Mazzi, Marketing Director of Müller Italia Paola Scandola, and Associate Professor of English Translation and Accessibility of the University of Macerata Elena Di Giovanni, coordinator of the project. Also in attendance was Arena dancer Carmen Diodato, who has been a deaf since birth.

During the event, Cecilia Gasdia, accompanied on piano by musician Patrizia Quarta, demonstrated how it is possible to use the five senses to perceive singing. And what the new 2025 tour will look like. The heads of the public training, props, stage management and tailoring departments also enabled those present to test out the traditional Arena Opera Festival multisensory tour.

The focus in 2025 is on the operas Aida, La Traviata, Carmen and the new production of Nabucco. All spectators that request them can take advantage of accessible trailers (in Italian, English and German, with subtitles, voice-over; Italian, international and German sign language translation; description of the images), live audio descriptions of the shows and digital libretti, all of which available in three languages (Italian, English and German). The digital libretti are highly inclusive tools that, by replicating the graphics and structure of classic printed opera libretti (with synopsis, director's notes, photos and information on performances), can offer simplified texts with editable and enlargeable fonts, images and scene sketches with audio description (for the blind and visually impaired) as well as texts translated into Italian sign language. The opera libretti will be available in English, with international sign language translation. In addition, there are ‘easy-to-read’ fact sheets in Italian, English and German, which conform to European Union guidelines for written content designed for people with intellectual disabilities.

There are 16 evenings with multisensory tours, completely free initiatives that guarantee not only a unforgettable backstage experience but also reduced ticket prices in the stalls. People with disabilities will be accompanied on stage and behind the scenes to explore the sets, costumes, props, spaces and musical instruments, guided by the stage staff and the skilled artisans that have curated the performances down to the finest of details in the Fondazione Arena workshops.

There are three tours dedicated to singing at Teatro Filarmonico, on which two singers and a pianist will demonstrate how the diaphragm is used to control the voice and the ribcage to propagate sound, enabling the audience to use their senses to understand how the intensity of the voice is modulated to make it stronger and richer in nuances. Participants can literally touch the singers with their hands to perceive the movements and vibrations of their bodies and therefore feel the music.