Teatro alla Scala Ansaldo Workshops

Lying between via Bergognone, via Tortona and via Stendhal is an industrial complex which in the 1960s housed the Ansaldo plant, a factory specializing in the production of locomotives and rail and tram carriages. The area housing the plant was bought by the City of Milan in 1990, and since 2001, has hosted the Teatro alla Scala Ansaldo Workshops. The theater’s workshop is an imposing building extending over a surface area of 20,000 square meters divided into three pavilions: Luchino Visconti, Nicola Benois and Luigi Sapelli. Most of the handmade works for the Teatro alla Scala’s productions are carried out here – set designs, sculptures, thermoforming, carpentry works, mechanical contraptions, set assembly, costume design and laundry.

The Teatro alla Scala Ansaldo Workshops premises holds more than 60,000 stage costumes and include rehearsal rooms for the chorus and a stage area for direction rehearsals which is exactly the same size as the Piermarini stage. Visitors can book guided tours of the Teatro alla Scala Ansaldo Workshops in order to gain a one-of-a-kind perspective into the “behind the scenes” workings of the Theatre and see the makings of a show first-hand. Additionally, the area of the former Ansaldo Steelworks complex, totally refurbished by designers of international fame, is also used to host a number of high-profile Milanese runway events.