Editor’s Note
This exhibition at Vicenza’s Museo del Gioiello shines a spotlight on the dazzling jewels and costumes of opera’s greatest divas, highlighting the legacy of Milan’s Corbella company. A must-see for lovers of theater and craftsmanship.
Diadems, crowns, and stage costume trims, along with precious fabrics and original documents from the last century, worn by opera divas, are the stars of the new exhibition at the Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza, beneath the Basilica Palladiana, running until September 30. Titled “Dive e Gioielli in Scena. Corbella per Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas e le interpreti della lirica,” the exhibition focuses on a significant selection of jewels linked to some of the most illustrious opera performers of the 20th century.
The showcase centers on the vast and intricate production of the Corbella company of Milan, the “First Factory of Jewelry and Arms for the Theater,” founded in 1865, which for over a century was the most authoritative reference in this type of production for the world’s leading theaters. Among the most curious pieces are creations tied to performances that made bel canto history: a polychrome Egyptian-style necklace that belonged to Maria Callas, a precious diadem for Umberto Giordano’s Fedora, the headpiece for Leila in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, a jeweled bra perhaps inspired by the allure of Mata Hari, hairpins made for Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and a striking crown linked to Turandot, first staged at La Scala in 1926, which celebrates its centenary this year.
