Florence’s Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has attracted international attention after The New York Times featured its production of Romanzo Criminale on the front page of its international edition on 31 October 2026.
The American newspaper published a photograph from the production alongside the headline A beloved crime saga reaches the opera stage, directing readers to a longer article on page two.
The report, written by journalist Elisabetta Povoledo, examines how one of Italy’s best-known crime stories has been adapted for the opera stage, bringing a narrative associated with organised crime in Rome to Florence’s principal opera house.
From Italian crime fiction to opera
Romanzo Criminale originated as a novel published in 2002 by Giancarlo De Cataldo, a former judge. It was subsequently adapted into a 2005 film and a television series that ran from 2008 to 2010.
The story is set against the backdrop of Rome’s criminal underworld during the 1970s and 1980s, a period marked by organised crime, political violence and social unrest.
The opera, which premiered in Florence in October, was composed by Nicola Piovani, who won an Academy Award for his original score for Roberto Benigni’s 1997 film Life Is Beautiful.
De Cataldo wrote the libretto, adapting his own novel for the stage. The work follows the rise and fall of a criminal gang whose members seek to dominate Rome’s underworld.
An Italian story reaches an international audience
In its coverage, The New York Times explores the challenges of turning a complex crime narrative into an opera, including the need to condense a story involving numerous characters, rivalries and historical events.
The article also places the production within the wider history of Romanzo Criminale, explaining how the original novel and its screen adaptations became part of Italian popular culture.
The prominent placement in the international edition gave the Florence production visibility beyond Italy, introducing the work to readers who may be unfamiliar with the original story.
For the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of Italy’s principal opera institutions, the coverage also draws international attention to its contemporary productions, alongside the traditional operatic repertoire for which Florence is better known.
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