Teatro alla Scala opened on 3 August 1778 with Salieri's "Europa riconosciuta," built in two years on the ruins of the Church of Santa Maria della Scala after fire destroyed Milan's Teatro Regio Ducale. Giuseppe Piermarini designed the horseshoe auditorium with 3,000 seats and acoustics that made it opera's most coveted stage. The 19th-century foyer doubled as a casino, and business deals closed during performances.

Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" premiered here on 17 February 1904 to deliberate sabotage. A hired claque filled the house with animal noises and personal insults. When bird-whistles accompanied the dawn vigil scene, the audience joined with barnyard sounds. Headlines the next day read "Puccini hissed" and "Butterfly, Diabetic Opera." Puccini withdrew the score, calling it a lynching.
The loggionisti in the upper gallery are merciless. In 2006, tenor Roberto Alagna walked off mid-scene in "Aida" after being booed. His understudy rushed on stage wearing jeans. Alagna never returned. Even Pavarotti was booed in 1992 when his voice cracked during "Don Carlo." He never sang the opera again.

VoiceMap's self-guided Milan tours place La Scala at the heart of the city's fashion district, explaining how the opera house shaped Milanese high society, revealing the December 7 season opening tradition that links the theatre to Milan's patron saint, and connecting Giuseppe Verdi's premieres to the nationalism that made "Va' pensiero" from "Nabucco" an anthem of Italian unification.