Arena for All

The Arena Opera Festival is increasingly accessible, thanks to its partnership with Müller

More about the initiative

During the Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2024, Fondazione Arena, with the support of the Accessibility Partner Müller, presented the second edition of ‘Arena per Tutti’, the initiative for an even more accessible Arena di Verona Opera Festival. Multisensory paths to discover the backstage, accessible trailers and theatre books, cards in easy-to-read language and 1,500 more seats reserved for people with sensory and intellectual disabilities. All in three languages: Italian, English and German. The activity was coordinated by Professor Elena Di Giovanni with the support of Professor Francesca Raffi of the University of Macerata.

2025 dates will be available soon!

Multisensory pathways

For the 2024 edition of "Arena per Tutti", 10 evening out of the 25 with accessibility services for the sensory and intellectually disabled, included the possibility of booking a completely free, multisensory pathways completely free of charge.

During these routes, people with disabilities and their carers were accompanied on stage to explore the sets, costumes, and props, guided by the stage staff and by the skilful hands of those who have realised the performances down to the smallest detail in the Fondazione Arena workshops. Each route was designed for people with different needs.

Inclusive materials and sensory aids

Inclusive Materials 2024

In 2023, as part of the ‘Arena for All’ project, inclusive digital materials for people with sensory and intellectual disabilities were created for the operas Aida, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Nabucco, in Italian and English, with the intention of adding new ones in the coming years to make more and more operas fully accessible. The ‘Arena for all’ project includes accessible digital trailers and theatre books, subtitles for the deaf, audio descriptions for the blind, and opera cards in Easy to Read language. From 2024, the materials were in Italian, English and German.

Tickets for disabled persons and accompanying persons

In der Arena ist die Oper jeden Abend zugänglich! Informieren Sie sich über die Tarife und den Zutritt für Menschen mit Behinderungen und ihre Begleitpersonen.

Info and Prices

Past editions

Edition 2023
In 2023, the Arena for All initiative was launched for a more accessible Festival. For people with disabilities, 1,500 more places were made available than in previous editions.

The operas Aida, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Nabucco were made fully accessible with dedicated free tools:

inclusive trailers, in Italian and English, with subtitles, voice, Italian and international sign language translation, audio description of images;

audio introductions and audio descriptions for blind and visually impaired persons;

subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing people;

inclusive, digital programmes, in Italian and English, with simplified texts, editable and enlargeable fonts, voice, audio description of images, and texts translated into Italian and international sign language;

info sheets for the operas, in Easy To Read language (promoted by “Inclusion Europe”, the European Association for people with cognitive disabilities), in Italian and English;

Experiential paths before the operas

The numbers of the initiative

In total there were 766 participants, including spectators (466) who took advantage of the sensory and cognitive aids, and participants in the multi-sensory pathways (300), who were lucky enough to enjoy the Arena backstage experience. The operation expanded the Arena's audience: for 63.7 percent of visitors it was their first time in the Arena.

The age range most involved was the 45-54 age group (27.2% of the total). The region of origin of most visitors was Veneto, followed by Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Marche. The most frequently used free tools were accessible trailers, inclusive and digital programmes, and easy-to-read cards. Read the detailed report here.