Tosca's Rome

by Jonathan Dean

Giacomo Puccini's Tosca takes place over the course of a few hours, in three actual locations near each other in Rome, not far from the Vatican (you can still go visit them and see if the scenic designer did his research). More so than most operas, Tosca requires carefully designed, realistic scenery to reflect the authenticity and detail of the stage action. In this article, we take a closer look at the real-life venues that inspired the opera.

Act One: The church of Sant’Andrea della Valle (Bill Mohn, photo)

This act takes place in a church because: 1) Angelotti, who has just escaped from Scarpia’s prison, hides in his family chapel, accessed by a special key held only by family members. His sister, the Marchese Attavanti, helped him escape and left food and a change of clothes for him in the chapel. 2) Mario Cavaradossi is painting a Magdalene for the altar of the church. (He took the beautiful blond Marchese as his model while she was there arranging Angelotti’s escape, much to the annoyance of the jealous Tosca.) And 3) the act concludes with the terrific irony of Scarpia, hot in pursuit of Angelotti, lusting after Tosca as the assembled churchgoers sing the Te Deum.

Greer Grimsley sings “Va, Tosca” from Seattle Opera’s 2008 Tosca


Act Two: A room in the Palazzo Farnese (Wikipedia, photo)

This palace, built in the 1500s for a pope’s residence, is today the French Embassy in Rome. In 1800, it housed the king and queen of Naples; in the opera, it is the personal headquarters of Baron Scarpia. In fact, this entire act belongs to Scarpia. We witness him torture Mario until Tosca confesses that Angelotti is hiding in the well in Mario’s garden, and shiver with dread when Tosca agrees to exchange her sexual favors for Mario’s life. And we’re delighted when Tosca’s eyes light upon an extra-sharp dinner knife and she thinks of a way out of her unpleasant bargain with Scarpia.
Greer Grimsley, Vinson Cole, Carol Vaness, and Paul Gudas sing a scene from Act Two of Seattle Opera’s 2001 Tosca

Act Three: Atop the Castel Sant’Angelo (Carly Griffin, photo)

Tosca’s final scene takes place in the prison where Mario awaits his execution. Today a museum, this enormous castle was built over the tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrian; it acquired the name “Castle of the Holy Angel” when the archangel Michael appeared there in the plague year 590, according to legend.
Frank Porretta sings “E lucevan le stelle” from Seattle Opera’s 2008 Tosca

Tosca is on stage May 3–17, 2025 at McCaw Hall. Learn more and buy tickets at seattleopera.org/tosca.