Cafeteria, big screens at renovated Rome Opera House

(ANSA) - Rome, November 25 - Rome's Opera House just went through a makeover with a more welcoming, contemporary and European look.
    The renovation's objective is for the theater to become more attractive to the public, setting aside any drab reminiscence of the past in order to create a closer relationship with the city.
    The new gourmet cafeteria will also 'invade' the square in front of the 19th-century theater conceived by Domenico Costanzi while the box office will become more modern with giant screens and a different, more functional system to gain access to the theater.
    A canteen for employees has also been created in the basement, connected by an elevator.
    These are among the novelties which the Rome Opera House Foundation led by superintendent Carlo Fuortes has planned in order to make the theater more pleasant both for the public and its workers.
    The ticket office, which cost approximately 100,000 euros, will be operational as of Friday, when the new season will open with the opera The Bassarids, considered one of the masterpieces of Hans Werner Hense and staged by Mario Martone.
    The canteen and lift will likely open in March. The most high-impact renovation work, however, will concern the cafeteria, which will be inaugurated on December 20 with the ballet The Nutcracker.
    It will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
    The Foundation is also studying with the superintendency the best solution to use the square in front of the theater in order to create continuity between the theater's interior and the exterior, starting next spring.
    Roman restaurant Marzapane has won a public competition to manage the theater's cafeteria and will have to give the Foundation (which signed a contract for four years, renewable for an additional four-year period) 120,000 euros a year and 5% of revenues.
    The operation is thus advantageous for the theater, both in terms of its image and income.
    A first taste of the delicacies to be prepared by Alba Esteve Ruiz, the restaurant's young Spanish chef, will be served on Friday evening at a gala dinner for a selected few.
    Thanks to record sales of 10 million euros last year, over the past season that just wrapped up - with a productivity finally in line with foreign standards - Rome's Opera House is eyeing the future with newfound enthusiasm.
    "The Opera theater will be a more hospitable and lively place all day long: we are opening up to new things and changes are still ongoing", said Carlo Fuortes, announcing to the press all the new developments.
    "We are doing this for the public because the theater is a service offered to citizens".
    "After working on management and content, after an agreement with unions to boost productivity, we are now working on the packaging", he concluded.