La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) is an Italian opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and later Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on Angel de Saavedra Ramirez de Baquedano's "Don Alvaro o la Fuerza del Sino". It was first performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on November 10, 1862, A revised version was performed in Milan, on February 27, 1869. One of Verdi's richest "middle-period" works, with one of the finest of all operatic overtures. 