Italian Egyptians which was to be inaugurated in 1871 with the "Aida" by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Khedivial Opera House or "Cairo Royal Opera House" was the original Opera House in Cairo. It was inaugurated on November 1869 and burned down on October 1971. The opera house was built on the orders of the Khedive Ismail to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. The Italian Egyptian architects Pietro Avoscani and Mario Rossi designed the building. Pietro Avoscani, before his 1891 death in Alexandria, created even the famous "Corniche" of Alexandria. The fondness of Egyptian monarchs towards Italy appeared in
Raid on the Suez Canal Located at these series of posts were trenches with sand bag revetments, protected by barbed wire on the eastern bank of the canal mainly covering ferries with an extensive bridgehead at Ismailia Ferry Post. Three floating bridges were constructed, at Ismailia, Kubri and Qantara. On the western bank trenches were dug at intervals between the posts. These defences were augmented by the presence in the Suez Canal of , , the armed merchant cruiser and near Qantara, Ballah, Sallufa, Gurka Post and Esh Shatt respectively, with the French protected cruiser "D'Entrecasteaux" just north of the Great Bitter Lake, at Port