La Scala into a costume. As with most of the theatres at that time, La Scala was also a casino, with gamblers sitting in the foyer. Conditions in the auditorium, too, could be frustrating for the opera lover, as Mary Shelley discovered in September 1840: At the Opera they were giving Otto Nicolai's "Templario". Unfortunately, as is well known, the theatre of La Scala serves, not only as the universal drawing-room for all the society of Milan, but every sort of trading transaction, from horse-dealing to stock-jobbing, is carried on in the pit; so that brief and far between are the snatches
Santa Maria la Scala are a number of paintings from the school of Solimena. Next to the sacristy is an altarpiece depicting "St Matthew" by Antonio Pascucci. The canvases in the second and third chapels on the right, depicting Madonnas with "Saints Francis and John the Baptist", and with "Saints Anthony and Phillip" were painted by Nicola de Mattheis. The third chapel also has a canvas depicting the "Resurrection" by Paolillo, a pupil of Andrea di Salerno. The first chapel on the right has a St Anthony by the school of Massimo Stanzione. Santa Maria la Scala Santa Maria la Scala is a Baroque