Falstaff (opera) to think of "Falstaff" as a work that has a certain Englishness. In fact the opera is no more English than "Aida" is Egyptian. Boito and Verdi between them transformed the fat knight into one of the archetypes of "opera buffa"." Verdi himself, however, felt that the Falstaff of the opera is not a conventional Italian "buffo" character, but portrays Shakespeare's fuller, more ambiguous Falstaff of the "Henry IV" plays: "My Falstaff is not merely the hero of "The Merry Wives of Windsor", who is simply a buffoon, and allows himself to be tricked by the women, but also the
Giuseppe Verdi by Renato Castellani, where Verdi was played by Ronald Pickup, with narration by Burt Lancaster in the English version; and the 1985 play "After Aida", by Julian Mitchell (1985). He is a character in the 2011 opera "Risorgimento!" by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero, written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification of 1861. Verdi appeared on the Italian 1000 lire notes printed from 1962–76. Beginning in 1969 his house was shown on the reverse. He has also appeared on various postage stamps. Verdi's operas are frequently staged around the world. All of his operas are available in recordings in