II. LA SCALA IN CASA VISCONTI

It was the Visconti di Modrone family, in particular Luchino’s paternal grandfather, Duke Guido, who

had saved the theatre from closure after a dire financial crisis in 1897 by establishing the Società anonima  per l’esercizio del Teatro alla Scala. Guido was its first president before the position passed to his eldest son, Uberto, Luchino’s uncle. Uberto was also among the principal founders of the Museo Teatrale alla Scala, inaugurated on 8 March 1913, and served as its first president. In the Visconti home at 44 Via Cerva (today this is 8 Via Cino del Duca), “you couldn’t do anything – not even be born – without first consulting La Scala’s ‘tamburino’,” its daily program. Late in life, the director would recall: “At dinner time, the light from the chandelier in the dining room would dim, and my father would say: ‘They’ve lit up La Scala.’”