We went one evening to the opera at San Carlo. It is one of the three
theatres--San Carlo of Naples, La Scala of Milan, and Fenice of
Venice--on which the Italians pride themselves; and it is certainly
very large and imposing. The interior has a _bel colpo d'occhio_,
which is what many Italians chiefly value in morals, manners, and
architecture; but after this comes great shabbiness of detail. The
boxes, even of the first order, are paved with brick tiles, and the
red velvet border of the box which the people see from the pit is not
supported in style by the seats within, which are merely covered with
red oil-cloth. The opera we saw was also second-rate, and was to the
splendor of the scenic arrangements what the oil-cloth was to the
velvet. The house was full of people, but the dress of the audience
was not so fine as we had expected in Naples. The evening dress is not
_de rigueur_ at Italian theatres, and people seemed to have come to
San Carlo in any pleasant carelessness of costume.