At the Jewelry Museum, the stage jewelry worn on stage by divas like Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi.
After killing Baron Scarpia, Tosca takes the safe-conduct from him and, before escaping, stops to collect her own jewelry and place a crucifix on the corpse’s chest. But Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca isn’t the only opera featuring jewelry, starting with Richard Wagner’s Ring tetralogy. Jewelry is also part of the history of opera through the costumes worn by singers: tiaras, crowns, and stage costume trimmings. These, along with precious fabrics and original documents from the last century, are now on display at the Jewelry Museum in Vicenza until September 30, 2026. The exhibition is titled “Divas and Jewels on Stage. A Corbella for Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, and the Performers of Opera,” and is curated by Paola Venturelli.
Jewels, in short, as companions on stage to divas. The Jewelry Museum displays pieces associated with some of the most famous opera singers of the 20th century, produced by the Corbella company of Milan. Founded in 1865, the company was known as the First Factory of Jewelry and Arms for the Theater, and for over a century it was the leading manufacturer of this type of jewelry for the world’s leading theaters. The jewelry is that worn by divas such as Rosetta Pampanini, Margherita Carosio, Margherita Cipolato Nicolai, Maria Caniglia, Giulietta Simionato, Renata Tebaldi, and Maria Callas. They are not made of real gold, but are stage jewelry, featuring gilded metal, filigree, glass paste, rhinestones, and other materials.
Among the most curious pieces are creations linked to performances that have shaped the history of bel canto: a polychrome Egyptian-style necklace once owned by Maria Callas, a precious tiara for Umberto Giordano’s Fedora, the curious headdress for Leila in The Pearl Fishers, a jeweled bra perhaps inspired by the exotic allure of Mata Hari, and hairpins created for Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfy will transport visitors to the world of theater and opera. Linked to Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, first performed at La Scala on April 25, 1926, the centenary of which is celebrated this year, is the eye-catching crown with tremblant elements worn on that occasion by soprano Rosa Raisi, which has become the very emblem of Puccini’s opera.
The stage jewel is not a simple ornament, but a narrative element capable of living alongside the artist, amplifying her stage presence and contributing significantly to the construction of the character’s identity. The exhibition is conceived as a small compendium of outstanding creations that, while not precious in terms of materiality, possess a profound expressive and scenographic value: jewels that interact with light, movement, and costumes, leading the visitor into the visionary world of melodrama and opera, conveying all their aesthetic and symbolic power.
Paola Venturelli, exhibition curator
Vicenza Jewelery Museum
Tuesday to Friday 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
