Laurent Pelly’s Falstaff passes the Naples test with flying colours

Luca Salsi (Falstaff)

Caterina Piva (Meg), Maria Agresta (Alice), Anita Rachvelishvili (Quickly), Désirée Giove (Nannetta)

Luca Salsi (Falstaff) and the Coro del Teatro di San Carlo

Ernesto Petti (Ford) and Luca Salsi (Falstaff)

By Lorenzo Fiorito, 16 February 2026

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“Luca Salsi’s Falstaff... arrogant yet not caricatured, defeated yet not destroyed”

Reviewed at Teatro di San Carlo, Naples on 15 February 2026

Verdi, Falstaff

Teatro di San Carlo

Marco Armiliato, Conductor

Laurent Pelly, Director, Costume Designer

Barbara de Limburg, Set Designer

Joël Adam, Lighting Designer

Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo

Coro del Teatro di San Carlo

Luca Salsi, Sir John Falstaff

Maria Agresta, Alice Ford

Ernesto Petti, Ford

Désirée Giove, Nannetta

Francesco Demuro, Fenton

Anita Rachvelishvili, Mistress Quickly

Caterina Piva, Meg Page

Enrico Casari, Bardolfo (Bardolph)

Piotr Micinski, Pistola (Pistol)

Gregory Bonfatti, Dr Caius

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***11

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***11

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***11

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*****

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Lorenzo Fiorito

Lorenzo Fiorito holds degrees in Humanities and in Languages and Literatures, and a Phd in Languages for Special Purposes. He is a lecturer in historical musicological subjects at the Pegaso University, Naples, the Universitas Mercatorum, Rome and MEDEA Higher Education Institution, Malta, currently researching musicology as a special language. He is a member of the National Music Critics Association and of the Italian Society of Musicology. He edited a series of volumes in Musicology and History of Music for the publisher Diana Edizioni, mainly concerning the Neapolitan School of Music of the 18th century, and is the founder and artistic director of the “Francesco Durante Festival” in Frattamaggiore.