Overview
- On January 29, 1996, a deliberate blaze gutted Venice’s Gran Teatro La Fenice.
- Courts convicted electricians Enrico Carella and Massimiliano Marchetti, who set the fire to avoid late‑work penalties.
- Magistrate Felice Casson’s inquiry documented disabled alarms and insufficient canal water that magnified the destruction.
- City leaders preserved the opera season in a temporary Palafenice on the Tronchetto while reconstruction advanced.
- A “com’era, dov’era” rebuild—after an annulled contract, a later award to Sacaim, and legal wrangling—led to a December 14, 2003 reopening under Riccardo Muti and later inspired the theatre’s 2004 New Year’s Concert tradition.