Divas and Jewels on Stage: When Maria Callas Wore Corbella. The Exhibition That Brings Opera Jewelry Back to Life
June 11, 2026
From La Scala to La Fenice. The Milanese Firm That Dressed the Greatest Divas of the 20th Century
Corbella was founded in Milan in 1865 with a single ambition: to dress the stage. For nearly 150 years, the Milanese firm supplied La Scala, La Fenice, the Costanzi in Rome and the Colón in Buenos Aires with the tiaras, crowns, necklaces and stage jewels that transformed singers into characters. This summer, the Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza brings that legacy back into the light.
Divas and Jewels on Stage. Corbella for Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas and the Opera Singers runs June 10 to September 30, 2026, at the Museo del Gioiello inside the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza. Curated by Paola Venturelli, the Exhibition gathers a significant selection of stage jewels associated with the greatest opera voices of the 20th century. Rosetta Pampanini, Margherita Carosio, Maria Caniglia, Giulietta Simionato, Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas are at the center of the narrative.
The Jewels
The pieces on view are gilded metal, filigree, glass paste and rhinestones. Technically not precious. Expressively irreplaceable. Among the highlights, a polychrome Egyptian-style necklace that belonged to Maria Callas. A tiara created for Umberto Giordano's Fedora. A jeweled bra inspired by the exotic allure of Mata Hari. Hairpins crafted for Puccini's Madama Butterfly. And the crown worn by soprano Rosa Raisi at the world première of Turandot at La Scala on April 25, 1926, the centenary of which is celebrated this year. That crown became the very emblem of Puccini's opera.
The Exhibition also presents the score Tullio Serafin used to conduct Maria Callas in Turandot at La Scala in 1957, annotated in his own hand. On loan from the Tullio Serafin Historical Archive, alongside a 1967 autograph letter from Callas to the Maestro.
Two prestigious Rubelli fabrics complete the journey. The ivory lampas created for Teatro La Fenice and named Traviata in homage to the opera performed at its reopening in 2003. And the red damask woven for the boxes of Teatro alla Scala. Together with the Corbella jewels, they return the atmosphere of the stages where these voices performed.
The Museo del Gioiello
Located inside the Basilica Palladiana on Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, the Museo del Gioiello inaugurated in 2014 and remains one of Italy's most focused institutions dedicated to the art of jewelry. The permanent Exhibition Gioiello-Italia. Materia Tecnica Arte. Tra Antico e Moderno, curated by Paola Venturelli, runs concurrently across six rooms on the upper floor until 2027, tracing Italian goldsmithing from the 5th century BC to the present.
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