Venice's La Fenice Rises Glittering from the Ashes By Ilaria Polleschi Venice's La Fenice opera house finally rose glittering from its ashes Sunday, wriggling free from eight years of arson trials, contract wrangles and building delays. Venetians and music lovers laughed and wept as they swept around the new theater which has been built exactly "as it was, where it was" before flames rampaged through its stucco and gilt halls in 1996, reducing it to rubble. "I remember when it went up in smoke and we stood here crying but now it's smiles all round, seeing her alive and well again," said Venetian Carlo Rosato as he watched workers polish the theater gates before the gala reopening. The former mayor of Venice promised La Fenice would sing again in 1999 but by that time the theater named after the mythical Phoenix still lay in ashes while companies argued over who should rebuild it. The winners then fell way behind schedule. The frustration gave way to fury when a court found two electricians guilty of starting the fire to escape a fine for delays in rewiring work. But Sunday all that was put in the past. From the music wafting through the golden auditorium to elegant guests wandering through sumptuous foyers and sitting on phoenix-embossed silk seats, it was as if nothing had changed -- bar a few more fire extinguishers and gaudy green fire exit signs. "Our joy is proportional to the pain we have been through over the past years. Tremendous," said Paolo Costa, the mayor of Venice who pushed through the 60 million euro restoration project. Costa was joined in the new gilt, rose and azure hall by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Britain's Duchess of Kent for a sparkling gala concert directed by Riccardo Muti, music director of Milan's La Scala. La Fenice will ring to the sound of six more concerts this week and then shut again for a series of tests and the occasional concert until November 2004 when it will put on a new production of "La Traviata," which Giuseppe Verdi originally wrote for La Fenice. In the meantime, engineers and organizers hope they have done all they can to stop La Fenice from burning down again. The house is now equipped with a state-of-the-art pressurized sprinkler system, heat and smoke detectors, its own store of water to put out any fire and flame-resistant covering on all its joists. "We've done all we can," said Gianni Cagnin, the engineer who oversaw the rebuilding project. "Now all we can do is keep our fingers tightly crossed." Source: Yahoo! News

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