The new La Scala is due to reopen December 7. “The new La Scala will be luxuriously – but much more scantily – clad. The red velvet of the theatre’s seats has been renewed. Its boxes have been relined in crimson silk. But to get back its original acoustics, 11 coats of paint have been removed from the walls, the fitted carpets have been ripped out and the linoleum that covered the floors of the boxes has been stripped away to reveal terracotta tiles.”