Premiering the French version in Palermo Grand-opéra in five acts

Set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another.

Marco Tutino's opera, produced for the 2023 Wexford Festival Opera, tells the story of a mother and daughter fleeing the chaos and atrocities of the Second World War in Italy. It's a story inspired by Alberto Moravia's novel which was already adapted for the cinema by Vittorio De Sica in 1960, bagging Sophia Loren an Academy Award for her starring performance. La Ciociara, performed here on an Irish festival stage, offers a poignant operatic experience with powerful themes that resonate through time.