In the pitch-dark auditorium of Rome’s Teatro Costanzi, a high-pitched lament floated from the top galleries.
Dozens of flashlights snapped on, their beams crisscrossing crazily, seeking the source of the sound.
The shafts of light homed in on a spectral figure — a slim, dark-haired woman dressed in white, moving at a funereal pace and plaintively singing.
In the audience, 130-odd children, ages 8 to 10, let loose squeals, some gasps, and one “it’s not real.” Several called out “Emma, Emma.”The children had just been told that the Costanzi, the capital’s opera house, had a resident phantom.
This was said to be the spirit of Emma Carelli, an Italian soprano who managed the theater a century ago, and loved it so much that she was loath to leave it, even in death.
Persons:
Emma, ”, Emma Carelli
Locations:
Italian