Napoli milionaria

During the period in which the drama was written – the first performance took place in Naples in March 1945 – de Filippo was considered one of the chief representatives of Italian Neo-Realism. His works present a frequently sombre illustration of Italian everyday life under the Fascists, Nazis and struggles against the horrors of war. The germ cell of resistance and at the same time the receptacle for old traditions is always the family. The family is however threatened by war, combat and the new era dawning after liberation on a population which has not yet learned to cope with it – as in Napoli Milionaria, depicting the downfall of a family which despite having survived the war has become deeply insecure and is ultimately destroyed by the ‘new era’ following liberation.
For the opera composed thirty years after de Filippo’s drama, Nino Rota has created a score with reminiscences of Italian verismo, underscoring the Neo-Realistic pathos of de Filippo’s plot through rich orchestration and cantabile vocal lines.