The La Scala website has had a makeover.
After pioneering working by the theatre's media boss, Silvia Farina, in making La Scala one of the most successful theatres in the world on social media, the website dragged behind. How many people have tried to navigate the old site, furiously pinching, spreading and tapping their smartphone? The drop-down menu that disappeared just as you were about to make a selection made it feel more like a videogame than an information and booking site. It looked lovely and suitably chic on a desktop monitor but for tablets and smaller it was hopeless. Now that has changed as on Friday the site stepped out on the Milan internet catwalk to show off its new look.
It is fully responsive means, which means that finally it is possible to check the opening of booking periods or times of performances on the go. It is, obviously, in Italian and English so the tourist can easily check to see what's on as they stroll through the grounds of the Milan Expo.
When clicking through the titles of the season the information pops up in a lightbox so you don't have to keep using the back button and the structuring is linear and logical.
All the different Scala sites (the Historical Archives and the Under30s site) can be easily accessed from the homepage, as well as the thematic sections for the museum, the workshops, children's performances, the Academy and, vitally important, the box office.
Visit Teatro alla Scala here.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
