Il cappello di paglia di Firenze

Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (The Florentine Straw Hat, usually titled in English language productions as The Italian Straw Hat) is an opera by Nino Rota to an Italian-language libretto by the composer and his mother, Ernesta Rota Rinaldi, based on the play Un chapeau de paille d'Italie by Eugène Labiche and Marc-Michel.

The first performance in the United States was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1977, with Ragnar Ulfung as Fadinard, Ashley Putnam as Elena, Kathryn Day as Anaide, and Stephen Dickson as Emilio.

Fadinard enters, still upset by the adventure he has just had: returning home by gig, his horse nibbled and gobbled down a Florentine straw hat [it] which was hanging on a tree in the Vincennes woods.

At the sound of carriages announcing the arrival of the party of wedding guests, Anaide and her would-be escort run off and hide in the next room.

The loutish Nonancourt enters with his daughter Elena, the sweet, innocent bride, railing at his son-in-law with the constant refrain "Tutto a monte" (It's all off).

Meanwhile, the wedding party waiting impatiently in the carriages down in the street is heard singing: "Tutta Parigi noi giriam, lieti e felici siam."

The Baronessa of Champigny's villa A gala occasion in the luxurious home of the Baroness: flowers, tables laid for a feast, elegance, for a reception in honor of the distinguished Italian violinist Minardi, who is going to play.

At this point, the wedding guests, who have gorged and caroused, burst gaily into the room to everyone's astonishment, as Elena, slightly tipsy, lifts her glass in a toast to the groom.

Fadinard, having gotten the address where the unattainable hat is to be found, takes advantage of the confusion to carry off the whole wedding party with him, as the Baroness swoons and her guests cry "the police!".

Intermezzo: A Paris street The bedraggled and exhausted wedding procession, with Nonancourt and his daughter, sings the same old refrain: "Tutta Parigi noi giriam", and sets out for Fadinard's house.

A tussle ensues, in which the deaf uncle, Vézinet, takes part in order to salvage the box containing his wedding present: a florentine straw hat!

The patrol guards return from their rounds only to find Nonancourt and his relatives about to leave with the bundles and parcels, and suspecting they are thieves, have them shut up in the guard-house.

While Fadinard does everything possible to distract the attention of the fuming husband, Emilio manages to cut the wire with his sword: the lamp crashes to the ground along with the hat, plunging the square into pitch darkness.

[6] Its celebrated soundtrack, recorded at RCA studios in Italy, was conducted by Rota himself and starred Daniela Mazzucato (Elena), Edith Martelli (Anaide), Viorica Cortez (Baronessa di Champigny), Ugo Benelli (Fadinard), Giorgio Zancanaro (Emilio), Alfredo Mariotti (Nonancourt), Mario Basiola (Beaupertuis).

[7] Bruno Campanella led a cast headed by Juan Diego Flórez, Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, Francesca Franci, Alfonso Antoniozzi, and Giovanni Furlanetto.