La Scala enters the diary as a place of temporary release during an exhausting day in Milan: an opera ticket gave Andy Warhol a chance to step away from his exhibition opening and sit in a box for Bob Wilson’s Salome.

The Opera Visit

On January 22, 1987, Gianni Versace, who had designed the costumes for Bob Wilson’s Salome at La Scala, arranged tickets for Warhol. The performance offered a way to slip away from the opening when he grew tired. Warhol watched from a box seat, making the opera a short interval between the gallery’s public demands and a dinner held in his honor.

A Brief Respite

The escape was bounded by the day’s schedule rather than a lasting retreat. After attending the opera, Warhol went to the dinner, where Daniela continued coughing near him; he later attributed his exhaustion and eventual flu to resisting her illness for two days. La Scala thus appears not as a destination explored in detail, but as a pause in a crowded itinerary—one made possible by Versace’s tickets and ended when the evening’s obligations resumed.