Teatro alla Scala's origins

I could not help being interested in what Fr Mark Cauchi OSA (The Sunday Times, September 2) had to say about the origins of Milan's Teatro alla Scala. It is a pity that some inaccuracies crept into this contribution as this could jeopardise the credibility of otherwise very interesting information.

To begin with, there never was a Duchess of La Scala. Bernabò Visconti's wife was a member of the della Scala family, closely associated with Verona and often collectively known as "gli Scaligeri".

As wife of the ruler of Milan who, after 1378, shared power with his nephew Gian Galeazzo Visconti, at most she was "Signora" of Milan. Gian Galeazzo was no viscount. Visconti was his family name and Milan became the capital of a duchy only in 1395. This was when Gian Galeazzo, who extended his immense power over a good part of northern, and later central Italy, bought the title of Duke from the very cash-strapped Emperor Wenceslas.

As far as is known, the famed and fabled Certosa di Pavia is not a "Duomo". The devotion to Our Lady accorded to her by the Visconti is beyond dispute. It may be of further interest to add that, after having had no legitimate male heir by his first wife, Gian Galeazzo vowed eternal gratitude to the Holy Virgin should his second marriage be blessed with such progeny.

His prayers were answered, for in due course his second wife (and cousin) bore him an heir and a spare. Giovanni Maria was his immediate successor (1402-12) and after the latter's assassination, the younger son Filippo Maria (1412-47) was to be the last Visconti Duke of Milan. Gian Galeazzo also decreed that all his descendants would bear the additonal name of "Maria". Filippo Maria's illegitimate daughter Bianca Maria continued this tradition with most of her children born of her marriage to Francesco Sforza who took Milan in 1450, destroying the short-lived Ambrosian Republic in the process. Later generations of Sforzas carried on with the vow, the last two Dukes being the brothers Massimiliano Maria and Francesco Maria.

One wishes that the theatre which was built during the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa (1740-80) were properly referred to as the "Teatro alla Scala", not as often happens as "La Scala" ...or worse still by others as "La Scala di Milan".