The bust of Maria Callas at the Rome Opera House - A work by the Greek sculptor Nikos Floros

It is recalled that the Greek soprano had temporarily left the stage of the Rome Opera House, due to vocal problems, before the first performance of "Norma" was completed in January 1958.

In December 2023, our embassy in Rome, in collaboration with the Opera House of the Eternal City, had organized an evening- tribute to "Divina", with soprano Myrto Papathanasiou and pianist Yannis Tsanakaliotis. It was a first symbolic "reconciliation" gesture, more than six decades after Maria Callas's collaboration with the theater in question ended.

The placement of the bust, sculpted by Nikos Floros, inside the theater, which is dedicated to Maria Kalogeropoulou, is another important gesture by which the Italian capital honors the memory of the unsurpassed Greek artist.

In addition to the sculptor, the unveiling ceremony of the bust was attended, among others, by our country's ambassador to Italy, Eleni Sourani, and the director of the Rome Opera, Francesco Giambrone, who referred to the importance of the work as a living cultural bridge of communication between Greece and Italy and thanked the artist for his overall work in promoting the memory of Maria Callas.