La fiera di Venezia (The fair in Venice) is a three-act opera buffa, described as a commedia per musica, by Antonio Salieri, set to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Gastone Boccherini (brother of the composer Luigi Boccherini).

Performance history

The opera premiered with great success on 29 January 1772 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. La fiera di Venezia turned out to be one of Salieri's best regarded works and during his lifetime was staged more than thirty times throughout Europe. In 1773, Mozart wrote fortepiano variations to the aria "Mio caro adone". In the movie Amadeus, Mozart refers to the piece when introducing himself to Salieri. He called the aria, “a funny little tune but it yielded some good things”.

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