On top of being drop-dead gor­geous, Venice’s famed opera house has some seri­ous his­to­ry going for it. The the­ater has host­ed world pre­mieres for com­posers like Ver­di, Rossi­ni, Belli­ni, Donizetti, and Stravin­sky (look ’em up, they’re legit) since it first opened in 1792. It’s also suf­fered a num­ber of cat­a­stro­phes — includ­ing a fire as recent as 1996 — but it’s still going strong in its 223rd sea­son.