Ezio is an opera eroica or "heroic" opera in 3 Acts by Gaetano Latilla

Gaetano Latilla

Gaetano Latilla was an Italian opera composer, the most important of the period immediately preceding Niccolò Piccinni .Latilla was born in Bari, and studied at the Loreto Conservatory in Naples...

. The opera uses an Italian language libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Pietro Metastasio. Metastasio's libretto was partly inspired by Jean Racine

Jean Racine

Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...

's play Britannicus and had earlier been set to music by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

 in 1732. The work's protagonist is the fifth-century AD Roman general Flavius Aetius

Flavius Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...

 (Ezio in Italian), returned from his victory over Attila. Latilla's version premiered at the Teatro di San Carlo

Teatro di San Carlo

The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...

 in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 on 10 July 1758. The composer both directed and conducted the production and Vincenzo Re

Vincenzo Re

Vincenzo Re was an Italian scenic designer. Born in Parma, Re began his career in Turin. In 1737 he became the assistant designer under Pietro Righini at the newly formed Teatro di San Carlo, ultimately replacing him as head designer in 1740. He remained at that post until his death 22 years later...

 designed the sets used in the premiere. The cast included Giovanni Carestini

Giovanni Carestini

Giovanni Carestini was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel...

 in the title roles, Caterina Gabrielli

Caterina Gabrielli

Caterina Gabrielli was an Italian soprano.-Biography:Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook in the service of prince Gabrielli, in Rome...

 as Fulvia, Maddalena Galli as Onoria, Caterina Galli

Caterina Galli

Caterina Galli was an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. She first rose to fame in England in the 1740s and early 1750s where she was particularly admired for her performances in the works of George Frideric Handel...

 as Valentiniano III, Gregorio Babbi

Gregorio Babbi

Gregorio Babbi was an Italian operatic tenor. He performed in the premieres of numerous operas, including works by Girolamo Abos, Pietro Auletta, Andrea Bernasconi, Giuseppe de Majo, Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio, Pasquale Cafaro, Gioacchino Cocchi, Nicola Conforto, Pasquale Errichelli, Baldassarre...

as Massimo, and Antonio Ambrogi as Varo.