About the work
Don Checco is a comic opera (opera buffa) in two acts by Nicola De Giosa, premiered in 1850 in Naples. It is among the most successful Neapolitan opere buffe of the mid-century and stands in the tradition of Donizetti and Neapolitan comedy.
Plot
The debt-ridden and perpetually hungry Don Checco becomes entangled in a series of comic confusions at an inn, when the creditor he is trying to avoid turns out, of all people, to be the disguised landowner. Between the love affairs of the younger characters and Don Checco's attempts to escape his pursuers, everything resolves in the end into general reconciliation.
Cultural significance
Don Checco was Nicola De Giosa's greatest success and remained present in the Neapolitan repertoire for decades. The work is a charming example of the vitality of Italian opera buffa after Donizetti and is occasionally rediscovered today.