About the work
Li zite ’ngalera is a commedia per musica in three acts by Leonardo Vinci to a libretto by Bernardo Saddumene written in Neapolitan dialect. It premiered on 3 January 1722 at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples. The score is the earliest largely complete surviving example of a Neapolitan dialect opera and Vinci's earliest surviving opera overall.
Plot
In a harbour street near Naples, young Carlo has left his former love Belluccia for his new flame Ciomma. Disguised as a man, Belluccia pursues him, unwittingly making several women, including Ciomma herself, fall for her male persona. Only when Belluccia's father, a galley captain, threatens Carlo with death does she forgive him; the couple reconciles and marries.
Cultural significance
The work is regarded as one of the finest examples of early Neapolitan comic opera and is still praised for its vitality; in 2023 Milan's Teatro alla Scala staged it for the first time. Its title refers to the ending, when the newlyweds sail home together aboard the galley.