“In building Peristil, Diocletian’s builders seemed to have Aida in mind. The stage and the audience blend into one, which is the greatest value an environment can provide to performers and the audience…” wrote a chronicler in the press in 1954 after the performance of Aida at the First Split Summer Festival. Since then, this monumental opera by Verdi has become an almost indispensable constant of the Festival, the most performed, most visited, most beloved, and most recognizable performance of the Split Summer, its eternal trademark.

The current directorial production of Aida premiered in 2014. The direction by Dražen Siriščević, costumes by Juraj Zigman, and scenography by Slaven Raos was then declared the most lavish Peristil Aida.