Although Salvatore Fiume never really wanted to make a career as a theatre designer, he was very happy whenever the Scala Theatre or other opera houses invited him to try himself at designing sets and costumes for a new production. It was Alberto Savinio, the highly distinguished painter, writer, and musician (and brother to famous painter Giorgio de Chirico) who suggested the Scala director, Mr Nicola Benois, to invite Fiume for the first time in 1952 for the production of Manuel de Falla's La Vida Breve. This was followed by several more collaborations through the 1950's which included a number of memorable successes such as Luigi Cherubini's Medea, in 1953 -with soprano Maria Callas as Medea and Leonard Bernstein, conductor- Verdi's Nabucco in 1958 again at the Scala, and Verdi's Aida at the Covent Garden in 1957. Fiume's last theatre collaboration was with the Monaco Opera House in Montecarlo for Donizzetti's Il Campanello, in 1992.