Having begun vocal training when she was fourteen years old, Scotto moved to Milan when she was sixteen to continue her studies there. She made her operatic stage debut when only eighteen, singing Violetta / La traviata at Savona on Christmas Eve 1952 and the following day repeating the same role at the Teatro Nuovo, Milan.

During 1953 Scotto auditioned for the part of Walter / La Wally at La Scala, Milan; the comment of one of the auditioners, Victor De Sabata, was prophetic: ‘Forget the rest.’ She sang this role at La Scala alongside Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco at the end of 1953 and was extremely well received by the Milanese audience. A few years later however she experienced a vocal crisis, in which she lost much of her...