In picturesque nineteenth-century Spain under Napoleonic occupation, the thwarded love between the French officer Lucien d’Hervilly and the gypsy Paquita culminates in felicitous marriage after various adventures and revelations. A specialist in the reconstruction of ballets from the romantic repertoire, in 2001 Pierre Lacotte recovered and gave new life to this lost treasure, which breaks with the cliché of the ballet blanc to give us a realistic tale and a protagonist in flesh and blood. The complex plot is set off against a thrilling display of virtuoso dancing and lyricism. In homage to the recently deceased Pierre Lacotte, an important new debut for La Scala and its Ballet Company, which now adds to its repertoire, with a new staging, its first Paquita.