Marco Tutino's opera, produced for the 2023 Wexford Festival Opera, tells the story of a mother and daughter fleeing the chaos and atrocities of the Second World War in Italy. It's a story inspired by Alberto Moravia's novel which was already adapted for the cinema by Vittorio De Sica in 1960, bagging Sophia Loren an Academy Award for her starring performance. La Ciociara, performed here on an Irish festival stage, offers a poignant operatic experience with powerful themes that resonate through time.