Rossini composed his last Italian opera to celebrate the coronation of the French king Charles X in 1825. A virtuoso tour de force, it was conceived for the greatest voices of the time and calls for an exceptional cast of fourteen soloists: three prima donna sopranos, an alto, two tenors, four baritones, and four basses. One of the score's glories is the audacious "Gran Pezzo Concertato" for the fourteen soloists. In the Finale national toasts derived from patriotic songs set the driving music awhirl.

Rossini permitted only four performances of Viaggio, later reusing half the score for Le Comte Ory. The manuscript sources were presumed lost until part of the autograph was recovered in the 1970s at the Rome Conservatory, while other sources were found in Paris (including original performing parts) and Vienna. The identification of a missing chorus completed the restoration of this magnificent work to the repertory.

Along with the reconstructed score, the critical edition provides historical information about the libretto's relationship to French politics of the era and details on the first production.

The libretto for La gazzetta, written by Giuseppe Palomba, was based on a play by Carlo Goldoni entitled Il matrimonio per concorso. Rossini drew a two-act comic opera from this libretto chiefly by recycling old music, a fact that has weighed heavily in critical reaction to the work. But as this edition reveals, this view is misleading. Rossini himself wrote each borrowed piece or section anew in its entirety by significantly modifying details, changing vocal lines throughout, and introducing numerous orchestral modifications. The resulting opera—first performed on September 26, 1816, at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples—is delightful, with Goldoni's wonderful structure and characters given superb musical life by Rossini. This critical edition, edited by Fabrizio Scipioni, presents the full score in two volumes, along with a separate volume of insightful commentary.