Quote:Mio bambino caro ("Child of my heart") from Puccini's La Bohème
"O mio babbino caro" is from Puccini's one-act opera
Gianni Schicchi.
Some more favorites of mine:
Bizet's
The Pearl Fishers, which I find at least as lovely as
Carmen.
Britten's
Billy Budd
At the risk of sounding like a stodgy academic, I would also suggest picking up a book about the rudiments of operatic
form--i.e. getting a feel for what a cavatina is, knowing the different parts of a 4-movement
scena, the difference between
opera seria and
opera buffa, etc. Though the music of operas is enjoyable enough, there is also much enjoyment to be found in the ways that composers manipulate formal conventions. Much of what makes Verdi who he is, for example, is the way he took the basic template of Italian opera and made it his own. Understanding the formal features of opera, even at a very rudimentary level, can add a whole other dimension to the listening experience.
