Maria Stuarda is an Italian opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti, libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, after Friedrich Schiller's play "Maria Stuart". It was first performed in Naples, on October 18,1834, under the name of "Buondelmonte" due to censorship problems, and in its original version in Milan, on December 30, 1835. One of Donizetti's finest work, it is notable for the confrontation scene between Queen Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I of England, which in real life never took place.