While Imelda de' Lambertazzi was in rehearsal, Donizetti signed a contract for the Teatro Carcano in Milan; a group of disgruntled dilettanti, angered by the way that La Scala was being run, were determined to teach the management of that theatre a lesson by putting on an outstanding season at the Carcano. Although he had vowed to write not even one appoggiatura for Milan, considering the shabby treatment he had received from the milanesi, Donizetti saw at once that here was a chance to produce an impression that could not be ignored. The contract contained a number of attractive clauses: it offered him the opening night of the Carnival season (26 December, Santo Stefano) for his new opera, the position of honor; the company would be headed by Giuditta Pasta and Rubini; the librettist would be Felice Romani and the text was to be ready by the end of September; and he would be paid 650 scudi.

Early in September Gaetano and Virginia set out for Rome, where after several weeks he left her with her family and set out by the overland route for Milan. From Bologna he wrote to his father on 5 October: