The castrati - The Italian Opera Superstars The castrati (plural in Italian for "the castrated ones") were Italian singers who were castrated at young age with the objective of obtaining male singers who could reach high-pitched notes; they were suppose to be the male version of soprano singers. The usage of castrated singers became a fad in Italy and the rest of Europe as the Catholic Church prohibited female singers of performing on stage. As the opera houses still needed singers to perform the roles of women and children, the castrati came into play. Promising young singers would undergo castration as young as the age of 8 years old; after the procedure, the castrated boy would go through intensive singing training. It's important to point out that the castration itself aligned with the training wouldn't guarantee the singer's success; those who didn't stand out would be destined to a religious life, normally as church choir singers. As for those who succeeded, a glamorous life was expected. Being a successful castrato (singular for "castrati") meant touring throughout Europe, living among the aristocracy and making a lot of money. Such flamboyant life, however, would come at a price; besides the obvious setbacks that the castration would bring to the reproducitive ability and sexual life of the castrated singer, conditions liked to the lack of testosterone, such as osteoporosis, were a constant in castrati's lives. In 1878, Pope Leo XIII prohibited the hiring of castrated singers by opera houses. As a result, the castration of boys for musical purpuses started falling out of fashion until it completely disapeared in the 19th century. It's estimated that roughly 4,000 boys were castrated per year at the peak of the fad in the 16th century.