The Italian serenata is a genre closely tied to locality and occasion. One of the most attractive serenatas of Alessandro Scarlatti, Venere, Adone, et Amore, was composed for a festive evening in the bay of Posillipo close to Naples on 15 July 1696, with libretto by the Neapolitan-based Abbate Francesco Maria Paglia. Ten years later, during a year of intense activity by Scarlatti in Rome, an updated version of the same work was made, in which references to Naples are replaced by Roman references. But the changes to the score go far beyond this: a number of arias and vocal ensembles are recomposed or replaced altogether with new settings, and the work is rescored for the concerto grosso resources to which Scarlatti now had regular access at the court of Cardinal Ottoboni. Venere, Adone, et Amore presents a much lighter side of Scarlatti's dramatic talent than is generally seen in his operas and cantatas, and the work is full of lively numbers, with buffa-style recitative and ensembles. The presentation of both versions of the work in this edition gives a unique insight into the late-seventeenth-century style of Scarlatti and its adaptation for Rome a decade later.