Monteverdi wrote the first great Italian opera to exhibit grand Baroque opera form.
Explanation:
While Claudio Monteverdi did not write the very first opera (this is believed to have been <em>Dafne</em> by Jacopo Peri), he wrote the first great Italian opera to exhibit grand Baroque opera form. This is <em>L'Orfeo</em>, or <em>La Favola d'Orfeo</em>. This is also the earliest opera still regularly performed. The opera was written in 1607 for a court performance at the annual carnival at Mantua.