ROME — The Teatro alla Scala in Milan on Monday decided to return more than three million euros in funding to Saudi Arabia, amid growing criticism that Italy’s premier temple of music should not accept money from a country with a jarring human rights record.

Mayor Giuseppe Sala said the theater’s board of directors had deliberated over the issue and “unanimously decided to return the money.” The directors blocked several ventures that had been under discussion, including allocating a board seat to Saudi Arabia’s culture minister in exchange for substantial investments.

Mr. Sala and other Italian officials said Monday that the decision was not meant as a snub to the Saudis. It was based instead, they said, on other considerations, among them the legal implications of foreign membership on the theater’s board, which would have been a first.

“There is no black list,” said Mr. Sala.

But loud catcalls — a specialty of La Scala’s audiences, as it happens — rang out in Italy when news of a proposed accord between La Scala and the Saudi government was made public in recent weeks.