Some places nearest and dearest to the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini are about an hour from Portovenere. Among these are Lucca and Versilia.
Puccini was born on 22 December 1858 in Lucca, Tuscany. Inside the walls of this historic city is the evocative Puccini Museum, set in his native house. Here, Giacomo grew up with six sisters, a brother and his parents, and received his first musical teachings from his father Michele, who unfortunately died prematurely in 1864.
In 1868, Giacomo Puccini enrolled in violin lessons and then moved on to composition class with the teacher Carlo Angeloni, a well-known composer from Lucca. Puccini wrote his first compositions in Lucca, including Messa a quattro voci, the piece he presented for his diploma in 1880.
The young musician moved to Milan to continue his studies and perfect his vocation for opera. He and his family faced periods of poverty, during which they had to sell their house to overcome economic difficulties. But after the success of Manon Lescaut (his third opera, presented in 1893), the family house in Lucca returned to the ownership of Puccini and his descendants until it passed to the management of the Giacomo Puccini Foundation.
Giacomo Puccini’s great successes, including La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904), made him the wealthiest and most famous living composer. He loved cars and houses. Among his many real estate purchases was a building in Torre del Lago and one in Chiatri, both a few kilometers from Lucca.
It is precisely in Torre del Lago (Versilia) where the Puccini Festival takes place, one of the most anticipated cultural events between Liguria and Tuscany. Inaugurated in 1930, this opera festival has become a prestigious event that attracts thousands of spectators from all over the world. Puccini’s operas are staged in a large open-air theater on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli and in front of his House Museum in Torre del Lago. The 70th edition will take place in 2024.
Today, the Puccini Museum in Lucca preserves furnishings, documents, musical scores and precious objects that belonged to the musician, including the Steinway & Sons piano on which he composed many of his works, like Turandot. Next to it, in Piazza Cittadella, you can admire Puccini’s bronze statue created by Vito Tongiani.
Unfortunately, while working on the Turandot opera, Giacomo Puccini was diagnosed with laryngeal carcinoma. The maestro died on 29 November 1924, a few days after undergoing the innovative and experimental radiotherapy treatment in Brussels. The unfinished Turandot was performed for the first time in 1926, and since then, it has been one of his most famous works.
There are various “Puccini itineraries” to discover the life and works of Giacomo Puccini in the Tuscan areas closest to Liguria, making Lucca and Viareggio an ideal destination for day trips from Portovenere! In Lucca, there is also another very interesting museum for you to visit: the Mint Museum!
Visit www.puccinimuseum.org for more information on the Puccini Museum and www.puccinifestival.it to find out more about the festival.
