Puccini's Land

By spending time in this part of Tuscany during the past few months, we have learned that this year marks the 150th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini's birth. Puccini was born in Lucca on December 22nd, 1858, is the most performed composer in the world, which I suppose anyone who knows anything about opera would already know (as you may know from reading my other blog, my knowledge of opera remains somewhat limited).

Throughout the year, many concerts, lectures and other events will celebrate this anniversary in "Giacomo Puccini's Land," which encompasses Lucca, city and province, and the surrounding areas including Bagni di Lucca.


From the 1890's onwards, Puccini lived mostly in Torre del Lago, a town about fifteen miles from Lucca, where he eventually built a villa on the lake now called the Villa Museo Puccini. During his time there, he wrote his most famous operas, La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904).

Puccini also spent time in Bagni di Lucca, and it was here that he wrote most of the opera Turondot, that remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1924. I do not know yet what specific events are planned for when we will be in the area, but hopefully we can catch some of them later this year.