Italy Puccini Festival small group Tour

Puccini Festival Small Group Tour in Italy

Join Odyssey Traveller in this guided small group tour where we attend the Puccini Festival, a summer celebration held in Torre del Lago dedicated to the renowned Italian composer.

In addition to the festival Puccini, we also explore other locations associated with Giacomo Puccini, such as Lucca, his birthplace and the site of a statue that commemorates him. As we move from Rome to Milan to Florence to Venice, with journeys to surrounding villages along the way, we build a picture of music in Italy. We explore theatres and museums with an aim to appreciate the history of the man and Puccini's work.

Puccini’s Early Life

Before he became known as the great Italian composer and proponent of verismo (realistic) opera, Puccini already had music in his DNA. He was born in Lucca in 1858 to a musical family. His great-great grandfather, also Giacomo, was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca, and was succeeded by generations of Puccini men. In all, the family occupied the position of maestro di capella for a total of 124 years. It was expected that Puccini would continue this tradition, but this was prohibited by the early death of his father when Puccini was only six. He nonetheless participated in the church’s music, as a choir member and organist.

Later, Puccini studied at the Milan conservatory. Aged 21, he composed his Mass, which gestured towards his family’s long association with church music in Lucca.

Puccini and the Opera

But Puccini progressed quickly to operas, commencing with Le Villi in 1885. His second opera, Edgar (1889), met with a lukewarm reception. Puccini had attracted negative attention as well for eloping with his married former piano student, with whom he would go on to share a tumultuous relationship. His music publishers, G. Ricordi & Co. supported him to produce a third opera: Manon Lescaut (1893). It was an acclaimed production, with Puccini heralded as the most likely heir of Verdi, whose 1853 opera La traviata paved the way for the verismo movement (characterised by operas concerning ordinary people and everyday life) in Italian opera.

His greatest successes, however, were yet to come. La Boheme followed (first performance 1896), and was performed in opera houses across Europe, Britain and the United States. Next was Tosca (1900). Having seen Tosca performed as a play, it’s said Puccini was inspired to produce an opera without elaborate spectacle. Distinctive musical signatures were attached to characters and emotions. Some have compared it to Wagner.

Puccini in Later Life

In 1901, Puccini was seriously injured in a car accident. While his wife and son escaped harm, Puccini was pinned beneath the vehicle. As a result of his subsequent medical treatment, doctors discovered he was also suffering diabetes.

Madama Butterfly premiered in 1904. This opera was not well received at the time. This is attributed in part to inadequate rehearsals (compounded, perhaps, by the composer’s illness), and an incident in which the star’s kimono accidentally lifted during a performance. Puccini withdrew Madama Butterfly. But he continued to revise it, up until 1907. The 1907 version is the version we know and love today.

In December of 1918 in New York's Metropolitan Opera Puccini premiered his Il Trittico, collection of three one-act operas: Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. He didn't attend the performance in America, but went to the production in Rome, Italy the following January.

Turandot was Puccini’s final opera. He died from complications from throat cancer treatment in 1924. It is said the news arrived to Rome midway through a performance of La Boheme, and the orchestra stopped immediately to play Chopin’s Funeral March in his honour. Turandot was left unfinished, but has been completed by Franco Alfano using Puccini’s sketches. Puccini has said of the style of his operas: “Poetry, poetry, ardent affections, flesh, searching, almost surprising drama, fireworks finale”. Fans of his work will likely concur with the characterisation.

The Puccini Festival Small Group Tour Itinerary

From 1891, Puccini spent most of his time in his beloved Torre del Lago, a charming hamlet near Viareggio, drawn to its picturesque lake. He was welcomed enthusiastically by its residents. In fact, after his death, the town was renamed Torre del Lago Puccini. This town now hosts the Puccini Festival – the only festival in the world that is solely dedicated to the composer and in an outdoor theatre.

This festival takes place each summer, during July and August. Since its inception in 1930, it has continued to grow in prestige. It showcases the local places that inspired Puccini throughout his life. Stagings of his great works feature the stars of the opera world. The Great Open Air Theatre leads onto Massaciuccoli Lake, and is set amongst gardens dotted with contemporary sculpture. And, to complete the experience, you can even see Puccini’s house: the place where he composed his masterpieces.

To complete our discovery tour, we will also visit Rome, Siena, Florence, Lucca, Viareggio, Genoa, Milan, Verona, and Venice.

You can browse our Italy country profile for more information. For more details about this tour, click the ‘Top 5’ or ‘Itinerary’ buttons above! If you’re keen to experience this tour, please call or send an email.

Other Odyssey Tours to Italy

We also have other tours in Italy that might be of interest:

• Odyssey Traveller’s Lakes and Landscapes of Northern Italy short tour takes you through this diverse craggy and pastoral region of northern Italy and its mountainous borderlands.
• In the Italian renaissance small group tour we take the time to explore the five independent cities and the families that ruled them: The Medici of Florence, the Montefeltro of Urbino, the Este of Ferrara, the Gonzago of Mantua, and the Sforza of Milan.
• Our Northern Italy tours begins in the cosmopolitan city of Milan. From the Northern Italian city of Milan the tour ventures up into two of the region’s lakes - Garda and Maggiore. From here a five day stop in Cividale del Friuli allows the traveller plenty of time to explore. You then head west again towards a highlight the Cinque Terre tours.

We have several articles concerning Italy, which you can read here as well as an article about planning a trip to Italy. We have articles about preparing for walking tours here and here. Other articles of possible interest is this two-part post filled with travelling tips for seniors, an article on the many nifty gizmos and gadgets you can bring on your trips, and an important article about practising responsible travel.