We shall be staying at a hotel within the city walls of Lucca,
overlooking the gardens of an 18th-century villa. A leisurely programme
of visits has been arranged, with free afternoons before both the opera
performances and no early starts. On our transfer days there will be visits
to the Campo dei Miracoli in Pisa and the Romanesque
church at San Piero a Grado nearby.
A walk on the ramparts of Lucca, planted with an avenue of trees, provides
an unrivalled vantage point of the city. We will be shown the characteristic
Romanesque churches as well as Puccini’s birthplace, now a museum.
Among Lucca’s hidden delights are Palazzo Mansi, with its frescoed
piano nobile and picture collection, including portraits by Bronzino and
Pontormo and the enclosed piazza created on the site of the Roman amphitheatre.
On the way to Torre del Lago we will drive past the
Villa Puccini at Viareggio and have an early supper in
a fish restaurant. ‘Tosca’, with scenery and costumes by Igor
Mitoraj, is being performed in the vast new theatre overlooking Lake Massaciuccoli,
where the Apuan Alps form a magnificent backdrop to the stage.
The following day we will be shown a lovely privately-owned contemporary
garden in the countryside, before continuing to the medieval hill-town
of Montecarlo, known for its white wine, for lunch. Before
our second opera treat there will be an opportunity to visit the lakeside
villa which Puccini bought after the success of ‘Tosca’ and
where he composed many of his greatest works. Decorated in the ‘Liberty’
style, with furniture by Tiffany and Bugatti, it is run as a museum by
his granddaughter. This evening’s performance of ‘Turandot’
is with fresh stage settings.
After a morning in Lucca we drive up to the mountain village of Celle,
to find the old family house where Puccini spent his summer holidays as
a child. It is now a museum, with mementoes donated by his heirs. A walk
in the medieval town of Barga, in the Garfagnana Hills,
is also planned.
The internationally important theatre costume collection
of the Cerratelli Foundation at San Giuliano Terme provides
a fitting finale to our tour.
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