Summertime dusk, and a beautiful Italian lake, complete with picture perfect villages flickering with lights, becomes the large as life backdrop for the romance, colour and drama of Puccini’s operas.

An outdoor theatre has been built on this spot, with a view over the Massaciuccoli Lake almost annually since 1930, and the permanent theatre, built in 1966 now attracts crowds of up to 40,000 to see Puccini’s best loved works, usually including a selection from Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Turandot and La Bohème.

Other events relating to Puccini and his poetic stories are held around the lake to coincide with the festival, which has also become the place to premiere new stagings of Puccini’s works and for beloved and renowned opera artists to debut and farewell in major roles.

Puccini lived and worked in a villa, now the Villa Museum Puccini, a few hundred metres from the amphitheatre and his bones are interred in a chapel on the grounds so this view was the backdrop for the conception of many of his works. The town of his birth, Lucca, is nearby as are Pisa and the Italian Riviera. One of the most popular events on the opera calendar, book your tickets in advance by emailing ticketoffice@puccinifestival.it.

Puccini Festival Website (in Italian).

Written by  Kat Mackintosh.

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