Torre del Lago: Puccini's villa and festival

A village on the lake

Torre del Lago lies between Lake Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea, near Viareggio on the Tuscan coast. Wikipedia says the Puccini family spent summers there from 1891, and that Puccini spent most of his time there from then on. The village is now tied to his name more closely than almost any place except his birthplace, and it is home to both his museum villa and the summer festival, a different side of Puccini from the one you meet in the old streets of Lucca.

Read next: Puccini in Lucca: birthplace and boyhood

The villa

Villa Puccini stands on the shore of the lake at Viale Puccini 266. Wikipedia says Puccini bought the property in 1899 and had it renovated, after which it became his permanent residence, and that he lived there from 1900 to 1921. He composed the operas from Manon Lescaut in 1893 to Il trittico in 1918 at Torre del Lago. In 1921 he moved to Viareggio and began Turandot, the opera he did not live to finish.

The museum and the tomb

Puccini's son Antonio opened the villa as a museum in 1925, according to Wikipedia. The composer was buried there in 1926 in a chapel that Antonio created inside the villa, so the house is both a museum and his resting place. Wikipedia adds that a foundation set up in 2005 and named for his granddaughter Simonetta Puccini works to restore the villa to its appearance when it was lived in. Check the museum's own site for opening hours and entry details before you go.

The summer festival

The Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago stages his operas in an open-air theatre. Wikipedia records that the first performances took place on 24 August 1930, when La bohème was staged on the lake shore in front of Puccini's house, and that the festival became a yearly event in 1966. The festival runs in July and August, and the festival's own site lists each season's performances, so the productions on offer change from year to year.

How it differs from the Lucca recital

The festival offers full productions with sets, costumes and an orchestra, in a seasonal programme of staged operas. The Lucca recital offers a smaller thing: arias and duets for two soloists and a piano, in a historic room in the town where he was born, and not only in summer. They answer different questions. If you want to see a whole opera staged, go to Torre del Lago in season; if you want an hour of his melodies in his hometown, the Lucca recital suits better.

Read next: Puccini concert in Lucca: how to book

Booking the festival

This site is an independent guide whose booking button opens the Lucca recital only. Tickets for the Torre del Lago festival come from the festival itself, through its own site, and each season's dates, operas and prices are set there. Because the programme changes yearly, look at the festival's own site close to your travel date instead of relying on a guide. Nothing here promises a particular opera in a particular week.

A Puccini trip in two parts

A short Puccini trip can combine both places. In Lucca, the birthplace museum and the statue on Piazza Cittadella cover the biography by day, and the recital gives you his music in the evening. At Torre del Lago, the villa covers the later life and the festival, in summer, the staged operas. The recital runs all year while the festival runs only in July and August, so the Lucca recital is the part of the trip you can plan in any month.

Who this isn't for

A visit to Torre del Lago is not for travellers who only have an evening in Lucca, or who are visiting outside July and August and want to see a staged opera. It is also not a recital: the villa is a museum, and the festival is a season of full productions. If you have one evening and want Puccini, the Lucca recital is the simpler plan, with a date you choose in the booking calendar and a start time on your confirmation.