Museo Villa Puccini

Northwestern Tuscany


In 1880 Puccini left Lucca to study at Milan's music conservatory, returning to Tuscany after his studies to rent a lakeside house in Torre del Lago, 15km west of Lucca on the shore of Lago di Massaciuccoli. Nine years later he had a villa built on the same lakeshore, undertaking the Liberty-style interior decoration himself. The villa has been preserved almost exactly as it was during Puccini's residence and is hence fascinating to visit (by guided tour every 40 minutes).

It was here that Puccini with his wife, Elvira, spent his time working, hunting on the lake and carousing with a diverse group of hunters, fishermen and bohemian artists. Madame Butterfly, La fanciulla del West (1910), La Rondine (1917) and Il Trittico (1918) were composed on the Forster piano in his front study, and he wrote his scores on the specially made walnut table in the same room.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Northwestern Tuscany attractions

1. Bagno Martinelli

4.16 MILES

An eye-catching sea of bright orange-and-white parasols and deckchairs polka-dot the vast stretch of sand at this vintage beach, as popular as it was when…

2. Bagno Raffaello

4.23 MILES

Behind the clock tower on the seafront, this family-friendly bathing establishment rents out slide-equipped pedalos and canoes to beach-goers and has a…

3. La Citadella di Carnevale

5.18 MILES

A couple of kilometres from the seafront is 'Carnival City', aka 16 gargantuan hangars that serve as workshops and garage space for the fantastic floats,…

4. Mura di Pisa (Main Entrance)

8.65 MILES

For an alternative bird's-eye perspective of the Leaning Tower and grandiose Piazza dei Miracoli rooftops, take a walk atop Pisa's medieval city walls,…

5. Camposanto

8.7 MILES

Soil shipped from Calvary during the Crusades is said to lie within the white walls of this hauntingly beautiful resting place for many prominent Pisans,…

6. Battistero

8.72 MILES

Pisa's unusual round baptistry has one dome piled on top of another, each roofed half in lead, half in tiles, and topped by a gilt bronze John the Baptist…

7. Duomo

8.77 MILES

Pisa's magnificent duomo was begun in 1064 and consecrated in 1118. Its striking tiered exterior, with green-and-cream marble cladding, gives onto a…

8. Museo delle Sinopie

8.8 MILES

Home to some fascinating frescoes, this museum safeguards several sinopie (preliminary sketches), drawn by the artists in red earth pigment on the walls…