If you are a music-lover and you are considering one of our Tuscany villas this summer then you will quickly discover that there is a rather wide array of incredible different music events and festivals that take place all across the region each year during the season. These events vary widely in genre, style, scale, setting, and cost from local celebrations that are more like parties and can be free to attend, to festivals dedicated to specialist genres for serious super fans, to more mainstream and larger-scale events and concerts featuring world-famous acts. No matter what kind of music or concerts you like, in particular, you’re sure to find some suitable event in Tuscany. If, however, you are a particular fan of opera and you were planning on finding a villa on the Tuscan Coast or a vacation rental in Pisa or a holiday rental in Lucca then the various wonderful perfomances of operas that are put on as part of the Festival Puccini each July and August will likely be of interest. In an utterly charming setting, dedicated to a musical genius from the area, and boasting some truly incredible productions, this is one of the best opera events to attend in Italy.
This year’s 68th addition of the Festival Puccini will take place between the 15th of July 2022 and the 29th of August 2022, giving you just enough time to take a look through some of our last-minute villas in Tuscany to make a wonderful Tuscan getaway full of culture and art happens for you this summer if you have yet to book your vacation this year.
There are multiple performances of several different operas taking place on different dates, giving opera-lovers various chances to catch some of their favourites and to see more than one show if they wish. Puccini’s famous classics are, of course, on the programme including La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (1924), which are all some of the best-known and most beloved operas of all time. So, even if you are entirely new to the world of opera, this festival is a great introduction to the genre and to these classic shows. These shows will take place, as always with the Festival Puccini, in the town of Torre del Lago in the open-air theatre, the Teatro dei Quattromila, that picturesquely overlooks the Lago di Massaciuccoli.
The festival opens with a performance of Madama Butterfly, one of Puccini’s most beloved operas, on the 15th of July and there are additional performances on the 30th of July and the 6th of August. Composed after Puccini spent three years studying Japanese culture and traditions to create his iconic character Cio Cio San, this production will be directed by Manu Lalli and set within a stage decorated with real trees to underscore Lalli’s environmentally-minded interpretation of the story. In this iteration, the violence against women in the story is put in parallel with the violence perpetrated against nature. Tosca performances, meanwhile, will take place on the 16th and 29th of July and the 13th and 26th of August and will see Puccini’s most dramatic work transported from its original setting of 19th century Rome to Italy of the late 1930s and will be presented by Pier Luigi Pizzi, who also designed the costumes, with Enrico Calesso on the podium. Turandot, Puccini’s unfinished work that was highly appreciated by audiences last year, will be performed on the 23th of July and the 5th, 12th, and 20th of August with direction by Daniele Abbado, beautiful sets by Angelo Linzalata, modern costumes by Giovanna Buzzi, and Michele Gamba on the podium. The crown jewel of the schedule, meanwhile, the one performance of Puccini’s most famous work, La Bohème, will take place on the 23rd of August to raise funds to support the Leopoldi Theatre in Lviv, Ukraine, and with the involvement of some 150 different types of artists, musicians, and technicians from Ukraine. In addition to all of this, there will also be several performances by different composers and musicians and of some other works to round out the festival.
So, if you are interested in opera and you are planning a vacation in Tuscany this summer then be sure to check out the Festival Puccini!
