TORRE DEL LAGO (Puccini)
South of Viareggio, along the coast is Torre Del Lago.
From the village, a shady lime tree avenue leads down to the lake of Massaciuccoli where one can visit the house where Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was born and lived.
The villa still has the charm of a Liberty-style, turn of the century dwelling and its present status as a museum has not managed to erase its lived-in, intimate feeling. Everything has been left as it was: Puccini's clothes, his bed, his glasses, his music and the piano at which the great composer composed his most loved operas from Boheme, to Tosca, Madame Butterfly and Turandot.
The lake, surrounded by a dream-like landscape full of water rushes and shimmering reflections is a delightful spot that Puccini loved so much he asked to be buried there. His tomb is in the villa's chapel.
Torre del Lago is a must for opera fans who in August can attend the Summer Festival when his operas are performed by the lake shore.