The rooms where he lived
The exhibition itinerary
The itinerary accompanies along the rooms of the birthplace, which today appears as it was at the time when the young Giacomo Puccini lived there.
The restoration of the original subdivision of the rooms has been possible thanks to a precious document preserved in Archivio di Stato di Lucca, Vecchio Catasto sezione C/3 particella 428, datable around 1820, that is the first years in which the Puccini family lived in this house.
A sequence of tests on the walls brought to light pictorial decorations, different from each other but all attributable to the period in which the Maestro lived.
The reopening of two doors and the reconstruction of a wall demolished in the middle of the twentieth century has completed the faithful reconstruction of the Maestro’s house .. The decor includes pieces of furniture and paintings that belonged to the Puccini family, as well as antique furnishings purchased at the time of the opening of the museum.
1. Entrance Hall
The bronze head mounted on marble, a copy of the model for the statue of Giacomo Puccini, the work of Vito Tongiani, in Piazza Cittadella, connects the exterior with the interior of the house and introduces the visit. The decoration of the walls, in tempera, with neoclassical architectural motifs, made by craftsmen from Lucca in the second decade of the 19th century, takes us back to the time when the Puccini family came to live in this house (1815), marking it as the home of a wealthy family.
2. Music room
In a house of musicians, the “work lounge” indicated in the documents can only be the Music room. The symbolic centerpiece is the Steinway & Sons piano, bought by Giacomo Puccini in the Spring of 1901, certainly the most important among the many pianos owned by the composer for both its quality and the fact that it has maintained Its original features intact. On this piano Puccini composed much of his music, but especially the last opera, Turandot. He is surrounded by his ancestors: the Puccini dynasty is narrated by the family tree, and by the portraits of Giacomo senior and his wife Angela Piccinini, Antonio and the plaster bust of Michele, the father of Giacomo. The decoration of the walls, in tempera, in Art Deco style with floral and geometric motifs of oriental inspiration, made by craftsmen from Lucca, dates back to the first decade of the 20th century.
3. Bedroom
One of the bedrooms of the house, where his sisters probably slept. The decoration of the walls, in tempera, presents a stratification: the skirting board, with architectural designs and ornaments, dates back to the second half of the 18th century, the crowning cornice, in Art Deco taste, to the beginning of the 20th century. The room is dedicated to Puccini the musician, to his working method: there are letters, librettos, scores and other documents relating to the composition and staging phase.
4. Kitchen
The room houses documents, photos, letters about Puccini's most personal aspects such as his family, his passion for cars, hunting, and the houses he owned. The stone shelf, placed outside the second window, confirms the purpose of the room: «A kitchen from which water is drawn from the well located in the courtyard». The tempera decoration of the walls, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, simulates ceramic tiles.
5. Attic
In what was the storage room, which can be accessed by climbing some steps from the kitchen, has been recreated the attic of la bohème with a staging created by Teatro del Giglio in Lucca. From the “covered stage terrace where the ladder is placed” visitors can enjoy the view of the Archangel St. Michael, on the top of the facade of the nearby church.
6. Dining room
The room houses two splendid portraits of the Maestro. Above the fireplace in white Carrara marble, a painting by a Tuscan painter, Bouquet with tulips, roses, anemones, jasmine and narcissus in a vase, from the 17th century. The decoration of the walls, in yellow ochre tempera and faux stone plinth, with a trace of previous “country” decoration (dating back to the last quarter of the 19th century) connote a typical dining room of Lucca. The console in carved walnut and painted in yellow ochre and green tempera is probably a piece of “poor Mamma’s yellow furniture” that Puccini did not want to be sold.
7. Dressing room
In the dressing room of the bedroom where he was born, are proudly displayed the cashmere coat lined with fur and a silk scarf belonged to Giacomo Puccini. Nearby, a walking stick, an essential accessory for a man of Puccini’s elegance.
8. Bedroom where he was born
The largest room of the house was definitely the parents’ room: it is certain that Giacomo Puccini was born here. The decoration of the walls, in tempera, which simulates a tapestry, dates back to the second quarter of the 19th century. The room is furnished with some important items: a painted chest, or wedding chest, with a panel and courtly scenes reminiscent of Botticelli of the late 15th century (with restorations and additions of the 20th century); a copy of the Empire style bed in walnut with fluted columns topped with bowls dyed black (original of the second decade of the 19th century in the Puccini House Museum, Celle dei Puccini, Camaiore); a couple of directories tables in walnut combined with a pair of ornate mirrors in walnut with carved and gilded parts (1805 approx.). The most important piece of the room is certainly the portrait of 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗼 𝗣𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗶, painted by Leonetto Cappiello, dated 1898.
9. Hall of triumphs
The decoration of the walls, in tempera, with frames in red and blue ribbon, dates from the second quarter of the 19th century (the time when the family came to live in the house) and is attributed to the school of Francesco Bianchi. The living room houses awards and gifts that refer to the triumphs of his operas as well as testimonies of Puccini's numerous international travels.
10. Study
This small room (probably the bedroom of Giacomo Puccini), with decoration of the walls, in tempera, which simulates a tapestry (school of Francesco Bianchi, second quarter of the 19th century), is where has been staged an ideal study of the composer. In this room there is evidence of the Maestro's notoriety such as the caricatures dedicated to him. A singular statue in plaster (late 19th century) portrays the composer, with a dedication on the pedestal “To Giacomo Puccini with affection”, and a symbol “PK”. In one corner a gramophone from the early twentieth century, a symbol of the ‘technology’ of the time.
11. Corridor
In the corridor which connects the Hall of triumphs with the Entrance Hall, visitors should stop in front of the portrait of Puccini's daughter-in-law, Rita dell’Anna who, in the early 70s, donated the birth home to be transformed into a museum. The portrait is the fine work of Cesare Monti (1939). On the opposite wall a valuable rug, a “prayer rug” from the second half of the 19th century.
12. Turandot room
The study of Puccini House, decorated with patterned ribbons and garlands on a blue background (about 1910), housed the rich family library, with the scores of all the compositions of the Puccini’s, music by other composers and valuable and important musical treatises. Today it houses the costume for Act II of Turandot, donated by Maria Jeritza, in memory of the first production of the opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (1926). Il tuo sostegno è importante per noi
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