Simply Giacomo Puccini

Semplicemente Giacomo Puccini is the title of the audiobook by Alexsandra Onorato, a well-known tourist guide from Lucca. The book, published by the Sillabe publishing house and supported by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, will be presented on Tuesday (22 January) in the offices of the provveditorato agli studi di Lucca, in Piazza Guidiccioni.

The book is aimed at young people, children but also adults and offers the opportunity to get to know Puccini's life in a rather original way.

Through a code reported on the pages of the story, in fact, it is possible to immediately listen to Puccini's most famous arias via mobile phone, immersing the reader in the world of Puccini's romances. A book not only to read but also to listen to. The book will enrich the Casa Puccini bookshop and the Puccini Foundation will give a copy of the book to the students of Lucca who will visit the Casa Puccini museum.

A surprising and compelling story.

Lucca, on a normal day after school: Giulio, Ciro and Francesca leave with their bikes for home. They cycle through the narrow streets of the city and then over the walls - and suddenly it happens: Ciro's violin falls to the ground and breaks. Now only Giulio's grandfather - grandfather Marco -, an old luthier, can help them.

Grandpa Marco's atelier is a fascinating place.

The walls are covered with old posters, playbills and photos of Puccini and characters from his operas. Attracted by these figures, the three friends want to know their identity. Excited grandfather Marco tells the most successful operas and the Maestro's life: the birth and childhood spent in Lucca; the transfer to Milan; the world celebrity at the age of 34; the composition of his most famous operas; his private life in Torre del Lago.

Alexandra Onorato, born in Milan in 1967, grew up in South America. Graduated in Advertising and Marketing at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogota (Colombia), she returned to Italy in 1997. Her passion for history and art history brought her back to the study benches. Since 2002 she is Tourist Guide of Lucca, Florence (2006), Pisa (2007), Siena (2009). For more than 10 years she has been organizing cultural trips about Giacomo Puccini and in the meantime she has become a connoisseur and admirer of the great Maestro.

(photocredits A.Onorato)