The places of music

Lucca and music are an inseparable pair. Its architecture, its squares and streets, its monuments, even the Botanical Garden and the green terraces of the Walls become an evocative natural stage for internationally renowned concerts, shows, and festivals. A succession of places and characters, soundscapes and atmospheres that tell of excellent musicians born in Lucca and passing rock stars.

try try In the historic center of Lucca is the house in Corte San Lorenzo where the famous composer was born and lived: today it is the Puccini Museum – Birthplace.

In Cittadella square, right in front, the bronze monument of the author of Nessun Dorma awaits you for an essential selfie or, on summer evenings, to attend the Puccini Postcards, concerts of arias from Puccini's operas for piano and voice.

In a mix of classical and pop that the Maestro would surely have appreciated, in nearby Via San Paolino, when the shops close for the evening, a small “street art gallery” opens on the shutters, illustrated with portraits of the protagonists of Puccini's operas.
The church of San Paolino itself is a place that also tells the story of the Maestro's life. It was here that he made his debut as a composer while still a student.

Not far from here, on Via S. Giustina, at the entrance to the tiny garden of Palazzo Orsetti, a plaque commemorates the birth of another great musician, Francesco Geminiani, born in Lucca and later a citizen of the world thanks to his work and his music, which marked historic moments in European courts and still today accompanies the soundtracks of several famous films.

Jazz melodies resonate through the corridors of a hotel on this musical tour: the Grand Universe in Piazza del Giglio, where legendary musician Chet Baker used to play the trumpet at night on the windowsill of room no. 15.
The hotel has recently been renovated and the room no longer exists, but it is still possible to immerse yourself in its poetic atmosphere.

Opposite the Hotel is the elegant and historic Teatro del Giglio, one of the oldest public theaters in Italy, which has celebrated world-famous singers, musicians, and dancers, as well as Puccini himself, who personally oversaw the staging of some of his most famous operas and is celebrated each year in the diverse opera season and the Puccini Days program.
Rock and pop, on the other hand, provide the soundtrack of the adjacent Piazza Napoleone, the large square dedicated to the Emperor, bordered on three sides by a row of centuries-old plane trees and the broad façade of the Palazzo Ducale, where the Lucca Summer Festival takes place every summer, featuring national and international music stars in a unique setting.

Music has always resounded in the state rooms of the Ducal Palace, which was Elisa Bonaparte's 19th-century residence and still bears witness to the splendor of imperial style. Its halls now host concerts of classical, chamber, and experimental music, in memory of the "diabolical" and seductive virtuosity of the legendary Niccolò Paganini, first violinist of the court and protagonist of unforgettable musical evenings in Elisa's "green" theater, carved from boxwood and yew, in the park of the princely country residence, Villa Reale di Marlia. On Via San Frediano, a plaque commemorates the musician's stay in Lucca.

And so we arrive at the Renaissance walls. Climbing up from the Santa Maria bastion and following the first historic stretch of the "public promenade" flanked by four rows of plane trees, we reach the San Paolino bastion. A large sculpture pays homage to another influential Lucca composer: Alfredo Catalani.

At the foot of the Guinigi Tower, a maze of streets leads to the "L. Boccherini" Music Institute, heralded by a statue of the famous cellist and composer whose minuets have been most frequently performed in the world. After a life spent in European courts, particularly in Spain, he now rests in the monumental complex of San Francesco, an auditorium for important concerts.

The Musical Institute is one of the oldest in Italy. Traces of Giacomo Puccini, who was a student at the school (then the Pacini Institute), still remain within. In 1891, he left the Institute a large portion of his family's rich library. These include 696 musical manuscripts, mostly autographs, by Giacomo senior (1712-1781), Antonio (1747-1832), Domenico (1772-1815), and Michele (1813-1864), ecclesiastical compositions, secular cantatas, and a group of autographs by Giacomo Puccini junior, which is almost all that remains of the great composer's early work.

Not far from here, in the Cathedral of San Martino, the name of the Puccinis still appears, leading figures in the city's musical life, having all served as singers and organists at the cathedral. The great organ is still in perfect working order and is the focus of summer festivals and concerts, including the renowned "Music in the Cathedral" series, as well as the "Mottetone di Santa Croce," an original composition performed annually for the Feast of the Holy Face on the evening of September 13th, following the Luminara.

And the cathedral's organ isn't the only precious one in Lucca and its surroundings. Lucca, the city of a hundred churches, is naturally also the city of a hundred organs.

Many of them can still be found in city and country churches, most of them functioning and of imposing proportions; the one in the church of San Pietro Somaldi was played by the young Giacomo Puccini, who returned after its restoration (early 20th century) to leave his signature on the instrument's new bellows.

Every year, the Lucca City of Organs festival offers the opportunity to learn about some organs and listen to their powerful sounds.