Puccini and Versilia

Versilia
On foot, by bicycle, by motorbike, by car - 38 km

1. Our itinerary begins with a visit to the Villa Puccini Museum in Torre del Lago. 
2. Just a few steps away is the Gran Teatro Giacomo Puccini open-air theatre (Via delle Torbiere), where an opera festival dedicated to the composer – one of the most important around the world – is celebrated every year. 
3. We then move on to Massaciuccoli, where in the centre of the town we find the entrance to the ancient Roman villa that once overlooked the waters of the lake. A large mosaic and the remains of the Venulei residence and baths tell of its history. 
4. On the lakeshore, surrounded by a park filled with exotic plants, stands the Villa La Piaggetta that once belonged to the Ginori Lisci family, which Puccini reached by boat across the lake. A magnificent example of Art Nouveau architecture, today it is open to guests as a bed and breakfast. 
5. From here, still in a discovery of the Art Nouveau style, we move on to Viareggio. 
6. At the beginning of the promenade, another favourite haunt of Puccini is the Gran Caffè Margherita (Viale Regina Margherita 30). One of the last architectural examples of the eclectic-art deco period, today it houses a bookshop and a café. The surfaces of the domes are covered in polychrome ceramic tiles that give the appearance of scales, manufactured by the Fornaci San Lorenzo ceramics factory, as are the small columns of the balustrade of the large terrace on the top floor. 
7. A couple of kilometres further north, behind the imposing and magnificent Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte, on Viale Buonarroti, we end our journey at Villino Puccini. The composer moved here in 1921 and composed most of his last unfinished opera. The name of Galileo Chini is also closely linked to this residence, as he created the ceramic masks that decorate the façade. Chini also designed the sets for “Turandot”.