Passion for Puccini

Day 1 London to Viareggio, Italy.

Fly by scheduled flight and on arrival, transfer to the Grand Hotel Royal in Viareggio for our five night stay. After some time to settle in we will meet this evening for dinner. (D)

Day 2 Lucca.

After breakfast we make our way inland to the lovely town of Lucca. Hidden behind imposing Renaissance walls the city boasts delightful, cobbled streets, handsome piazzas and shady promenades. Our guided tour will include the Basilica di San Frediano, the Roman amphitheatre and the San Martino Cathedral, the most important religious monument in Lucca. We will also visit the Puccini Museum located in the house where the composer was born in 1858 and which has been faithfully reconstructed containing furniture and paintings which belonged to the family. Also see many documents and the Steinway piano on which Puccini composed some of his masterpieces. After some time for lunch and further exploration of Lucca we will return to the hotel in the late afternoon with the remainder of the day at leisure. (B)

Day 3 Torre de Lago & Puccini Opera Festival.

This morning is free to relax in the hotel, visit the beach or explore Viareggio. Later this afternoon we will drive the short distance to Torre del Lago. Puccini originally visited the town in the summer of 1891 and in 1899 bought a house here where he wrote many of his works including La Boheme, Tosca and Madame Butterfly. Today we can explore the house which was his main residence until his death in 1924. Now a museum, it contains many of his manuscripts, paintings and furnishings as well as his Forster piano. After dinner in a local restaurant we will head to the Teatro Puccini for a performance of Madame Butterfly. (B, D)

Madame Butterfly is a tragic opera set in Nagasaki, Japan, in the early 1900s. It tells the story of Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese geisha (nicknamed “Butterfly”), who enters into an arranged marriage with Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton, an American naval officer. Pinkerton treats the marriage casually, viewing it as temporary while he is stationed abroad whilst Cio-Cio-San gives up her family, converts to Christianity, and devotes herself to him. Shortly after the wedding, Pinkerton leaves Japan. Cio-Cio-San waits faithfully convinced he will return and gives birth to his son. When Pinkerton returns, with his American wife, they want to take the child back to America. Pinkerton, overwhelmed by guilt, cannot face Cio-Cio-San. When she learns the truth, she agrees to give up her son if Pinkerton comes to see her one last time. After saying goodbye to her child, she takes her own life. Pinkerton arrives too late, calling out her name as the curtain falls.

Day 4 Pisa.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and relaxing morning for independent exploration. In the early afternoon we will drive to historic Pisa. Long celebrated as a maritime republic and centre of learning, Pisa today offers visitors a delightful blend of Medieval splendour and quiet Italian charm. We will arrive at the Piazza dei Miracoli, the ‘Square of Miracles’, a breathtaking expanse of green lawn upon which rise three of Italy’s most celebrated monuments: the Cathedral, the Baptistery, and of course the iconic Leaning Tower. Inside the cathedral, a masterpiece of Pisan Romanesque architecture, we can admire the ornate pulpit carved by Giovanni Pisano and the exquisite interplay of light that illuminates the nave. A short stroll brings us to the circular Baptistery, renowned for its remarkable acoustics and the softly patterned stonework that crowns its rotunda. We will have time to view the famous tower and explore the city before meeting for dinner in one of the nearby restaurants. (B, D)

Day 5 Vinci & Tuscan Vineyard.

This morning we drive to into the Tuscan countryside towards Vinci, the town where Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452. We will visit the Museo Leonardiano, Palazzina Uzielli and the Conti Guidi Castle which houses one of the broadest and most original collections devoted to Leonardo the engineer, the architect and the scientist, and to the history of Renaissance technology in general. We also visit the house where Leonardo was born surrounded by the centuries-old olive trees of Montalbano. After our visit we will make a stop at one of the Tuscan vineyards where we learn about the winemaking techniques and enjoy a tasting of some of the wines with a light lunch before returning to our hotel. The remainder of day will be at leisure before we meet for our farewell dinner. (B, L, D)

Day 6 Viareggio to London.

After breakfast we check out and transfer to the airport for our scheduled flight to London. (B)