This page provides an overview of the people who have had a family relationship, friendship or have worked with the composer, or are mentioned on the site.
The Puccini Museum thanks the Centro studi Giacomo Puccini for the biographies listed here
Carlo Angeloni
(Lucca, 16 July 1834 – Lucca, 13 January 1901)
composer and teacher. A pupil of Michele Puccini senior at the Lucca Institute of Music, he became a teacher of singing and then, since 1873, of composition, succeeding the resigning Fortunato Magi, Giacomo’s uncle. His pupils in composition, as well as Giacomo Puccini, included Carlo Carignani and Gaetano Luporini.
Antonio Bazzini
(Brescia, 11 March 1818 – Milan, 10 February 1897)
violinist, composer and teacher. Up to 1864 he followed a career as a violinist throughout Europe; later devoted himself to composition and teaching. From 1873 he taught composition at the Milan Conservatory, which he directed from 1882. His students – as well as Puccini – included Catalani and Mascagni. Among his compositions we remember the opera Turanda (1867).
Antonio Bettolacci
Close friend and hunting companion of Puccini, he was the administrator of the Ginori-Lisci family, which owned, among other things, Lake Massaciuccoli.
Bice Bonturi
Daughter of Zeffiro.
Elvira Bonturi
(Lucca, 13 June, 1860 – Milan, 9 July, 1930), partner and later wife of Giacomo Puccini, with whom she had one son, Antonio. She had married Narciso Gemignani on 19 February 1880 and from this marriage Fosca and Renato were born. In 1886 she left her husband to follow Puccini. Often in their letters Giacomo and Elvira call each other respectively “Topisio” and “Topisia.”
Livia Bonturi
(Lucca, 6 October, 1873 -? 9 January, 1945), Elvira’s sister, lived in the Birth Home from 1927 to 1937.
Rita Bonturi
Daughter of Zeffiro.
Zeffiro Bonturi
(Lucca, 19 January 1862 – ?), Elvira’s brother.
E. Buonini
Painter, is probably to be identified with a Buonini belonging to the “colony” of people from Lucca in Rome and a friend of Puccini.
Leonetto Cappiello
(Leghorn, 1875 – Cannes, 1942), painter, poster artist and caricaturist, active in Paris since 1898, is considered to be one of the fathers of advertising poster art. He also made famous caricatures of Puccini.
Alfredo Caselli
(Lucca, 8 December, 1865 – San Pellegrino in Alpe, Lucca, 15 August, 1921) owner of the caffè Caselli (first Carluccio, today Di Simo), in via Fillungo, Lucca, a close friend of Puccini. His coffee shop was a meeting place for many famous artists and intellectuals, including Giovanni Pascoli.
Angela Cerù
(Camaiore, Lucca, 8 September, 1778 – Lucca, 1865) married Domenico Puccini on 13 November, 1805.
Arcangelo Cerù
Angela’s brother, lived on the first floor of the building which includes Puccini’s Birth Home.
Nicolao Cerù
(Lucca, 1815/17 – Lucca, 27 June, 1894) cousin of Michele Puccini senior. He was a physician, philanthropist and scholar, collector of autographs, manuscripts, documents, various books and memoirs relating to the history of Lucca, now preserved at the State Archives of Lucca. On the death of his cousin, he became the guardian of his children, helped the Puccini family financially and in particular subsidized the studies in Milan of both Giacomo and Michele junior.
Galileo Chini
(Florence, 2 December, 1873 – Florence, 23 August, 1956), painter, ceramist and decorator. One of the protagonists of Italian Art Nouveau style. From 1908 he also worked for the theatre. He designed, inter alia, the sketches and scenes for the premieres of Gianni Schicchi and Turandot.
Pietro Coppola
(Milan, 1888 – Lausanne, 1971) conductor, he can almost be considered a specialist in La fanciulla del West. Infact he took part to the first performances in Lucca and Turin in 1911, as an assistant to Tullio Serafin and Vittorio Gui, continuing, as a conductor himself, in Florence, in April 1912, all performances in the presence of Puccini.
Dante Del Fiorentino
(Quiesa, Lucca, 13 March, 1889 – Camaiore, Lucca, 19 November, 1969) priest. After the first world war he was chaplain at Torre del Lago, where he met Puccini. In 1923 he moved to New York where he became a pastor in Brooklyn. He collected documents concerning Puccini in Italy and in 1952 for the first time published the Messa and a biography of the composer.
Livio Dell'Anna
Brother of Rita Dell’Anna.
Rita Dell'Anna
(Milan, 24 July, 1904 – Monte Carlo, 24 July, 1979), wife of Antonio Puccini jr. The creation of a museum in the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini is due to her donation of the property as well as many mementos and documents.
Raffaello Franceschini
(Lucca, 7 April, 1854 – Celle di Camaiore, Lucca, 28 May, 1942), brother-in-law of Giacomo Puccini. In 1882 he married Ramelde, sister of the musician, with whom he had three daughters, Alba (or Albina), Nelda and Adelaide (called Nina). For many years he was the director of the tax office of the municipality of Pescia.
Narciso Gemignani
(Lucca, 30 March 1856 – Lucca, 26 February 1903),
trader and amateur baritone. He joined the Francesco Burlamacchi Masonic Lodge of Lucca. On 19 February 1880 he married Elvira Bonturi, with whom he had two children, Fosca and Renato. His wife left him in 1886 to live with Puccini, taking her daughter with her and leaving the male infant with his father. In letters the musician refers to him by the nickname of Bambacini or Mago (Wizard).
Domenico Ghiselli
(Lucca, 1880 – Viareggio, 1934) pittore, scultore e decoratore.
Domenico Ghiselli
(Lucca, 1880 – Viareggio, 1934) painter, sculptor and decorator.
Giuseppe Giacosa
(Colleretto Parella, Ivrea, 21 October, 1847 – Colleretto Parella, 1 September, 1906), playwright and librettist. Author of numerous theatrical plays, including Tristi amori (1887) and Come le foglie (1900), he was also the publisher and editor of the magazine “La Lettura”. With Luigi Illica he wrote libretti for La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.
Luigi Illica
(Castell’Arquato, Piacenza, 9 May, 1857 – Colombarone, Modena, 16 December, 1919), librettist, journalist, writer and playwright. With Giuseppe Giacosa he wrote the librettos for La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. He also wrote libretti for Alfredo Catalani, Alberto Franchetti, Antonio Smareglia, Umberto Giordano, Pietro Mascagni and others. As a playwright, he wrote plays in Italian and in Milanese dialect.
Maria Jeritza
(Brno, 1887 – Orange, New Jersey, 1982), a famous soprano, covered, in the course of her international career, many Puccini roles (famous was her interpretation of Tosca). She met Puccini in Vienna on the occasion of the Austrian premiere of La fanciulla del West.
Albina Magi
(Lucca, 2 November, 1830 – Lucca, 17 July, 1884), Giacomo’s mother. Around 1850 she married Michele Puccini with whom she had seven daughters: Otilia, Tomaide Temi (or Zemi), Nitteti, Iginia, Ramelde and Macrina, and the two sons, Giacomo and Michele.
Edoardo Marchioro
(1882 – 1935), stage designer who trained in the environment of the Teatro alla Scala, beginning his career in 1913. His collaboration with the Teatro alla Scala, which began in the 1921-22 season, continued to be intense and fruitful until his death.
Carola Martinelli
House maid in the Puccini home in Lucca since 1860.
Assunta Menconi
(January 1827? – March 1908?) house maid in the Puccini home in Lucca since 1854.
Armando Nieri
(Lucca, 1880 – Lucca, 1970), with his brother Luigi, owner of the Hotel Universo in Lucca and manager of the Casino of Bagni di Lucca. His friendship with Puccini probably started in 1907, when the composer was staying at his hotel while preparing Madama Butterfly at the Teatro del Giglio.
Niccolò Paganini
(Genoa, 1782 – Nice, 1840), extremely famous violinist and composer.
Angela Maria Piccinini
(Lucca, 2 October 1722 – Lucca, 14 February 1794) in 1742 she married Giacomo Puccini senior.
Amilcare Ponchielli
(Paderno Fasolaro, Cremona, 31 August, 1834 – Milan, 16 January, 1886), composer and teacher. He was the teacher of composition of Puccini and Mascagni at the Milan Conservatory, where he arrived in 1882 to replace Antonio Bazzini, who was appointed director. He wrote eleven operas, including La Gioconda (Milan, 1880).
Antonio Puccini junior
(Monza, 22 December, 1886 – Viareggio, 21 February, 1946), son of Giacomo Puccini and Elvira Bonturi. He studied electrical engineering and mechanical engineering at Mittweida, Germany, without completing his studies. In 1933 he married Rita Dell’Anna. In the family was called Tonio.
Antonio Puccini senior
(Lucca, 30 July, 1747 – Lucca, 10 February, 1832), composer. His career retraced the steps of his father Giacomo. He studied music in Bologna (with Giuseppe Carretti and the abbot Zanardi), he was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica (1771), obtained the posts offices of Maestro della Cappella di Palazzo and organist in the Cathedral at Lucca. In 1771 he married Caterina Tesei.
Chiara Puccini
(Lucca, 19 October, 1811 – Lucca, 24 December 1889), sister of Michele Puccini senior, and aunt of Giacomo. In 1842 she married Evaristo Biagini, by whom she had seven children, including Adelchi, Carlo and Roderigo.
Domenico Puccini
(Lucca, 5 April, 1772 – Lucca, 25 May, 1815) composer, the son of Antonio Puccini senior and Caterina Tesei. He studied with Padre Mattei in Bologna and later in Naples with Paisiello. During the principality of the Baciocchi he led various choirs of the court. In 1805 he married Angela Cerù, an amateur musician. His production combines chamber music and operas with the genres already frequented by his father and grandfather.
Giacomo Puccini senior
(Celle in Val di Roggio, today Celle dei Puccini, Lucca, 26 January, 1712 – Lucca, 16 May, 1781), composer, founder of the Puccini dynasty of musicians. After losing his father when less than four years old, he moved to Lucca where he could count on the support of a clergyman uncle. He completed his musical studies at Bologna, at the school of Giuseppe Carretti.
He remained in contact with the environment of Bologna even after returning to his native town, thanks to his admission to the Accademia Filarmonica (1743) and his relationships with Padre Martini. In 1739 he was appointed Maestro della Cappella di Palazzo and in the following year organist of the Cathedral of San Martino. To these two offices were added many others, in the many churches of Lucca. In 1742 he married Angela Maria Piccinini.
Iginia Puccini
(Lucca, 19 November, 1856 – Lucca, 2 October 1922), sister of Giacomo. Schoolgirl since 1863 in the convent of the Augustinian nuns of S. Nicolao (later transferred to Vicopelago in the suburbs), she took vows on 29 November, 1875 with the name of Sister Giulia Enrichetta. She was superior of the convent for five times.
Macrina Puccini
(Lucca, 13 September 1862 – Lucca, 4 January 1870) Giacomo’s sister.
Maria Nitteti Puccini
(Lucca, 27 October, 1854 – Pordenone, 3 June, 1928), Giacomo’s sister, who often dubbed her Merolle or Nano. On 24 February, 1884 she married the lawyer Alberto Marsili, with whom she had two children, Carlo Alberto and Alba.
Michele Puccini junior
(Lucca, 19 April, 1864 – Rio de Janeiro, 12 March, 1891), Giacomo’s brother. Like his older brother, he studied music at the Music Institute of Lucca, then at the Milan Conservatory. In the Autumn of 1889 he emigrated to Argentina and in Jujuy found work as a teacher of music and Italian. He died of yellow fever.
Michele Puccini senior
(Lucca, 27 November, 1813 – Lucca, 23 January, 1864), Giacomo’s father, composer, organist at the Cathedral of San Martino, a teacher and Director of the Institute and the Musical Choir.
Otilia Puccini
(Lucca, 24 January, 1851 – Lucca, 9 March, 1923), Giacomo’s sister. On 13 August, 1872 she married the doctor Massimo Del Carlo, by whom she had a son Carlo.
Ramelde Puccini
(Lucca, 18 December, 1859 – Bologna, 8 April, 1912), Giacomo’s sister. On 2 February, 1883 she married the tax collector Raffaello Franceschini, with whom she had three daughters, Alba (or Albina), Nelda and Adelaide (nicknamed Nina).
Simonetta Puccini
(Pisa, 2 June 1929 – Milano, 16 December 2017) daughter of Antonio Puccini jr.
Temi (or Zemi) Puccini
(Lucca, 5 October 1853 – Lucca, 1854) Giacomo’s sister.
Tomaide Puccini
(Lucca, 14 April 1852 – Lucca, 24 August 1917) Giacomo’s sister. On 13 July 1881 she married the widower Enrico Gherardi.
Giulio Ricordi
(Milan, 19 December 1840 – Milan, 6 June 1912) ran the family publishing business from 1888 succeeding his father Tito. He played a key role in the affirmation of Puccini, for whom he was both an artistic and a point of reference .
Sybil Seligman
(Pancras, Middlesex, 1868 – London, 1936), maiden name Beddington. In 1891 she had married the banker David Seligman. Introduced to Puccini in 1904 by Francesco Paolo Tosti, her singing teacher, she became from then on an intimate friend and confidant/advisor of the composer.
Caterina Tesei
(Bologna, 1747 – Lucca, 7 March 1818), in 1771 she married Antonio Puccini senior.
Marcello Tommasi
(Pietrasanta, 1928 – Lido di Camaiore, 2008), sculptor and painter, working in Florence, Paris and Pietrasanta.
Richard Wagner
(Leipzig, 22 May 1813 – Venice, 13 February 1883) composer.