The great-grandfather of Giacomo Puccini, who had the same name, was born in Celle on 26 January 1712. After losing his father, the first Giacomo had moved to Lucca in 1719 with his mother Isabella Maria Giusti and his brother (later Rev.) Michele, and had set his roots in Lucca, giving rise to the glorious dynasty. But property and family memories remained in Celle, never forgotten from generation to generation, and invigorated by the holiday periods, mostly in Autumn, after the festival of the Holy Cross in Lucca.

Giacomo also spent holiday periods in Celle with his brothers, but after the death of his father Michele (1864) his mother Albina was forced to sell properties one after the other. Perhaps the link with his place of origin would have been lost had it not been for Ramelde, the most beloved among the sisters: her husband Raffaello Franceschini bought a house, where their daughters, especially Alba and Nelda, were to continue to spend their holidays until the beginning of the 1970s.

On 26 October 1924, a few days before his departure for Brussels, Celle welcomed Puccini with a great celebration with seventeen triumphal arches, which bore the titles of the operas, from the bridge of Pedogna to the houses of Fondo al Cantone, along the mule track, from Acqua gelata to the entrance of the village, with a triumph of coloured flags, up to the house of his ancestors, where a plaque was unveiled.

TO REMEMBER HE WHO IN THIS HOUSE
LEGACY OF HIS FATHERS
FREQUENTLY LIVED
GIACOMO PUCCINI
CELEBRATED AUTHOR
OF IMMORTAL MUSIC
THE FASCIST TOWN OF PESCAGLIA
DECREED AND LAID
XXVI OCTOBER MCMXXIV.

In 1974, the ancestral home became a museum, after purchase and preparation by the Associazione Lucchesi nel Mondo.