Puccini's Artistic Dialogue with Painting Explored in Lucca Exhibition

A new exhibition at the Fondazione Ragghianti in Lucca, titled 'Per Sogni e per chimere', explores the deep relationship between composer Giacomo Puccini and the visual arts. The show documents Puccini's artistic connections with the Versilia region, Milanese painting, and Divisionism, featuring paintings inspired by his works or owned by him, along with autograph letters, photographs, posters, and stage costumes. It reveals Puccini's early engagement with the Scapigliatura movement in 1880s Milan, his friendships with late-Macchiaioli painters at Torre del Lago, and his influence on painters like Plinio Nomellini and Galileo Chini. Nomellini's 'Sinfonia della luna', not seen outside Venice since 1905, is a highlight. The exhibition also examines Puccini's role as an intellectual, esthete, and art connoisseur, and his optimistic hope for a European rebirth through art, as expressed in 'La Bohème'. The immersive set design is by Margherita Palli.