2024 is the year in which we celebrate the centenary of the death of Giacomo Puccini, which occurred in Brussels in 1924, and the recognition of Italian opera singing by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, which occurred last December. Own La Bohème by Puccini is the second most performed opera in the world, after Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.
The connection between music and food has always been very strong, from the triclinia of the Romans who enlivened their banquets with the singing of musicians, to the foyers of opera theaters where people entertained at the table not only during the intervals.
The scores are a riot of toasts like the one at the opening of the Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, and then inns where you can celebrate Christmas Eve inebriated by the scent of pancakes, the sweetness of dates and the richness of a crustless lobster together with all the protagonists of La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, private dinners in which the (unfortunate) fates of the protagonists of Tosca and outdoor parties where a good glass of wine cheers up the spirits of the fellow villagers of Compare Turiddu of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni: opera is linked to food by a thin thread that accompanies the stage actions.
Considered the greatest opera composer who lived on horseback between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Puccini he knew how to bring the dramas of everyday life to the stages of musical theater, blending notable dramatic effectiveness with a lyricism full of poetry.
Like many composers and musicians he loved food and drink, the pleasure of which was a source of inspiration in musical compositions as in the joys of everyday life. Inside the La Bohème, food and wine are synonymous with joy for the protagonists: the unexpected supplies such as wine, roast and sweets that appear in the first act create joy and become a tool of defense and flattery towards the master of the house. We sing about roast meat, sweet pie, sausages, pancakes, dates, sweets, whipped cream, tart, nougat, trout, salmon, parrot's tongue and more. And again in the Tosca wine is celebrated as a moment of sharing and conviviality: «Long live the sparkling wine, In the sparkling glass, Like the lover's laughter, Mildly it instills jubilation! Long live the wine that is sincere, That cheers up every thought, And that drowns the dark humor, In tender intoxication."
Born in Lucca in 1858 to a family of musicians, always looking for quiet places where he could compose his works and, if possible, go hunting, his second great passion, Puccini wandered mainly in northern Italy and Canton Ticino, which he knew very well: from 1886 to 1892 he spent several months in Vacallo, where he owned a house in the historic centre. Here he composed part of the Manon Lescaut, his third work and a great success with audiences and critics. He loved the quiet of the place, he played bowls and took long walks on Mount Bisbino or in San Martino di Sagno.
He will return again to Ticino, to Cagiallo, to visit the painter Luigi Rossi who could have taken care of the scenography for an opera, but nothing came of it, and in 1917 to meet the Baroness Josephine von Stängel, a beautiful Bavarian, 18 years younger and for whom he writes The swallow.
During the first years of his career, he had great economic difficulties, but he was already very attentive to the pleasures of the table and when he finished his lessons at the Conservatory in Milan, when he could afford it, he loved to dine with Mascagni in cheap trattorias. If money was lacking, as a good foodie he enjoyed personally creating recipes such as "pasta with eels" or "herrings with radishes", which he cooked in the attic shared with his friend.
At that time, he wrote home as follows: «In the evening, when I have money, I go to the café, but many evenings go by that I don't go there, because a punch costs 40 cents... I eat badly, but I fill myself up with minestrone... and my stomach is satisfied."
In 1893, thanks to the success of Manon Lescaut, was able to return as a victor to his lands in Lucca where he practiced a lot of hunting. In particular the hunting of coots, birds slightly smaller than a chicken. He also knew how to cook them to perfection, after having plucked, emptied and cleaned them, serving them piping hot with crusty bread covered in cooking sauce, also using the sauce as a condiment for pasta.
The area where the villa was built, Torre di Lago, a hamlet of Viareggio, was rich in Mediterranean scrub, which extended to the Tyrrhenian Sea; deer, wild boars, hares, rabbits, pheasants, woodcocks, blackbirds, finches and sparrows abounded there. Lake Massaciuccoli was populated by shovelers, coots, wigeons and little grebes and here Puccini received friends and collaborators for culinary meetings. Fishermen and hunters were the usual companions. He loved to travel with the boat through the marshes and then return home and cook risotto with coots with the very particular "Red rice of Massarosa", a now obsolete cultivation.
When the Master managed to catch a wild boar, he loved to enjoy it stewed in red wine. With his friends he shared the love of hunting and the happy meals that followed. Together with a small group, a group of gourmands who played cards after the hunt met at a tavern called "The Hut of John of the Black Bands" in Torre de Lago, immediately renamed Club La Bohème, even before composing the famous work. and they drank happily and where they exhibited a joking statute:
Art 1 The members of the “La Bohème” Club, faithful interpreters of the spirit with which the club was founded, swear to drink and eat better.
Art. 2 Ammusonites, pedants, weak stomachs, poor in spirit, picky eaters and other unfortunates of the kind are not admitted or are expelled by the fury of members.
Art. 3 The President acts as a conciliator, but is responsible for hindering the cashier in the collection of membership fees.
Art. 4 The cashier has the right to flee with the cash.
Art. 5 The lighting of the room is done with an oil lamp. In the absence of fuel, the members' "candles" are needed.
Art. 6 All legal games are strictly prohibited.
Art. 7 Silence is prohibited.
Art. 8 Wisdom is not admitted even exceptionally.
As a good Tuscan, he was very fond of olive oil, in particular salami from Lucca and beans, which he regularly sent to his publisher Giulio Ricordi together with the correct recipe for cooking them, with very precise instructions on cooking times, the use of sage leaves , heads of garlic and the inevitable pepper and salt.
He loved to sweeten the meal with mandarins and sparkling wine. He preferred crunchy breadsticks to bread, a contradiction for the Tuscan table, but he made up for it with the cabbage soup that his cook Isola Nencetti Vallini, originally from Casciana, cooked for him, together with other typical recipes of the spa town in the province of Pisa: the seasonal vegetable pies, the much-loved game salmì (pheasants, coots and snipe). But above all the Portuguese-style milk that a nobleman from Lisbon imported to Casciana, prepared with fresh milk and eggs of the day, together with finely chopped local almonds to form the base together with caramelized sugar.
