Day 6 Lunedi: 7th July

The day began with a visit from the neighbouring dog, now I don’t like dogs or cats, dogs especially as in England they always bark/bite me, but over in Italy I can pass any dog and they never turn a hair – it’s great. Tommy is no exception, he very friendly as he comes for food (of course) and will eat literally anything. He had all the chicken we had saved for the local cat who we were expecting a visit from and a couple of bread rolls, whose only use would have been to smash china!
Also some excitement. Graham had downloaded his emails to find one from Lucy. In it she’d sent a link to the blog of PhotoCamp Leeds, a day of general photographic discussions and explorations all happening on September 6th. I’d seen about it on one of the Flickr discussion groups I belong to and when they’d asked for submissions of photos to be used in the promotion, I’d thought ‘why not’ and sent three along. Imagine my surprise (and frustration) to discover that my image has been chosen…I was in a daze for hours!!
We set off about half past 10, stopped by the local shop for prochuttio cotto and pane and some drink and then off in the direction of the local seaside resort of Viareggio where to go on the beach you must pay, but get a lounger and sun shade in exchange. We arrived at Torre del Lago just after 12. Here Giacomo Puccini had his summer residence for over 30 years and is where he wrote much of his music. The setting is idyllic, right by the side of a huge lake the whole area oozes calm and we spent a very restful 2 and a half hours there, waiting for the museum to open at 3pm. There is a huge open air theatre there where all his operas are staged and for the princely sum of €160 you can buy a ticket and take part in this experience.
Just before 3, just on cue we had a sharp shower of rain which just managed to wet the pavement and moderate the outside temperature. The house was really interesting, but we seemed to be ‘whizzed’ through it with the help of the curator and the audio guide. Apparently, at the time Puccini had his house built, the lake came right up to the garden gates, but at some time a power company had bought the lake and used the peat at the bottom of the lake for fuel – lowering the lake level and taking the edge of the lake about 50 metres away. There were two pianos in the house, neither of which I’d ever heard of. He used to compose most of his music at night ‘when it was quiet’ how could it ever be noisy there? -while his friends stayed playing cards in the same room. He died in 1924 in Milan having traveled there for an operation on his throat. His body (and that of his wife and son) lies in a chapel converted from a room in the house by his son.