Simonetta Puccini, born Simonetta Giurumello (2 June 1929,

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ...

16 December 2017,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

) was the last surviving acknowledged descendant of the composer

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long l ...

. She dedicated her life to her grandfather's memory, and owned and restored the composer's home, Villa Museo Puccini.

Heir to Puccini

Giacomo Puccini's only son, Antonio, had no children by his wife, but fathered an illegitimate daughter, Simonetta Giurumello, who was born in 1929. She graduated from the

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest uni ...

and was a teacher until 1973. The composer had died in 1924, leaving a large fortune in property and royalties. In 1995, after a legal battle that started in 1980, Simonetta was proven to be Antonio's daughter and was assigned one-third of her grandfather's (now greatly diminished) estate, which included his villa in

Torre del Lago Torre del Lago (Tower of the Lake) is a town of almost 11,000 inhabitants, a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Viareggio, in the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, between the Lake of Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Festival Puccin ...

, and took his name. The remainder of the estate remained in possession of its original heirs, who were not related to the Puccini family. Another claimed heir, Nadia Manfredi, believed her father Antonio to be Puccini's illegitimate son, but her case was not proven, and was opposed by Simonetta.

Dedication to composer's memory

After taking ownership of the

Villa Puccini Villa Puccini is a cultural site in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio in Tuscany, Italy. It is a museum dedicated to the composer Giacomo Puccini, who lived here from 1900 to 1921. History and description From 1891, the composer and his family spent ...

, she established a non-profit "Friends of the Homes of Giacomo Puccini" to restore and maintain it. She established the Puccini Foundation in 2005 to help restore the home to appear still inhabited, and to promote other causes associated with the composer. By 2016, she had also opened the composer's rooms to the public.Villa Puccini website She was also known for attending performances and exhibitions associated with the composer around the world. According to a statement on her death by the Fondazione Simonetta Puccini, she "dedicated her life with passion and devotion to the memory, protection and enhancement of the image of her grandfather and the places he loved".

Bibliography

Among works written or co-written by Simonetta Puccini are: *

References

External links

Villa Puccini website; includes details of the Puccini Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puccini, Simonetta 1929 births 2017 deaths University of Milan alumni 20th-century Italian women Giacomo Puccini 20th-century Italian educators People from Pisa 20th-century women educators