Summer 2026 belongs to the second kind: one hundred years since the first performance of Turandot at La Scala, and a new staging of Puccini’s final opera at the 72nd Puccini Festival on the lake where so much of it was imagined.

Between July and September 2026, Torre del Lago once again becomes Puccini’s open-air theatre: the Gran Teatro all’Aperto on Lake Massaciuccoli, a short walk from the Villa-Mausoleum where he lived, worked and is buried.

Here, under a generous Tuscan sky, the festival will present Turandot, Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, symphonic evenings dedicated to Rota and Morricone, and two special galas – one with Jonas Kaufmann and, on 30 August, a Spanish and Neapolitan-themed Gran Gala with Plácido Domingo.

This is more than simply another reason to visit Tuscany; it is a chance to place Turandot – and Puccini himself – in context, and to experience his last work in the landscape that shaped it.

Puccini began work on Turandot around 1920, collaborating with librettists Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. He was drawn to the story of an icy princess in a mythical China, a world of riddles, masks and punishment. As with Madama Butterfly, he immersed himself in local colour, even weaving Chinese folk melodies such as Mò Li Hūa (Jasmine Flower) into the score.

By 1924, Puccini had completed the opera up to the final duet. Then he hesitated. The ending troubled him: how to make Turandot’s transformation from cruelty to love feel psychologically true rather than convenient? He kept revising, trying different texts, but his health was failing. In October he was diagnosed with throat cancer; on 29 November 1924, he died in Brussels, leaving Turandot unfinished.

The final scene we hear today is largely the work of Franco Alfano, who completed the ending from Puccini’s sketches. At the premiere at La Scala on 25 April 1926, Arturo Toscanini conducted the opera only as far as the last bar written by Puccini. Then he laid down his baton, turned to the audience and simply said: “Here the Maestro laid down his pen.” Only from the second performance was Alfano’s ending played.

Knowing this, Turandot becomes more than a spectacular oriental fairytale. It is Puccini’s final question mark: an opera that strains towards a resolution he did not live to solve himself.

Hearing Turandot in Torre del Lago a century later adds a layer that no recording or city theatre can match.

The Puccini Festival was created in 1930 to honour the composer’s wish to hear his music on the lake where he had composed so much of it. The first productions were staged almost in sight of the villa; today’s performances still take place a few steps away, in a purpose-built open-air theatre seating around 3,400 people.

In 2026, Turandot returns here in a new staging for the centenary, with performances in July and August, surrounded by Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and La Fanciulla del West, plus symphonic evenings and special galas. For a Puccini lover – or simply a curious listener – it is an unusually rich moment: you can hear the last, most experimental score alongside the works that made Puccini famous, all in the landscape that still carries his presence.

For a Puccini lover, or simply a curious listener, it is an unusually rich moment: you can hear the last, most experimental score alongside the works that made Puccini famous, all in a place that still carries his presence.

Part of the pleasure is how you choose to live around the performances.

Lucca offers a quieter, historical frame: Renaissance walls perfect for morning walks or evening passeggiate, Puccini’s birth house, and easy day trips into the hills or down to the sea.

Down on the Versilia coast – Viareggio, Lido di Camaiore, Pietrasanta, Forte dei Marmi – the focus shifts to the water: bathing establishments, wide promenades, contemporary art galleries and long, unhurried dinners. From both Lucca and the coast, Torre del Lago is within easy reach for evening performances, by car or private transfer.

From both, Torre del Lago is within easy reach for evening performances, by car or private transfer. You can spend a few days exploring “Le Terre di Puccini” – Lucca, Torre del Lago, the villa-mausoleum – and then simply sit back and let the music do its work once the sun has dropped behind the Apuan Alps.

On 30 August 2026, the festival hosts a Gran Gala in Torre del Lago with Plácido Domingo and María José Siri, conducted by Marcello Rota. The programme promises Spanish and Neapolitan melodies, operetta favourites and the world of zarzuela – warm, generous music that seems made for an August night by the lake.

You might build your trip around Turandot and treat the Gala as a bonus, or choose one Puccini opera and the Gala as a contrasting pair. Either way, the 2026 programme makes it easy to shape a balanced, unhurried week of music.