This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. We visit the seaside home of famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in Tuscany to learn how this region has influenced Bocelli’s life and music, exploring his deep faith and love of dogs and visiting the people and places that made him who he is, including Forte dei Marmi, Lajatico and Lucca. Of course, Bocelli performs for us. Welcome to Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany—a travel episode unlike any other! In this episode, we show you: Forte dei Marmi Shopping in Forte dei ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Alpemare Beach Club, which the Bocelli family owns, welcomes guests with a palette of soothing nature, fresh air and elegant luxury on a private beach. A pine forest at the property’s edge complements the landscape of sand and deep-blue water. For a delicious meal, dine on Andrea Bocelli’s favorite dish of pureed ceci (chickpeas) and shrimp prepared by Chef Mirko Caledino, refreshing cocktail in hand and sea breeze in your hair. Of course, be sure to reserve a l ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Held each summer in Torre del Lago, the Puccini Festival features a handful of different operas in a majestic lakeside amphitheater. Opera enthusiasts flock to the festival to witness some of Italy’s best performances—productions include Tosca and Madame Butterfly, and many productions that debut at the festival go on to perform around the world. The festival runs through July and August and attracts 40,000 theatergoers. Bocelli has, of course, been one of the f ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. While the Puccini museum in Lucca is in the composer’s childhood home, this villa-turned-museum in Torre del Lago is where Puccini spent his adulthood. His son Antonio turned the home into a museum in 1925, and the furnishings, ambiance and artifacts have remained the same since, giving visitors an authentic look into Puccini’s life. The composer died in 1924 and is buried in the chapel on site, in a mausoleum specially built for him and his family members (his ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Just as Lajatico and Forte dei Marmi have inspired Bocelli, the nature in Torre del Lago inspired Puccini. The composer spent his last 30 years in this idyllic lakeside town and wrote many of his most famous operas here; he died in Torre del Lago in 1924 and is buried here. The town is perhaps most famous for its annual summertime opera festival, when its full-time population of 11,000 hosts 40,000 visitors who come to see Puccini’s works performed on stage.&nbs ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Gabriele showed Kathy around the Puccini museum and other notable spots in Lucca, lending his expertise to bring life and detail to these fascinating sites. His degree in art history and his love of Italian history make him a wonderful guide. To book him as a tour guide, visit turislucca.com The post Season 3 Travel Guide: Tour Guide Gabriele Calabrese appeared first on Dream of Italy ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Puccini’s birthplace and childhood home in Lucca is now a museum housing artifacts including the 19th-century Steinway piano on which the composer wrote his operas, costumes, opera scores, photos and furniture from his childhood. Puccini was born in this house, and The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from April to September, with adjusted hours in the off season. The famous statue of a seated Puccini is around the corner in Piazza Cittadella. For mor ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Composer Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858 in the city of Lucca, whose well-preserved Renaissance-era defensive walls are one of its main sights. Puccini came from a musical family with deep roots in Lucca—his grandfather, also named Giacomo, was a maestro at the city’s Cattedrale di San Martino—and the family’s legacy is celebrated in the city today. Tour guide Gabriele Calabrese met Kathy in front of the city’s Chiesa di San Michele in Foro, an 11th-century bas ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. Approximately 364 days a year, Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico lives in harmony with the wild hills that surround it. The remaining night, of course, is dedicated to a different type of harmony—a bel canto concert by Bocelli, held annually in July. Having grown up hunting for rocks and fossils in the Lajatico hills, once he began his career, Bocelli was moved to connect his roots with his art. He built Teatro del Silenzio in 2006 as an homage to two forms of art ..read more

This is an excerpt for Episode 1: Andrea Bocelli’s Tuscany from the Dream of Italy Season 3 Travel Guide. Get your own PDF copy here. The Bocelli family winery is run by Andrea Bocelli’s brother Alberto and nephew Alessio. The land has been in the Bocelli family for seven generations; the family started as sharecroppers before purchasing the property in 1830. Today, they produce natural wines from Sangiovese and Cabernet grapes. There is a wine shop, a restaurant and a museum dedicated to Bocelli’s career, open Tuesday through Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For more information, visit ..read more