Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 – 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 line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.

His most renowned works are La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (1924), all of which are among the most frequently performed and recorded of all operas.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2023
Camera body: Nikon D50
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6G ED
Focal Length: 28mm
Aperture: ƒ/4.2
Shutter Speed: 1/500s
ISO: 800
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

The date on the gate is MDLXVII, 1567

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2023
Camera body: Nikon D50
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6G ED
Focal Length: 24mm
Aperture: ƒ/4
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 800
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2023
Camera body: Nikon D50
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6G ED
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/320s
ISO: 800
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley (1890) and La Wally (1892). La Wally was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani’s most famous aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana.” This aria, sung by American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez, was at the heart of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1981 cult movie Diva. Catalani’s other operas were much less successful.

Object description
Type: Sculpture
Location: Town Walls, Lucca, Italy
Material: Bronze
Artist: Francesco Petroni (1877–1960)
Date: Unknown

Image Details
Date: 11 May 2018
Camera body: Nikon D50
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6G ED
Focal Length: 55mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1,000s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ɡariˈbaldi]); 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, politician and nationalist. He is considered one of the greatest generals of modern times and one of Italy’s “fathers of the fatherland” along with Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Giuseppe Mazzini.

Garibaldi has been called the “Hero of the Two Worlds” because of his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe. He personally commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led eventually to the Italian unification. Garibaldi was appointed general by the provisional government of Milan in 1848, General of the Roman Republic in 1849 by the Minister of War, and led the Expedition of the Thousand on behalf and with the consent of Victor Emmanuel II. His last military campaign took place during the Franco-Prussian War as commander of the Army of the Vosges.

Garibaldi was very popular in Italy and abroad, aided by exceptional international media coverage at the time. Many of the greatest intellectuals of his time, such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand, showered him with admiration. The United Kingdom and the United States helped him a great deal, offering him financial and military support in difficult circumstances. In the popular telling of his story, he is associated with the red shirts worn by his volunteers, the Garibaldini, in lieu of a uniform.

Object description
Type: Statue
Location: Piazza del Giglio, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
Material: Marble
Artist: Unknown
Date: Unknown

Image Details
Date: 11 May 2018
Camera body: Nikon D50
Lens: Tamron 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Focal Length: 70mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1,600s
ISO: 200
Licensing: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

San Giusto is a church in Lucca, Tuscany, central Italy. Built over a pre-existing church, it dates to the second half of the 12th century. Its titular is the 12th century Italian, Giustino Salce, whence the name “San Giusto”.

The present building has a nave and two aisles with apses. The façade has a mixed decoration, with white and black stripes in the upper part, forming two small superimposed loggias at the top.

The central portal was made by Guidetto’s workshop, and, among the other details, includes two twisting atlases (one now partly missing) supporting two protruding lions at the sides of the lunette. The rest of the decoration has vegetable motifs or fantastic creatures. The two roots of the internal archivolt (which has black and white rows like in the upper façade) lay on two cubes with masks of Classic origin.

The side portals have less ornate decorations, mostly limited to the capitals and similar to that of the central one. The latter is surmounted by a double mullioned window, while above the side ones are simpler oculi. The apse’s exteriors features Lombard bands and two orders of single mullioned windows. The interior was remade during the 17th century in Baroque style.

Image Details
Date: 11 May 2018
Camera body: Nikon D50
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6G ED
Focal Length: 240mm
Aperture: ƒ/5
Shutter Speed: 1/1,000s
ISO: 200
Licensing: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International