Villa Imperatori

This “villa”, now Condominio Lo Scoglietto, was purchased by Giacomo Puccini, when he was already a world-famous musician, in 1903, as is testified by various letters of his, dated Boscolungo August 1903 and addressed to his friend Cesare Riccioni, mayor of Viareggio: “…You don’t know these places. Why don’t you take courage and come up here from the baths?.........It’s not true that I finished the opera (La fanciulla del west), there’s still a lot to do, I’ll finish it among the frogs. However, it’s true that I bought a small villa at 1350 metres above sea level… here it’s deliciously cool, never rains, only one attempt one day.(4) Fascinated by the long holiday in the mountains, convalescing from a serious car accident, (…10 degrees in the evening and 19 during the day. Delightful. I’ve left the crutches behind and I walk with sticks very badly though…(5) he purchased Villa Imperatori on the advice of his Florentine friend Camillo Bondi who he owned a similar one nearby. And the following year, it is to his sister Ramelde that he expresses words full of satisfaction about his stay in the mountains: “…Here it is cold but just right. You can enjoy the sun at midday without suffering from it…..You will see what beautiful places and what a beautiful little house! Wear a good dress because it is chic. I was satisfied with Abetone and I am very happy.(6) And again to his adopted daughter Fosca: “The little house is a love and is envied by everyone, it is a bit lonely, but we do not mind”(7). Puccini came to Abetone almost every year during the summer, bringing with him many illustrious guests, from the French poet Vaucaire (1906) to his London friends David and Sybil Seligman (whose secret lover he was) in 1907; the summer of 1912 was the last in which Puccini stayed in Boscolungo. The composer came to Abetone as if it were his mountain, a mountain of Lucca, therefore, and not only of Pistoia, according to today's attribute. In the area adjacent to this villa, the first ski lift of Abetone was built, in 1936, the "legendary" sled that connected Villa Imperatori with the "La Selletta" refuge, at an altitude of 1711 meters. The single-seater chairlift that took the place of the sled was renovated in 2005 with a modern two-seater system. Via Brennero (formerly Via Giardini), 339 51021 Abetone