LUCCA. Eight million euros, plus a few pennies: these are the funds that the Committee for the Puccini celebrations has received from the ministry to organize the events and operate the machine linked to the hundred years since the Maestro’s death. A lot of money, the use of which has often been a cause of conflict within the various souls of the Committee chaired by the maestro Alberto Veronesi: the Tyrrhenian is now able to detail how the funds were spent, based on the report forwarded to the ministry. The document includes both the funds already paid for the 2023 events and those committed for the events scheduled for the current year: in 2024, in fact, the Committee will not receive further allocations but will limit itself to paying what has already been decided.
The expenses of 2023
The first block of releases is the one relating to the summer of 2023, with the inaugural concert directed by Beatrice Venezi in Piazza Napoleone followed by the Gala and the Puccini Heroines, both in Torre del Lago. The three events cost a total of 648 thousand euros. The Lucca concert was organized by the Teatro del Giglio, which received 224 thousand euros from the Committee. The Puccini Festival received 141 thousand euros for the events in Torre del Lago. The Teatro Comunale in Bologna received 71,500 euros for organizing the Gala orchestra; the same amount for the Craiova National Opera Roman Orchestra that played for the Puccini Heroines. The costs for the artists’ accommodation must then be added: over 5 thousand euros paid to the Principe di Piemonte and Plaza hotels in Viareggio. Then there are the items of compensation to the artists: among these, the 34,440 euros that went to the actor Giancarlo Gianninistar of the event dedicated to Puccini’s Heroines.
The second chapter of expenditure is that for the double concert, at the Teatro del Giglio and at the Scala in Milan, directed by the maestro Zubin Mehtto. The total bill was 259 thousand euros. The two most important slices were those for the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra (187 thousand euros) and Maestro Mehta (45 thousand euros). For accommodation, the Cosmo Hotel Palace in Milan (6,500 euros) and the Ciocco di Castelnvecchio Pascoli (800 euros) were paid for. Giglio received 2,300 euros for organizational costs.
Then there are the three concerts between 9 and 12 November dedicated to Gianni Schicchi with Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra: the organization was entirely handled by the Teatro del Giglio, which received a transfer of 350 thousand euros.
Another double concert on November 28th and 29th, between Vienna and Lucca. In this case the protagonists were the musicians of the Wiener Philarmonic, conducted by Adam Fisher. The overall expenditure was 422 thousand euros, with the largest portion (255 thousand) going to the Austrian orchestra. Maestro Fischer received a compensation of 16,500 euros, while 78 thousand euros went to Giglio for the organization and 58 thousand to Cielo Aviation, an aircraft rental company for the transport of the artists.
The latest entries for 2023 concern other types of expenses. The first, in fact, is that of 100 thousand euros of institutional contribution in favor of the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago. Then there is a substantial sum, of over 360 thousand euros, dedicated to advertising initiatives in support of the 2023 events. purchase of space in newspapers, magazines, television and Internet sites.
Expenses for 2024
The second accounting block concerns commitments made for 2024 for events and other expenses that will take place (or have already taken place) in these 12 months.
First item, the celebratory initiatives in the Maestro’s villas, for 488 thousand euros. On January 22, the concert on the Day of Remembrance took place at the Chamber of Deputies, with the Accademia della Scala orchestra: the expenditure borne by the Committee is 35,200 euros.
Five days later, on January 27, the opera gala for the opening of the Puccini year was held at the Eden theater in Viareggio. The amount pledged was 172,580 euros, of which 45,000 euros for the theater, 35,000 for La Scala (which organized the concert) and amounts from 9,800 to 23,800 euros for the conductor Michael Gamba and the singers Francesco Meli, Roberta Mantegna e Leo Nucci.
Then there are 244 thousand euros for the organization of a series of exhibitions: the most significant slice (100 thousand euros) goes to the exhibition “Puccini manifesto” of the Municipality of Lucca.
A significant amount of funding, of 724 thousand euros, is instead destined for a series of important concerts. These are the one at the Chamber (85 thousand euros), the Easter concert of Virtuoso & Belancanto (52 thousand euros), the concerts in Berlin (146 thousand euros), the one of the Philharmonia of London conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen (145 thousand euros) and finally the event on Friday evening with Richard Muti organized by the Ministry of Culture and Rai (296 thousand euros). Another 469 thousand euros are earmarked for various institutional contributions: from the Tosca-Miami project to the Puccini Festival (160 thousand euros) to the Teatro del Giglio (100 thousand euros) to the Friends of the Puccini Festival Association (5 thousand euros). Said of the 15 thousand euros for a conference at the Ministry of Culture and the 50 thousand for a shortened version of La Bohème in schools, we arrive at the 100 thousand euros committed for the advertising of the 2024 events and the 200 thousand given to the two Municipalities involved in the Giro d’Italia in May: 125 thousand euros for Lucca, 75 thousand in favor of Viareggio.
Puccini’s places
Then there is an item that alone takes up almost half of the total budget available to the committee: the one with the money to be assigned to the winning proposals of the call for the protection and restoration of Puccini sites. The most important amount, 1.250 million, goes to the Pucciniano for the restoration of Villa Caproni. Then there is one million for the Giacomo Puccini Foundation for the renovation of the villa at Marco Polo. Also to the Pucciniano go 440 thousand euros for energy efficiency works, while 350 thousand will be used by the Simonetta Puccini Foundation for the renovation of the villa museum in Torre del Lago. For the restoration of the Museo Celle dei Puccini, the Lucchesi nel mondo will receive 124,200 euros, while 100 thousand will go to the Teatro del Giglio for the restoration of the frescoes.
Other commitments for the Bagni di Lucca theater (21 thousand euros), the Mutigliano parish organ (40 thousand), the Municipality of Pescaglia (80,250), the restoration of the busts at the Milan Conservatory (80 thousand), the valorisation of multimedia tools and the elimination of architectural barriers at the Puccini Foundation (91 thousand), the restoration of the signs of the Puccini cycle path (90 thousand), its arrangement (50 thousand) and finally the restoration of the auditorium of the Milan Conservatory (90 thousand).
The Committee’s expenses
Then there are the operating expenses of the Committee, which come to approximately 260 thousand euros. Among these items are the 78,128 euros for the auditor Alberto De Gregorio and the one for the project manager Luciano Fazzi (who is also treasurer of the Committee) of 73,200 euros. Other significant items are those for the organizational secretariat and the press room (31,720 euros) and for the decentralized headquarters of Palazzo delle Muse in Viareggio (6,807 euros). L
