Luigi Illica, born in Castell’Arquato on 9 May 1857, journalist, playwright and good verseggiatore, was one of the exponents of the “Scapigliatura Milanese, as well as one of the main librettists of the epoch after Verdi. He worked for Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, Umberto Giordano and Pietro Mascagni. The libretti are a faithful mirror of the literary culture of the time and of the currents that travelled. In this activity was of particular importance the encounter with Giuseppe Giacosa with whose collaboration wrote libretti most famous: La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly (all for Puccini). Located right next to the birthplace of Luigi Illica, The Museum is divided into four sections. The life: wherein ripercorse are the fundamental stages of his private affair, public and artistic; works: are exposed texts written for the theater, some with handwritten notes of Illica, and opera libretti created by him, for the most part in the editions of the epoch, accompanied by relative scores. The testimonies: letters, photographs, costumes, scene, the piano and the typewriter used by Illica; Materials: can be consulted books, musical scores, audiovisual, engravings, CD.
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