Franco Alfano Franco Alfano Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 in Posillipo, Naples – 27 October 1954 in Sanremo) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his opera "Risurrezione" (1904) and above all for having completed Puccini's opera "Turandot" in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime. Alfano was born in Posillipo, Naples. He attended piano lessons given privately by Alessandro Longo, and harmony and composition respectively under Camillo de Nardis (1857–1951) and Paolo Serrao at the conservatory San Pietro a Majella in Naples. Later, after graduating, he pursued further composition studies with
Mario Puccini Mario Puccini Mario Puccini (28 June 1869, Livorno – 18 June 1920, Florence) was an Italian Post-impressionist painter who specialized in landscapes and village scenes. He was sometimes referred to as "The Italian Van Gogh". His father was a baker. He worked in his father's bakery and sketched as a hobby until his talent was noticed by Giovanni Fattori, who encouraged him to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, which he did, against parental objections, in 1884 when he was only fifteen. While there, he studied with Fattori and was influenced by the works of Silvestro Lega.