Italian opera revisited, history was retold and imagination was stimulated. The strength of it fell into a more violent era for opera: verismo, with "Cavalleria rusticana" by Pietro Mascagni and "Pagliacci" by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Some of the greatest Italian operas of the 20th century were written by Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924). These include "Manon Lescaut", "La bohème", "Tosca", "Madama Butterfly", "La fanciulla del West", "La rondine" and "Turandot", the last two being left unfinished. In 1926 and in 2002 Franco Alfano and Luciano Berio respectively attempted a completion of "Turandot", and in 1994 Lorenzo Ferrero completed the orchestration of the third version of
Simonetta Puccini started in 1980, Simonetta was proven to be Antonio's daughter and was assigned one-third of her grandfather's (now greatly diminished) estate, which included his villa in Torre del Lago, and took his name. The remainder of the estate remained in possession of its original heirs, who were not related to the Puccini family. Another claimed heir, Nadia Manfredi, believed her father Antonio to be Puccini's illegitimate son, but her case was not proven, and was opposed by Simonetta. After taking ownership of the villa, she established a non-profit "Friends of the Homes of Giacomo Puccini" to restore and maintain it.