Pietro Mascagni projects, which never saw the light of day: The sound track of the 1980 film "Raging Bull" uses the "Intermezzo" from "Cavalleria rusticana", the Barcarolle from "Silvano", and the Intermezzo from "Guglielmo Ratcliff" (known as "Il sogno di Ratcliff"). The 1990 film "The Godfather Part III" used a production of "Cavalleria rusticana" at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo as the setting for its climax, with Michael Corleone's son Anthony as Turiddu. The movie ends with the Intermezzo playing. In 2001 Andrea Bocelli recorded a song entitled "Mascagni" on his Cieli di Toscana album that had an excerpt from "Cavalleria rusticana"
Cavalleria rusticana it was presented as "La giostra dei falchi" in 1914. "Cavalleria rusticana" opened on the evening of 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome to a half empty house. However, the audience included not only the most authoritative music critics in the country but also Queen Margherita, a great music lover. It was a success from its opening notes. Following Stagno's rendition of the Siciliana behind the curtain the audience leaped to their feet with a thunderous applause not heard for many years. The Siciliana was encored as were several other numbers in the opera. It was a