Born in 1971, the prize had from its inception, as its peculiar designation, the female voice which Giacomo Puccini would have wanted in the role.

The Puccini Prize is awarded every year during the “Mese Pucciniano”, the winter festival promoted by the Puccini Festival Foundation during which the birth of the Maestro is remembered on the 22nd of December and the anniversary of his death is commemorated on the 29th of November.

The prize consists of a bronze statuette reproducing the immediately recognisable image of Giacomo Puccini, with his broad-brimmed hat slightly tilted, the lapels of his coat turned up and an unfailing cigarette clutched in the corner of his lips, as depicted by Paolo Trubetzkoy in the statue that has been located since 1949 on the square in Torre del Lago, in front of the Maestro’s Villa.

Rosetta Pampanini, the protagonist of the first two Puccini Festival seasons in 1930 and 1931, inaugurated the roll of honour. Since then, the Puccini Prize has brought numerous illustrious personalities of international opera to Torre del Lago.

Since 1983, the Award has also been extended to other expressions involving Puccini’s production such as publishing, discography, cinematography, young promises of the lyric theatre and personalities from the world of national and international culture whose contribution is significant for cultural growth and the safeguarding and development of the historical and contemporary heritage of musical theatre.