| S. Romano The founder of the Puccini dynasty, Giacomo senior, who was born in Celle dei Puccini in 1712, soon obtained the fullest recognition of his musical talents in the capital. From 1739 he held the post of Maestro della Cappella di Palazzo della Repubblica Lucchese, and from 1740 that of organist of the Cattedrale di San Martino, as well as similar posts in the principal churches of Lucca. So it was that in 1774 he acquired the right for himself and his descendants to be buried in the church of San Romano. After all, it was natural that a ‘dependent’ of the state of Lucca should wish for a burial in the ‘state church’, which is precisely what S.Romano was in those days, and in which he himself exercised part of his professional duties, as would his son Antonio. What strikes us, however, is the position of the sepulchre – in the centre of the church between the two organs. The unscription runs:
JACOBUS PUCCINI CIVIS LUCENSIS
SIBI
|
Apart from Giacomo senior himself
(1781) and his widow Angela Piccinini (1794), the tomb
received three of his grandchildren born to Antonio:
Angela Margherita (1775), Maria Margherita Rosalba Diana
(1792) and one, registered as N.N., who did not survive
long enough to be baptised. 