He was born in Lucca on 22nd December 1858, the fifth of nine children and the last descendant of a family of musicians. After his father death (1864) he spent his youth between his family house in Lucca and their summer house in Celle. At the age of nine, he entered the seminary and later became a choirboy and organ player in the Cathedral of Lucca. But young Puccini preferred opera to church services. At the end of 1880, after obtaining his diploma from the Pacini School of Music in Lucca, he went to study at the Conservatory in Milan.
His stay in Milan was very important for him, who came into contact with the musical world and the Scapigliatura movement. In this period he met Pietro Mascagni and they shared a room for a few months. In 1883, he finished his studies, acquiring his diploma with the composition Capriccio Sinfonico , which immediately revealed the greatness of the young maestro. On April 1st of the same year, the magazine Il Teatro illustrato published by Edoardo Sonzogno announced a competition to find the best new opera in one act by a young Italian composer.