Italian opera houses plan Verdi shows to help government buy composer’s home

Cities across the country will host concerts to raise funds that will preserve Verdi’s home of 50 years for the nation

Opera houses across Italy have come together to help the government meet the shortfall on a bid to save for the nation a country house lived in by composer Giuseppe Verdi for 50 years.

Villa Verdi in Sant’Agata di Villanova – close to the town of Busseto in the Emilia-Romagna region where he was born – and his home for 50 years, was put up for sale in October after a long-running squabble among his heirs.