Ferruccio Tagliavini

Ferruccio Tagliavini was born in Villa Cavazzoli near Reggio Emilia. When he was a child, he moved with his family to Barco, where he became interested in singing and, after attending vocational schools, began studying the violin and began singing in the church choir, and was nicknamed "little Caruso". His father convinced him to enroll at the Conservatory "Achille Peri" in Reggio Emilia.
In 1935, at the outbreak of war in Ethiopia, he volunteered for the Italian East Africa, where he remained a year.
At the age of twenty-four he entered a singing competition in Parma and won a scholarship that allowed him to enroll at the Conservatory Arrigo Boito. In 1938 he won the "National Singing Competition" and was able to attend a course at the Teatro Comunale in Florence.
On 27 October 1938 he made his debut in Florence with La bohème.
Between 1943 and 1945, during the war, he sang in many concerts, performing for American and British allied troops.
After the end of World War II he began to perform abroad, becoming the first Italian Tenor to be hired by the American theater: in Buenos Aires with Tosca, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (where he performed regularly until 1955) with La Boheme, at the Royal Opera House in London with the same work and at the Paris Opera with Un ballo in maschera.
He retired from the stage on July 21, 1970 at the Roman Theatre of Benevento with L'elisir d'amore.
On 20 May 1981 concluded the performances at Carnegie Hall in New York with the concert performance of L'amico Fritz, his favorite opera.

Beside the theater carreer Ferruccio Tagliavini carried on a film carreer too.
In 1941, thanks to his friendly and photogenic face, Tagliavini landed at the movies "Voglio vivere così", directed by Mario Mattioli and enthusiastically received by the public, in which he sang the title song of Giovanni D'Anzi and Tito Manlio, which became his showpiece.
The film career continued until the end of the fifties: he took part in eight movies, comic or opera genre.
In 1988, during a Gala at the Teatro Municipale Reggio Emilia, he was handed the prize Agis BNL "A Life in the Theatre".
Tagliavini spent his old age in poverty and solitude, forced to live in the home for the elderly Villa Ilva in Cavriago, where, for many years, he was helped by a monthly allowance from Luciano Pavarotti. 
He died in his house in Reggio Emilia, because of severe respiratory problems that plagued him for some time.
He is buried in the Reggio Emilia urban cemetery.