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"To be in Italy! In Italy! Paris will be my school, Rome my university. Anyone who has seen Rome has seen everything"
"It is certain that only being in Rome gives you an idea of what school this is. I really have to say that when we are born again our old ideas look like the shoes we wore when we were children."
( J.Wolfgang Goethe - Viaggio in Italia )
"If you want to understand the attachment that Rome showed to the composer of Cavalleria Rusticana, you have to have witnessed many displays of affection and many grand events that are by now fading. This is another reason why we must teach these things to our children." ( Mario Rinaldi - 1963 "Mascagni a Roma" )
In Rome Mascagni began his artistic activity with Cavalleria Rusticana and ended it with Nerone. He was so fond of the Teatro Costanzi that he considered it his very own theatre.
In 1901, he wrote to the editor of the Messaggero, “If I had to spend my entire youth and if I had to spend my entire life to earn and keep the spontaneous affection of the Romans, I would bless my destiny and I would feel like the happiest Italian in the world”.
If he loved Rome, then Rome adored Mascagni. This is so true that he tried to put all of his passion into his work. The Maestro was convinced that the Romans constantly revealed in his every action, a sense of justice and an awareness of the right measure.
At the end of February 1890 the Maestro was called to Rome to sit on the examining commission for the Sonzogno musical competition. As  soon as he could put together a little money, he left for Rome and stayed at the Albergo del Sole in the Piazza del Pantheon for 1 lira a night.
The following day he moved to via dei Greci on the ground floor of an former Ursaline convent, which is still today, the headquarters of the Music Conservatory of Santa Cecilia. Afterwards at meeting of the commission, he was able to toast his friends. The opera would be performed later that spring of that same year at the Teatro Costanzi under the baton of Leopoldo Mugnone.
 The Cavalleria Rusticana was such a success that there were a total of sixty curtain calls.
The enthusiasm felt in the theatre spread throughout the entire city and shortly afterwards, “the notes of the Cavalleria were heard in all of the prestigious Roman living rooms”. On 6 and again on 10 September, Maestro Alessandro Vessella performed the Cavalleria Rusticana in Piazza Colonna. The piazza, the cafés and the balconies of the near-by buildings could not hold all of the people. Thus, a Mascagnian tradition began in Rome. L’Amico Fritz was performed at the Teatro Costanzi on the evening of 31 October 1891. The people started queuing to buy a ticket at 6:00 p.m. on the evening of the performance.
The same thing happened for I Rantzau. Even though the public warmly received the performance, the critics were a bit more reserved.
 On 22 November 1898 Iris was performed in front of an over-flowing crowd at the Teatro Costanzi even after all of the polemics surrounding the choice of the director Edoardo Mascheroni. Mascagni himself had wanted to direct the performance. Finally, the burdensome day arrived.
Among the politicians and artists, the Maestros Puccini, Franchetti, Mugnone, Boito, Sgambati etc. various directors of the Conservatory and critics and editors representing newspapers from all over the world were present.
The evening was a success even if the differing of musical opinion between the public and the critics grew ever wider. After Iris, Mascagni was called to the capital to direct a choir of 170 voices for the funeral of King Umberto who had been assassinated in Monza on 29 July 1900. A Requiem Mass composed of various pieces was performed a cappella precisely because of the limited space available inside the Pantheon. Given the solemnity of the occasion, it would have been extremely complicated to have had an orchestra accompany the choir. Mascagni invited all the Italians at the conservatory to collaborate with their best compositions for the occasion. It was a gigantic enterprise by the final result was admirable.
Mascagni’s love for the Romans was accentuated in Le Maschere. It was performed at the same time in seven of the most important Italian opera theatres. The critics’ reviews were mixed. The second performance was a success and later Mascagni addresses the editor of the Messaggero with these words:
“You have invited me to write a few lines. I would like to call your attention to those who talked and wrote about the wonderful outcome of Le Maschere performed in Rome. Its success is due exclusively to the love the Roman operagoers have for me. I answer by saying that no eulogy has ever moved my heart more than this. It is to the citizens of Roman, that have such an exquisite feeling for art and with whom I share a kindred spirit that carries in every verdict a sense of justice and right measure that I turn my thoughts and express my most heartfelt thanks.”
It was not until 1904 that Mascagni decided to make Rome his home. He went to live with a family in an apartment in Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Palazzo Maggiorani.
It was not until 1904 that Mascagni decided to make Rome his home. He went to live with a family in an apartment in Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Palazzo Maggiorani.
 In 1904 the first concert conducted by Mascagni at the Sala Accademica in Via dei Greci took place only to go on to the Augusteocon with a series of concerts featuring the music of Wagner, Rossini, Verdi, Haydn, Saint-Saens, Grieg, Debussy and Tschicovsky.
 From mid-December to the end of April 1910 Mascagni wanted to carry out a very important experiment. He became director of the theatre that was closest to his heart – the Teatro Costanzi. Before setting the opera calendar, Mario Rinaldi wanted important innovations on the stage which had been, up to that point, extremely rigid and void of an outlet. He reduced the stage to a sort of mobile checker board and bettered the lights.
From mid-December to the end of April 1910 Mascagni wanted to carry out a very important experiment. He became director of the theatre that was closest to his heart – the Teatro Costanzi. Before setting the opera calendar, Mario Rinaldi wanted important innovations on the stage which had been, up to that point, extremely rigid and void of an outlet. He reduced the stage to a sort of mobile checker board and bettered the lights.
On 24 February 1915 the architect Marcello Piacentini presented to the Roman people the completely renovated Teatro Quirino. For the musically inclined Romans, it was a happening from the moment the Quirino was inaugurated with an opera season directed by Mascagni. In fact the Roman operagoers gave parties for entire troupe.
Lodoletta was another of Mascagni’s huge successes. It was performed at the Teatro Costanzi in 1917. The Quirino enjoyed the success of the opera Si in 1921. Another success was il Piccolo Marat, again at the Costanzi.
Finally in 1922, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia decided to make Mascagni a member. Around 1927 the composer moved, for reasons of comfort, from his home in via Po, 21 to the Hotel Plaza in Corso Umberto, today called Via del Corso at Largo San Carlo.
Numerous honours continued to be bestowed upon him. He became a member of the Accademia d’Italia and he continued to write and direct.
 Now we have arrived at Mascagni’s last opera. In 1936 Nerone was performed. Mascagni himself said, “You cannot put Nerone on stage without some “Romaness”. But by “Romaness”, I am talking about the language of music, diatonic scale and every precise pause”. When the Allies entered Rome they occupied the Hotel Plaza, asking the clients to pack their bags and move elsewhere. The only person exempt from this order was Mascagni. And from that day, many important figures in military uniform visited the Maestro, bringing with them boxes of precious Havana cigars.
Mascagni passed away at 7:15 am on 2 August 1945.
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