Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007

Luciano Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer on 6 September 2007, at his home outside Modena, with his family around him. He was 71. Near the end he left a note on his website that reads like a request for how he wanted to be remembered:

I hope to be remembered as an opera singer, as a representative of a form of art that has found its best expression in my country, and I hope that the love for opera remains forever of central importance in my life. … The tenor’s repertoire is the most varied of all. In any language, and in comparison to other genres, it contains the widest gamut of emotions.

His funeral was held in Modena’s Duomo, and he is buried in the family tomb in the small cemetery at Montale Rangone, just south of the city, next to his parents. Two days before he died, the Italian government had given him an award for promoting Italian culture at home and abroad.

Why he still matters, almost 20 years on

Plenty of great singers fade once the recordings stop selling. Pavarotti hasn’t, and the reason is that he was never only an opera singer. He sold more than 100 million records. His “Nessun dorma” was the BBC’s theme for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and the first Three Tenors concert, with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on the eve of that final, became the best-selling classical album of all time. The Pavarotti & Friends concerts put him on stage with pop and rock stars, and his last public performance was “Nessun dorma” at the opening of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

That crossover is exactly why opera people argued about him then and why the rest of the world still knows his name now. For a lot of people who have never sat through a full opera, Pavarotti is the sound of opera. Ron Howard’s 2019 documentary Pavarotti, made with the family’s archives, introduced him to people born after he died, and in 2022 he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

At home the memorials keep coming:

• Modena renamed its opera house after him in December 2007. Since 2021 it has been the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni, sharing the name with the soprano Mirella Freni, his childhood friend (their mothers worked in the same cigar factory) and his Mimì in many a La bohème.
• In 2026 Modena’s music conservatory was renamed in his memory.
• The Fondazione Luciano Pavarotti, set up in 2008 by his widow Nicoletta Mantovani, supports young opera singers, and in 2025 it launched an Orchestra Luciano Pavarotti.

Visiting the Casa Museo Luciano Pavarotti

If you are a fan, this is the pilgrimage, and it is a good one even if you aren’t. The Casa Museo Luciano Pavarotti is the house he built in the countryside south of Modena (Stradello Nava 6) and lived in for his last years. It has been kept the way he left it: 12 rooms on four floors, with stage costumes, awards, photos and letters, but also the kitchen and the everyday clutter that tell you more about the man than any trophy.

• Hours: daily 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:00. Closed 1 January and 24 and 25 December.
• Tickets: about 12 euros in 2026, with reductions for seniors, students and 12 to 18 year olds; under-12s go free. An audio guide in English is included. Buy at the door or online through Vivaticket.
• Time: plan on about an hour. There is a lift to all four floors.
• Getting there: you really want a car or a taxi. It is about 15 minutes from the Modena Sud exit of the A1 motorway, with free parking out front.

Pair it with a night at the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni if the season is on, and a proper plate of tortellini in town. That’s a better tribute than any greatest-hits CD. For more on the region, see our Emilia-Romagna guide, and if you are heading to Milan, read why La Scala isn’t just for opera lovers. Pavarotti first sang there in 1965, with Freni, under Herbert von Karajan.