Genoa in the 14th century. The ex Corsair Simon Boccanegra, a plebeian, is elected Doge through the manoeuvres of Pietro and Paolo. He marries Maria, daughter of the aristocratic Fiesco, and they have a daughter. But the baby disappears and Maria dies. In 1855, the Fenice Theatre of Venice asked Verdi for a new opera, but the contract was signed only a year later, when the composer had already seen the outline of a work by the playwright Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez: Simon Boccanegra. The Maestro started writing his own version while in Paris, where he got Giuseppe Montanelli to shave down and model the libretto Francesco Maria Piave had already finished, communicating to Piave his modifications by letter, fait accompli.
