Of all the great works in the grand tradition of Italian opera, probably none is more beloved than the famous Cavalleria Rusticana (literally "Rustic Chivalry") by Pietro Mascagni.
A musical melodrama of pride, passion and pathos, it is unlike most other masterpieces of its genre. Unlike the settings of other grand examples of classical lyric opera, the location of the original story is not Paris, nor Rome nor Pharoanic Egypt but a small, nearly-forgotten mountain village on the island of Sicily that, were it not for this musical tragedy, would have been forgotten altogether. The town is Vizzini, in the province of Catania, and the author of the original story was its most famous native son, Giovanni Verga.
You may remember hearing music from the opera in The Godfather III
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