Hidden photos reveal Puccini's secret lover

Giulia Manfredi had a secret affair with the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini and served as the inspiration for his most famous opera, La Fanciulla del West Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti for the Observer

The Puccini family's maid, Doria Manfredi, was wrongly accused of engaging in a secret affair. However, she was acting as a messenger of love between Giulia and the composer. She poisoned herself at the age of 23, unable to bear the social humiliation Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti/Observer

Puccini dedicated this picture to Giulia Manfredi and it is revealed in The Observer for the first time Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti/Observer

These pictures illustrate Nadia Manfredi's resemblance to Puccini. Nadia, described as a humble woman, lives outside Pisa in Italy and is Puccini and Giulia's granddaughter Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti/Observer

Puccini (centre) knew his son Alfredo Manfredi (right and left), Nadia's father, only briefly as the composer died a year after the child's birth Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti/Observer

Puccini's great great grandson, Giacomo Manfredi, pictured right at age nine, looks just like the Italian musician when he was young Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti/Observer

A 1915 film that had been hidden in two cookie boxes shows Puccini playing an original composition Photograph: Courtesy of Paolo Benvenuti/Observer