He worked in his father's bakery and sketched as a hobby until his talent was noticed by Giovanni Fattori, who encouraged him to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, which he did, against parental objections, in 1884 when he was only fifteen.

[2] This condition may have been brought about by the infidelity of a woman he loved,[1] or perhaps his family simply found him too temperamental to handle, but the experience produced a major change in his artistic style.

Financially unsuccessful and impoverished, he worked as a waiter, created designs for embroiderers and milliners, made signs and sold the occasional painting.

At the age of fifty, after a brief hospitalization, he died from a neglected lung infection, aggravated by the long hours he spent outdoors, painting in Maremma.

A month later, fifteen of them met at the studios of Gino Romiti and established the "Gruppo Labronico" (Leghorn Group) to honor his achievements, promote the artists of Livorno, and have Puccini's body interred in the memorial chapel near the Sanctuary of Montenero.