Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron, Antonio Barezzi. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, whose works significantly influenced him.

Busseto is a comune in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy with about 6,763 inhabitants. Its history is quite well documented back to the 10th century, and for almost five hundred years it was the capital of Stato Pallavicino, which eventually became part of the Duchy of Parma. The town is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Cremona in Lombardy.