According to a travel reporter writing about the village of Piazze in Tuscany, Italy: “The name Locanda [Inn] Toscanini would suggest there might be a tale worth telling, and indeed there is. It was during the 1931–32 season with the New York Philharmonic that the great conductor Arturo Toscanini developed a problem with his right arm that threatened to curtail his conducting career. American doctors could do nothing to resolve the problem and consequently the maestro was forced to abandon the season at the Phil.

“… Toscanini had heard of a homeopathic doctor back home who had earned himself a reputation for miracle cures … Alberto Rinaldi… Rinaldi managed to cure Toscanini, restoring him to such good health that he fell in love with the girl next door, Gelsa Salvadori. Not surprisingly, the maestro was delighted with the place, returning regularly, even conducting the town band on occasion.”

—Irish Times, July 18, 2009, “The heart of Italy,”
by Paddy Agnew