Opera houses across Italy have come together to help the government meet the shortfall on a bid to save for the nation a country house lived in by composer Giuseppe Verdi for 50 years.

Villa Verdi in Sant’Agata di Villanova – close to the town of Busseto in the Emilia-Romagna region where he was born – and his home for 50 years, was put up for sale in October after a long-running squabble among his heirs.