Francois Grimaldi who was set on the conquest of Monaco's Castle (Prince's Palace of Monaco) which was the stronghold of the Ghibellines, was advised by the Church to take a more passive approach, but had decided to go another route.
•
Legend has it that in 1297 under the guidance of a soothsayer known as Dracosia (a mystic from Genoa) who practiced Stregheris, sometimes referred to as "La Vecchia Religione" (meaning the Old Religion), who had advised François Grimaldi to disguise himself as a monk in order to gain entrance to the Ghibellines fortress, foretelling that this would insure his victory.
His discography includes recordings of La forza del destino (1952), La Gioconda (1952), Madama Butterfly (with Renata Tebaldi, 1952), Simon Boccanegra (with Victoria de los Ángeles, Tito Gobbi and Boris Christoff, 1957), Tosca (with Tebaldi and Enzo Mascherini, 1952) and La traviata (1952).
His commitments for 2003 included: Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, Andrea Chénier and Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro Regio di Torino, La Gioconda and Don Carlos at the Zurich Opera, Otello at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Aida at the Liceo of Barcelona.
In 1868, Giulio Ricordi suggested the idea of revisions to Boccanegra; the idea was again broached ten years later, early in 1879, but was shrugged off by Verdi with a note saying that the 1857 score, which had been sent to the composer for review, would remain untouched "just as you sent it to me".