Gino Marinuzzi was a great conductor and composer whose operatic experience made his own theatrical work extremely effective. Composed in Marinuzzi's signature post-Romantic 'grand style', Palla de' Mozzi was hugely successful in it's day and is considered a masterpiece of 20th-century Italian opera. Making ample use of symphonic writing and rich characterization, the opera tells the dramatic and ultimately apocalyptic story of Giovanni de' Medici's militia, the 'Black Bands', commanded by the imaginary figure of Palla de' Mozzi. This acclaimed Cagliari production was summed up in Libero as 'something rarely heard... a synthesis of the entire history of music'.