Luciano Pavarotti’s widow Nicoletta Mantovani marries Alberto Tinarelli

Luciano Pavarotti’s widow Nicoletta Mantovani has married financial advisor Alberto Tinarelli after just nine months of dating.

The couple wed at Sant Antoni da Padova Basilic church in her native Bologna on September 20. 

Their star-studded guestlist included Nicoletta’s close friend singer-songwriter Filippo Neviani, known by his stage name Nek, Italian flutist Andrea Griminelli, and his glamorous fashion designer wife Rossana Redondo.

Nicoletta, 50, was accompanied by daughter Alice, 17, whom she shares with the late opera star who died from pancreatic cancer aged 71 in September 2007, and her parents Gianni and Gianna Mantovani.

The couple were also joined by Anna Maria Bernini, a member of the Italian Senate of the Republic, fashion queen Marvi De Angelis, and singers Giovanni Caccamo and Lorenzo Licitra.   

Dressed in a long ice blue gown lace overlay gown with her golden locks in loose waves, Nicoletta looked radiant as she kissed and embraced her new husband, 52.

Alice also wore a lacy blue frock, with an elegant boat neck and cut at the knee, and completed her outfit with silver shoes.

Carrying a bouquet of white roses and blooms, Nicoletta donned stylish black spectacles and accessorised with a simple silver cross necklace.

The couple reportedly enjoyed a sparkling reception with their 150 VIP guests in a private villa. 

A year ago film producer Nicoletta admitted she didn’t think there would ‘ever be anyone else’ in her life, telling the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine: ‘One big love in life is enough.’ 

But after being introduced to Alberto, a consultant for a financial services company, by writer Grazia Verasani, the couple reportedly had an ‘instant spark’ and spent lockdown together. 

She previously said: ‘It was love right away. We are so happy. We had no reason to get married, if not for a mad desire to do so.’ 

According to today.it, Nicoletta was eager to marry in a church; she said: ‘For me, as a believer, it was important to declare our love before the Lord.’

She said their wedding would be ‘with the friends we have in our hearts, in the name of simplicity and true things.’

Alice, who lived with the couple during lockdown, during which she got to know her new step-father Alberto, is said to be very happy for her mother.

Speaking about her new husband, Nicoletta told the publication: ‘He is so special that after asking me to marry him he told me that if he saw Alice waver we would never get married again and so he asked her too, who exploded with joy. Now we are a real family.’

Nicoletta was Pavarotti’s second wife and was studying natural sciences at university when they met. Then 23, she had a holiday job working on an equestrian competition, where keen horseman Pavarotti, then 57, spotted her. 

The tenor was married to his first wife Adua Veroni from 1961 to 2000, and they had three daughters, Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana. 

He and Nicoletta wed on December 13, 2003 after welcoming Alice in January that year. Alice’s twin brother Riccardo, was stillborn after complications.

At the end of his life it was falsely reported their marriage was over, but Nicoletta never left his side and kept their then four-year-old daughter with him, so she would have memories.

Last year a documentary, directed by renowned filmmaker Ron Howard, was released which tracks the legendary opera singer’s life from his humble beginnings as a child in Modena to the heights of his powers as the preeminent operatic tenor in the world.

The film showcased the amazing highlights from his illustrious career, including Pavarotti’s time with the Three Tenors and his amazing cross over into popular music, eventually making him one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time.

Pavarotti famously loved to eat, and at his peak he weighed 25 stone. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer during his international farewell tour in 2006, and died the following year at his home in Modesta, Italy.