Editing Enrico Caruso (section)

==Biography==
===Early life===
[[File:Enrico Caruso VIII.png|thumb|Caruso in his signature role as Canio in ''[[Pagliacci]]'', 1908]]

Enrico Caruso came from a poor but not destitute background. Born in [[Naples]] in the via Santi Giovanni e Paolo n° 7 on 25 February 1873, he was baptised the next day in the adjacent Church of San Giovanni e Paolo. His parents originally came from Piedimonte d'Alife (now called [[Piedimonte Matese]]), in the [[Province of Caserta]] in [[Campania]], [[Southern Italy]].{{sfn|Caruso|Farkas|1990|p=18}}

Caruso was the third of seven children and one of only three to survive infancy. For decades, there was a story of Caruso's parents having had 21 children, 18 of whom died in infancy. However, on the basis of genealogical research (amongst others conducted by Caruso family friend Guido D'Onofrio), biographers Pierre Key,{{sfn|Key|Zirato|1922}} Francis Robinson,<ref>Robinson, Francis, ''Caruso: His Life in Pictures'', Brahmhall, 1957.</ref> and Enrico Caruso Jr. and Andrew Farkas,{{sfn|Caruso|Farkas|1990|p=20}} have proven this to be untrue. Caruso himself and his brother Giovanni may have been the source of the exaggerated number.{{sfn|Caruso|Farkas|1990|p=20}} Caruso's widow [[Dorothy Caruso|Dorothy]] also included the story in her best-selling memoir about her husband, published in 1945. She allegedly quoted the tenor, speaking of his mother, Anna Caruso (''née'' Baldini): "She had twenty-one children. Twenty boys and one girl – too many. I am number nineteen boy."{{sfn|Caruso|1945|p=257}}

Caruso's father, Marcellino, was a mechanic and foundry worker. Initially, Marcellino thought his son should adopt the same trade, and at the age of 11, the boy was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer who constructed and maintained public water fountains. Whenever visiting Naples in future years, Caruso liked to point out a fountain that he had helped to install. Caruso later worked alongside his father at the Meuricoffre factory in Naples. At his mother's insistence, he also attended school for a time, receiving a basic education under the tutelage of a local priest. He learned to write in a handsome script and studied technical draftsmanship.{{sfn|Key|Zirato|1922|p=16}} During this period he sang in his church choir, and his voice showed enough promise for him to contemplate a possible career in music.

Caruso was encouraged in his early musical ambitions by his mother, who died in 1888. To raise cash for his family, he found work as a street singer in Naples and performed at cafes and soirées. Aged 18, he used the fees he had earned by singing at an Italian resort to buy his first pair of new shoes. His progress as a paid entertainer was interrupted, however, by 45 days of compulsory military service. He completed this in 1894, resuming his voice lessons upon discharge from the army.

===Early career===
On 15 March 1895 at the age of 22, Caruso made his professional stage debut at the [[Teatro Nuovo (Naples)|Teatro Nuovo]] in Naples in the now-forgotten opera, ''L'Amico Francesco'', by the amateur composer Mario Morelli. A string of further engagements in provincial opera houses followed, and he received instruction from the conductor and voice teacher Vincenzo Lombardi that improved his high notes and polished his style. Three other prominent Neapolitan singers taught by Lombardi were the baritones [[Antonio Scotti]] and [[Pasquale Amato]], both of whom would go on to partner Caruso at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] and the tenor [[Fernando De Lucia]], who would also appear at the Met and later sing at Caruso's funeral.

Money continued to be in short supply for the young Caruso. One of his first publicity photographs, taken on a visit to Sicily in 1896, depicts him wearing a bedspread draped like a toga since his sole dress shirt was away being laundered.

During the final few years of the 19th century, Caruso performed at a succession of theatres throughout Italy until 1900, when he was rewarded with a contract to sing at [[La Scala]]. His La Scala debut occurred on 26 December of that year in the part of Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's ''[[La bohème]]'' with [[Arturo Toscanini]] conducting. Audiences in [[Monte Carlo]], [[Warsaw]] and [[Buenos Aires]] also heard Caruso sing during this pivotal phase of his career and, in 1899–1900, he appeared before the [[Nicholas II of Russia|Tsar]] and the Russian aristocracy at the [[Mariinsky Theatre]] in [[Saint Petersburg]] and the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in [[Moscow]] as part of a touring company of first-class Italian singers.

The first major operatic role that Caruso created was Federico in [[Francesco Cilea]]'s ''[[L'arlesiana]]'' (1897); then he was Loris in [[Umberto Giordano]]'s ''[[Fedora (opera)|Fedora]]'' (1898) at the Teatro Lirico, Milan. At that same theatre, he created the role of Maurizio in Francesco Cilea's ''[[Adriana Lecouvreur]]'' (1902). [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]] considered casting the young Caruso in the role of Cavaradossi in ''[[Tosca]]'' at its premiere in January 1900, but ultimately chose the older, more established [[Emilio De Marchi (tenor)|Emilio De Marchi]] instead. Caruso appeared in the role later that year and Puccini stated that Caruso sang the part better.

<div style="float:right; width:350px;">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Enrico Caruso as the Duke in Rigoletto.jpg|Enrico Caruso as Duke in ''Rigoletto'', 1904
File:The-Theatre-FC-December-1912.jpg|Caruso as Duke in ''The Theatre'', 1912
</gallery>
</div>

Caruso took part in a grand concert at La Scala in February 1901 that [[Arturo Toscanini|Toscanini]] organised to mark the recent death of [[Giuseppe Verdi]]. Among those appearing with him at the concert were two other leading Italian tenors of the day, [[Francesco Tamagno]] (the creator of the protagonist's role in Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'') and [[Giuseppe Borgatti]] (the creator of the protagonist's role in Giordano's ''[[Andrea Chénier]]''). In December 1901, Caruso made his debut at the [[Teatro di San Carlo|San Carlo Opera House]] in Naples in ''[[L'Elisir d'Amore]]'' to a lukewarm reception; two weeks later he appeared as Des Grieux in Massenet's ''[[Manon]]'' which was even more coolly received. The indifference of the audiences and harsh critical reviews in his native city hurt him deeply and he vowed never to sing there again. He later said: "I will never again come to Naples to sing; it will only be to eat a plate of spaghetti". Caruso embarked on his last series of La Scala performances in March 1902, creating the principal tenor part of Federico Loewe in ''[[Germania (opera)|Germania]]'' by [[Alberto Franchetti]].

A month later, on 11 April, he was engaged by the British [[Gramophone Company]] to make his first group of recordings in a Milan hotel room for a fee of 100 pounds sterling. These ten records swiftly became best-sellers. Among other things, they helped spread 29-year-old Caruso's fame throughout the English-speaking world. The management of London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, signed him for a season of appearances in eight different operas ranging from Verdi's ''[[Aida]]'' to Mozart's ''[[Don Giovanni]]''. His successful debut at Covent Garden occurred on 14 May 1902, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's ''[[Rigoletto]]''. Covent Garden's highest-paid diva, the Australian soprano [[Nellie Melba]], partnered him as Gilda. They would sing together often during the early 1900s. In her memoirs, Melba praised Caruso's voice but considered him to be a less sophisticated musician and interpretive artist than [[Jean de Reszke]], the Met's star tenor prior to Caruso.

===Metropolitan Opera===
In 1903, Caruso made his debut with the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York City. The gap between his London and New York engagements had been filled by a series of performances in Italy, Portugal and South America. Caruso's contract had been negotiated by his agent, the banker and impresario [[Pasquale Simonelli]]. Caruso's debut was in a new production of ''Rigoletto'' on 23 November 1903. This time, [[Marcella Sembrich]] sang opposite him as Gilda. A few months later, he began his lifelong association with the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]]. He made his first American records on 1 February 1904, having signed a lucrative financial deal with Victor. Thereafter, his recording career ran in tandem with his Met career, both bolstering each other, until his death in 1921.

<div style="float:right; width:350px;">
<gallery mode="packed">
File:CarusoO.jpg|Medal that Caruso gave to [[Pasquale Simonelli]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Pasquale J.|first=Simonelli|year=2012|title=Enrico Caruso Unedited Notes|publisher=Sacer Equestris Aureus Ordo|isbn=978-0615714905}}</ref> his New York City impresario
File:CarusoR.jpg|Reverse: [[Euterpe]], muse of music, with lyre
</gallery>
</div>

Caruso purchased the Villa Bellosguardo, a palatial country house near [[Florence]], in 1904. The villa became his retreat away from the pressures of the operatic stage and the grind of travel. Caruso's preferred address in New York City was a suite at Manhattan's [[The Knickerbocker Hotel (Manhattan)|Knickerbocker Hotel]]. Caruso commissioned the New York jewellers [[Tiffany & Co.]] to strike a 24-carat gold medal adorned with the tenor's profile. He presented the medal in gratitude to Simonelli as a souvenir of his many well-remunerated performances at the Met.

In addition to his regular New York engagements, Caruso gave recitals and operatic performances in a large number of cities across the United States and sang in Canada. He also continued to sing widely in Europe, appearing again at Covent Garden in 1904–07 and 1913–14, and undertaking a UK tour in 1909.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.operascotland.org/news/136/Enrico+Caruso+in+Scotland |date=3 September 1909 |title=Enrico Caruso in Scotland|publisher=Opera Scotland |access-date=4 April 2012}}</ref> Audiences in France, Belgium, Monaco, Austria, Hungary and Germany also heard him before the outbreak of World War I. In 1909, Melba asked him to participate in her forthcoming tour of Australia, but he declined because of the significant amount of travel time that such a trip would entail.

[[File:Enrico Caruso VI.png|thumb|Caruso in the role of [[La fanciulla del West|Dick Johnson]], 1910/1911]]

Members of the Met's roster of artists, including Caruso, had visited San Francisco in April 1906 for a series of performances. Following an appearance as Don José in ''[[Carmen]]'' at the city's Grand Opera House, a strong jolt awakened Caruso at 5:13 on the morning of the 18th in his suite at the [[Palace Hotel, San Francisco#The original Palace Hotel|Palace Hotel]]. He found himself in the middle of the [[San Francisco earthquake of 1906|San Francisco earthquake]], which led to a series of fires that destroyed most of the city. The Met lost all the sets, costumes and musical instruments that it had brought on tour, but none of the artists were harmed. Holding an autographed photo of President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], Caruso ran from the hotel but was composed enough to walk to the [[St. Francis Hotel]] for breakfast. Charlie Olson, the broiler cook, made the tenor bacon and eggs. Apparently, the quake had no effect on Caruso's appetite, as he cleaned his plate and tipped Olson $2.50.<ref name=Bronson>Bronson, William, ''The Earth Shook, The Sky Burned'', p. 50</ref> Caruso made an ultimately successful effort to flee the city, first by boat and then by train. He vowed never to return to San Francisco and kept his word.<ref name=Bronson /><ref>An account of the earthquake by Caruso's lifelong friend, the baritone [[Antonio Scotti]], including Scotti's observations of Caruso's behaviour, is found in Pierre Key's biography of Caruso, {{harvnb|Key|Zirato|1922|pp=228–229}}</ref>

In November 1906, Caruso was charged with an indecent act allegedly committed in the monkey house of New York's [[Central Park Zoo]]. The police accused him of pinching the buttocks of a married woman. Caruso claimed a monkey did the bottom-pinching. He was later found guilty and fined 10 dollars, although evidence suggested that he may have been entrapped by the victim and the arresting officer.{{Citation needed |date= October 2022}} Initially, the leaders of New York's opera-going high society were outraged by the incident, which received extensive newspaper coverage, but it was soon forgotten and Caruso's popularity was unaffected.<ref>David Suisman, "[http://www.believermag.com/issues/200406/?read=article_suisman Welcome to the Monkey House]: Enrico Caruso and the First Celebrity Trial of the Twentieth Century". In ''The Believer'', June 2004, webpage accessed 14 May 2009.</ref> Caruso's fan base at the Met was not restricted, however, to the wealthy. Members of America's middle classes also paid to hear him sing—or buy copies of his recordings—and he enjoyed a substantial following among New York's 500,000 Italian immigrants.

[[File:Enrico Caruso01 crop.jpg|thumb|Caruso in 1911]]

On 10 December 1910, Caruso created the role of Dick Johnson in the world premiere of Puccini's ''[[La fanciulla del West]]''. The composer wrote the music for Johnson with Caruso's voice specifically in mind. Appearing with Caruso were two more of the Met's star singers, the Czech soprano [[Emmy Destinn]] and baritone Pasquale Amato. Toscanini, then the Met's principal conductor, presided in the orchestra pit and Puccini himself, supervised the production.

=== Extortion by Black Hand ===
Caruso's success in the Metropolitan Opera drew the attention of [[Black Hand (extortion)|Black Hand]] extortionists.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2017/04/23/the-black-hand-the-epic-war-between-a-brilliant-detective-and-the-deadliest-secret-society-in-american-history-book-review/100373672/|title=Before the Mafia, there was the terrifying 'Black Hand'|last=Holahan |first= David|website=[[USA Today]]|date= 23 April 2017|access-date=5 November 2017 |quote=Before the Mafia captured the American crime spotlight in the 1920s, there was the Society of the Black Hand, which made ends meet by terrorizing and extorting fellow Italians, mainly, among them tenor Enrico Caruso and Italian-American business owners}}</ref> They threatened to injure his throat with lye or harm him and his family if he did not pay them money.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorismin20thc0000nash |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorismin20thc0000nash/page/21 21] |title=Terrorism in the 20th Century: A Narrative Encyclopedia From the Anarchists |last=Nash |first=Jay |date=1998 |publisher=M Evans and Company |isbn=9780871318558 |access-date=5 November 2017 |quote=The note stated that lye or other corrosive agents would be slipped into Caruso's wine or tea.}}</ref> He initially paid their extortion fee of $2,000 (US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|2000|1912|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}) expecting the matter to be settled, but his willingness to pay made them more brazen. They subsequently demanded an even larger sum of $15,000 (US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|15000|1912|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}})."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dash |first=Mike |date=2009 |title=The First Family: Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia |publisher= [[Simon & Schuster]] |page= 26|isbn= 978-1-84737-173-7|author-link=Mike Dash}}</ref> He was aided by New York City police detective [[Joseph Petrosino]]<ref name="Raab, p. 19-20">[[Selwyn Raab|Raab, Selwyn]]. ''Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires.'' London: Robson Books, 2006. {{ISBN|1-86105-952-3}}. p. 19.</ref> who, impersonating Caruso, captured the extortionists.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/04/29/526157993/inside-the-black-hand-crime-wave-a-century-ago |title=Inside 'The Black Hand' Crime Wave A Century Ago |website=[[NPR]] |date=29 April 2017 |access-date= 5 November 2017}}</ref> Two Italian men, Antonio Misiano and Antonio Cincotto, would be later specifically accused of the crime.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/cgi-bin/senylrc?a=d&d=firv19100520.1.5# |title= Prominent People|date= 20 May 1910 |publisher=The Irvington Gazette |access-date= 5 November 2017|quote=Enrico Caruso accused Antonio Misiano with trying to obtain $15,000 from him by Black hand methods.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/02/05/archives/caruso-blackmailer-gone-italian-who-sought-5000-from-singer-jumps.html |title= Caruso Blackmailer Gone: Italian Who Sought $5,000 from Singer Jumps His Bail| author=<!--Not stated--> |date=5 February 1912 |work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=8 March 2018 }}
</ref>

===Later career and personal life===
[[File:Enrico Caruso.jpeg|right|thumb|Caruso in front of his white Empire-style upright piano, in his apartment in New York City]]

The timbre of Caruso's voice gradually darkened as he aged and by 1916, he began adding heroic tenor parts such as [[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson]], [[Le prophète|John of Leyden]], and [[La Juive|Eléazar]] to his repertoire. Caruso toured the South American nations of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil in 1917, and two years later performed in Mexico City. In 1920, he was paid the enormous sum of US$10,000 a night (US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|10000|1920|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}) to sing in [[Havana]], Cuba.{{sfn|Scott|1991|p=181}}

[[File:Meyerbeer - L'Africaine - Enrico Caruso as Vasco da Gama - The Victrola book of the opera.jpg|thumb|left|Caruso as [[Vasco da Gama]] in ''[[L'Africaine]]'', 1907]]

In 1917, the United States entered World War I, sending troops to Europe. Caruso did extensive charity work during the conflict, raising money for many war-related patriotic causes by giving concerts and participating enthusiastically in [[Liberty Bond]] drives. The tenor had shown himself to be a shrewd businessman since arriving in America. He put a sizable proportion of his earnings from record royalties and singing fees into a range of investments. Biographer Michael Scott writes that by the end of the war in 1918, Caruso's annual income tax bill amounted to $154,000 (US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|154000|1918|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}).{{sfn|Scott|1991|p=168}}

Prior to World War I, Caruso had been romantically linked to an Italian soprano, Ada Giachetti, who was a few years his senior.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050525231437/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-22-2005-70340.asp Caruso Love Letters Reveal Passion Behind a Life of Epic Operatic Drama]}} 2005 article describing the discovery of voluminous correspondence between Caruso and Giachetti.</ref> Though she was already married, Giachetti bore Caruso four sons during their liaison, which lasted from 1897 to 1908. Two survived infancy: Rodolfo Caruso (1898–1951) and singer/actor Enrico Caruso Jr. (1904–1987). Ada had left her husband, manufacturer Gino Botti, and an existing son to cohabit with the tenor. Information provided in Scott's biography of Caruso suggests that she was Caruso's vocal coach as well as his lover.<ref>Orlando Barone, [http://listserv.bccls.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=OPERA-L;Ovrwlw;19960221144958-0500D Caruso Mysteries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725050939/http://listserv.bccls.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=OPERA-L;Ovrwlw;19960221144958-0500D |date=25 July 2011 }}, article written for the Opera-L discussion list 1996-02-21, retrieved 29 October 2010.</ref> Statements by Enrico Caruso Jr. in his book tend to substantiate this.{{sfn|Caruso|Farkas|1990|p=338}}<ref>Wah Keung Chan, [http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm7-7/caruso-en.html The Voice of Caruso] from ''La Scena Musicale'' Vol. 7, No. 7 online, retrieved 6 November 2010.</ref> Her relationship with Caruso broke down after 11 years and they separated. Giachetti's subsequent attempts to sue him for damages were dismissed by the courts.<ref>Caruso Jr. covers his father's relationship with Giachetti in great detail. {{harvnb|Jackson|1972}} and Scott (1988) also contain extensive information about the liaison.</ref>

[[File:Caruso and wife.jpg|thumb|left|Caruso and his wife on their wedding day, 1918]]
[[File:Caruso family.jpg|thumb|upright|Caruso with his wife and daughter sailing for Italy, 1921]] 

In 1917, Caruso met and courted a 25-year-old socialite, [[Dorothy Caruso|Dorothy Park Benjamin]] (1893–1955). She was the daughter of [[Park Benjamin]], a wealthy New York patent lawyer and author. In spite of the disapproval of Dorothy's father, the couple wed on 20 August 1918. They had a daughter, Gloria Caruso (1919–1999). Dorothy wrote two biographies of Caruso, published in 1928 and 1945. The books include many of Caruso's letters to his wife.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/18/arts/gloria-caruso-murray-79-artist-and-tenor-s-daughter.html Gloria Caruso Murray, 79, Artist and Tenor's Daughter], [[William H. Honan]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 18 December 1999</ref>

A fastidious dresser, Caruso took at least two baths a day and enjoyed good food and convivial company. He forged a particularly close bond with his Met and Covent Garden colleague [[Antonio Scotti]]&nbsp;– an amiable and stylish baritone from Naples. Caruso was superstitious and habitually carried several good-luck charms with him when he sang. He played cards for relaxation and sketched friends, other singers, and musicians. His wife, Dorothy, said that by the time she knew him, her husband's favourite hobby was compiling [[Scrapbooking|scrapbooks]]. He also amassed valuable collections of rare postage stamps, coins, watches and antique [[snuffbox]]es. Caruso was a heavy smoker of strong [[Egyptian cigarettes]]. This deleterious habit, combined with a lack of exercise and the punishing schedule of performances that Caruso willingly undertook season after season at the Met, may have contributed to the persistent ill-health which afflicted the last year of his life.<ref>{{harvnb|Caruso|1945|p={{page needed|date=February 2020}}}}. Mrs Caruso enumerated these facts partly to satisfy public curiosity and partly to dispel myths and rumours about her husband.</ref>{{sfn|Key|Zirato|1922|p={{page needed|date=February 2020}}}}{{sfn|Jackson|1972|p={{page needed|date=February 2020}}}}

===Illness and death===
[[File:Halévy - La Juive - Enrico Caruso as Eléazar - Metropolitan Opera 1920.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Caruso as Éléazar in ''[[La Juive]]'', 1920]]
[[File:Enrico Caruso, 1873-1921, funeral at Church San Francisco de Paulo in Naples 3.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Caruso's body lying in state in the Vesuvio Hotel in Naples, 3 August 1921]]

On 16 September 1920, Caruso concluded three days of recording sessions at Victor's Trinity Church studio in [[Camden, New Jersey]]. He recorded several discs, including the ''Domine Deus'' and ''Crucifixus'' from the ''[[Petite messe solennelle]]'' by [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]. These recordings were to be his last.

Dorothy Caruso noted that her husband's health began to rapidly decline after he returned from a lengthy North American concert tour in the autumn of 1920. In his biography, Enrico Caruso Jr. points to an on-stage injury suffered by Caruso as the possible trigger of his fatal illness. A scenery malfunction during a performance of [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns’]] ''[[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]'' at the Met on December 3rd caused a decorative pillar to fall and hit him on the back, over the left kidney (and not on the chest as popularly reported).<ref>Caruso, Jr.'s biography devotes an entire section to medical opinions concerning the tenor's ailments and possible causes of his death.</ref>{{Citation needed |date= October 2022}} A few days before a performance of ''Pagliacci'' at the Met (Pierre Key says it was 4 December, the day after the ''Samson and Delilah'' injury) he suffered a chill and developed a cough and a "dull pain in his side". It appeared to be a severe episode of [[bronchitis]]. Caruso's physician, Philip Horowitz, who usually treated him for [[migraine]] headaches with a kind of primitive [[TENS unit]], diagnosed "intercostal neuralgia" and pronounced him fit to appear on stage, although the pain continued to hinder his voice production and movements.

During a performance of ''[[L'elisir d'amore]]'' by [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]] at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] on 11 December 1920, he began spitting blood as a result of a mouth or throat [[haemorrhage]] and the performance was cancelled at the end of Act 1. Following this incident, a clearly unwell Caruso gave only three more performances at the Met, the final one being as Eléazar in [[Fromental Halévy|Halévy's]] ''[[La Juive]]'' on 24 December 1920, while suffering acute pain. By Christmas Day, the pain in his side was so excruciating that he was screaming. Dorothy summoned the hotel physician, who gave Caruso some morphine and codeine and called in another doctor, Evan M. Evans. Evans brought in three other doctors, and Caruso finally received a correct diagnosis: purulent [[pleurisy]] and [[empyema]].{{sfn|Caruso|1945|pp=234–244}}<ref>Pierre Key, p. 386.</ref>

Caruso's health deteriorated further during the new year. He lapsed into a [[coma]] and at one point, nearly died of heart failure. He continued to experience episodes of severe pain due to the infection and underwent seven surgical procedures to drain fluid from his chest and lungs.<ref>Caruso described his illness and surgical procedures in a lengthy letter to his brother Giovanni, reprinted in ''Caruso, His Life in Pictures'' by Francis Robinson (Bramhall, 1977), p. 137.</ref> He slowly began to improve and by May 1921, he had recovered sufficiently to sail to Naples to further recuperate from the most serious of the operations, during which part of a rib had been removed. According to Dorothy, he appeared to be continuing with his recovery, but in July he allowed himself to be examined by an unhygienic local doctor. Caruso's condition began to deteriorate dramatically after that.{{sfn|Caruso|1945|pp=268–70}}<ref>Biographer Pierre Key attributed Caruso's decline to over-exertion as he convalesced (see p. 389), as did Francis Robinson (p. 139). Dorothy agrees with this in part, saying (p. 262) that a group of hangers-on encouraged him to go on several tiring excursions, give dinners and otherwise overexert himself.</ref> The Bastianelli brothers, eminent Italian medical practitioners, examined him and recommended that his left kidney be removed. On the morning of 1 August, Caruso and his entourage left Sorrento for the Bastianelli's clinic in Rome, but by the time they reached Naples, Caruso was running a high fever and was gravely ill. The party checked into the Hotel Vesuvio where Caruso began screaming in pain and eventually, a doctor gave him [[morphine]] to help him sleep.

Caruso died the following morning at the hotel shortly after 9:00&nbsp;a.m. local time, on 2 August 1921. He was 48 years old. The Bastianellis attributed the cause of death to [[peritonitis]] arising from a burst [[subphrenic abscess]].{{sfn|Caruso|1945|p=275}}<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B01EEDB173EEE3ABC4B53DFBE66838A639EDE "Enrico Caruso Dies in Native Naples: Death Came Suddenly"], ''The New York Times'', 3 August 1921, retrieved 14 May 2009.</ref> The [[King of Italy]], [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]], opened the Royal Basilica of the [[San Francesco di Paola (Naples)|Church of San Francesco di Paola]] for Caruso's funeral, which was attended by thousands of people. His embalmed body was preserved in a glass [[sarcophagus]] at Del Pianto Cemetery in Naples for mourners to view.<ref>Pringle, Heather, ''The Mummy Congress'', London, 2002, pp. 294–296</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728911,00.html|title=Italy: Caruso under Glass|magazine=Time|date=18 January 1926|via=content.time.com}}</ref> In 1929, Dorothy Caruso had his coffin covered and permanently sealed in an ornate stone tomb.