period have survived, and the only sources are those letters sent to others. Giovanni Pacini, another Catanese composer, was still in Milan in late June after the well-received premiere on 10 June of his opera Il Talismano at La Scala, where it went on to receive a total of 16 performances. To Bellini, he appeared to be a rival, and with his recent success, Pacini received offers to compose an opera for both Turin and Venice for the Carnival season. He accepted both offers, but the La Fenice impresario included a proviso that if he were to be unable to fulfill the Venice contract, then it would be transferred to Bellini. Bellini then became preoccupied with staging a revival of his Il pirata during the summer season at the Teatro Canobbiana because La Scala was closed for repairs. Il Pirata was staged with the original cast and again was a triumph: it received 24 consecutive performances between 16 July and 23 August 1829, thus outnumbering Pacini's. During July and August, the composer Gioachino Rossini visited Milan on his way to Bologna. He saw the Il Pirata production and met Bellini; the two men were taken with each other, to the extent that when the younger composer was in Paris a year or two later, he developed a very strong bond with Rossini. A firm offer of a contract for a new opera for Venice appeared in the autumn, a contract which also included a provision that Il pirata would be given during the Carnival 1830 season. Tearing himself away from dalliances with Mrs. Turina, by mid-December Bellini was in Venice where Giuseppe Persiani's Constantino in Arles was in rehearsal with the same singers who were to perform in Pirata: they were Giuditta Grisi, the tenor Lorenzo Bonfigli, and Giulio Pellegrini. I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Venice, March 1830 With rehearsals for Pirata underway in late December, Bellini was given notice by the La Fenice impresario, Alessandro Lanari, that it was doubtful whether Pacini would be present in time to stage an opera and that a contract was to be prepared with the proviso that it would only become effective on 14 January. Accepting the offer 5 January, Bellini stated that he would set Romani's libretto for Giulietta Capellio, that he required 45 days between receipt of the libretto and the first performance, and that he would accept 325 napoleoni d'oro