Somehow the clue makes no sense to me. :-) Who's the "illustrious resident" linked to Procida? That's your island, right?

The resident is Giovanni da Procida, if my guess is right?

yk has gotten 2 of the 3 clues.....the illustrious resident was in terms of the city's history, etc. (not world-wide fame).

Wow. I'm impressed, yk. There I was wondering about Ravenna and Bologna. :-)

The ruler. however, was known throughout Europe (it's one of those _____ of ______ type names). I gave away the middle 2 letters, should help.

Huitres-
That doesn't help much. The only name I kept coming across is Robert Guiscard. Doesn't fit the clue.

Seems like Salerno has had a Norman past. So William the Conqueror comes to mind.

Maybe it's a William of something. :-)

William of Drogo? A wild guess:

http://www.fanaticus.org/DBA/campaig...aly1043ad.html

Haven't even read the link carefully.

111op - I think you're right.

I can't find any confirmation anywhere though.

But yk, you can take the next clue.

No, it was Charles of Anjou....however, yk, since you got 2 out of 3, go for it!

meant to say....of the Angevin Empire.

That was my next guess.

I think that I'm rapidly losing credibility here. :-)

Charles of Anjou... I should have known. I think I read up a bit on him while researching on 111op's clue a while back with the Maria Callas.

Next clue:

This town, on the shore of a lake, is most famous for its yearly music festival in honor of a composer (according to his wishes). The composer had lived there for many years, which is a short distance from the town where he was born (a popular daytrip destination of Fodorites from a even more popular city).

Town of the festival: 3 words (5,3,4, with "a" 2nd letter of last word)
Lake: 13 ("a" is 2nd)
Composer: 7
Birth town: 5

Torre del Lago
Massaciuccoli
Puccini
Lucca

That is correct!
I think Puccini wins the prize of having the most clues made out of him!

yk: I went to Torre del Lago last summer (August) and saw 'La Boheme' there. I love Pucini and Lucca! Tickets were reasonable ($32) for a wonderful performance under the stars in a magical place.....

Clue: This famous restaurant is no longer listed in a certain famous guide but is featured in an opera.

Restaurant = 6 letters, 3rd = "i" (You've to be a little creative to interpret the 6 letters -- I've left out an obvious thing to make this a little harder.)

Clarification -- I think that it's no longer listed, but I've not checked this. But suffice it to say that this restaurant was indeed dropped at one point (and probably never restored to the guide).

What cold hands....

Blah blah.

They call me Mimi but my real name is Lucia.

:-)