Pavarotti's £8.4m snub to wife as he lay dying

Luciano Pavarotti transferred his £8.4million home into his sole name just two months before he died, in an apparent snub to his second wife Nicoletta Mantovani.

The ten-bedroom mansion, where the opera singer died, had been in the name of a company jointly owned by the couple since Pavarotti bought it three years ago.

But as he lay dying the 71-year-old tenor called in a notary to change the paperwork.

The revelation will add to the whirlwind of reports of a bitter relationship with Nicoletta, 37, that have emerged since Pavarotti's death.

Only last week, close friend gynaecologist Dr Lidia La Marca said that Pavarotti had been driven to the brink by Nicoletta, the mother of his four-year-old daughter Alice.

Dr La Marca claimed Pavarotti said of his wife of four years: "She thinks about money all the time.

"She arrives with documents for me to sign."

She added: "Then he said something which gave me goosebumps. He said, 'Lidia, how will this end?

Either I will shoot myself or we will separate.'

According to Italian newspaper Italia Oggi, the property at Santa Maria Mignano, on the outskirts of Pavarotti's hometown Modena, was registered in his sole name on June 28.

It added that notary official Giuliano Fusco had arrived at the house to oversee the paperwork.

The change in ownership of the mansion came after Pavarotti and Nicoletta's company folded.

Nicoletta was given the attached riding stables and restaurant and adjacent plots of agricultural land worth £3.5million.

Italia Oggi journalist Stefano Sansonetti said: "It obviously leaves one wondering why he wanted it in his own name. It will be very interesting to see who he left it to in his will."

Scroll down for more...

Pavarotti's estimated £250million fortune is made up of an impressive property portfolio with a villa also at nearby Pesaro, three apartments in New York, a home in Monte Carlo and several commercial and residential properties in Modena.

Pavarotti had three grown-up daughters by his first wife Adua Veroni, who he left for Nicoletta.

It is believed he left the New York apartments to Nicoletta.

Last week his friend Franca Strata revealed how Nicoletta called her from New York last month asking for the documents relating to the ownership of the properties.

Franca said: "She was in a panic and was looking for some papers for the three New York apartments."

A receptionist at Mr Fusco's office said he was not talking to journalists.