Pavarotti's widow sues two of tenor's oldest friends for £20m over 'crumbling marriage' claims

Nicoletta Mantovani, 37, wants £10million each from the women for 'defamatory' comments they made six days after the 71-year-old tenor's death from cancer in September.

At the time the claims were never denied by Nicoletta - although Pavarotti's agent Terri Robson hit back and accused both women of "doing Luciano a disservice by spreading malicious gossip about the wife he loved".

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The decision by Nicoletta to sue is the latest in a line of controversies which have provided more operatic style drama for the heavyweight tenor than he ever gave on stage during a career spanning more than 40 years.

Following his death from pancreatic cancer in September there were a series of eye raising episode as it emerged his three daughters from his first marriage were involved in a legal wrangle with Nicoletta over his estimated £250 million fortune.

Then there came the revelations from Franca Corfa Strata, wife of his dietologist and friend of 30 years Professor Andrea Strata and gynaecologist Dr La Marca, whose conductor husband Leone Magiera also a lifelong companion.

Dr La Marca said that 71-year-old 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 goose bumps. He said, 'Lidia, how will this end? Either I will shoot myself or we will separate'."

Dr La Marca went on: "He just unleashed himself like a child.

"He said: 'I am in a bad way. In these last years Nicoletta is tormenting me, she makes me live alone, I am isolated, my friends don't come and see me anymore, she speaks badly about my daughters and she surrounds me with people I don't like'."

While Professor Strata's wife, Franca, said that six weeks before he died, Nicoletta had called from New York in a flap.

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

"She asked me to look for them in my safe to see if Luciano had left them here by mistake as he was always staying at my house but they weren't here."

The writ has been filed at a court in Bologna by Nicoletta's lawyer and friend Anna Maria Bernini and no date has yet been set for the first hearing.

The legal battle comes just a month after Nicoletta went on prime time Italian TV to speak for the first time about the feud surrounding Pavarotti's legacy.

She said: "They paint me as someone who coerced (Pavarotti). It's totally unfounded."

Nicoletta added: "As long as they were just insulting me, ok then, I'm here, I can defend myself, but Luciano can't."

Neither Dr La Marca or Franca Corfini Strata were available for comment.