Luigi Denza moved to London, England, UK in 1884 and became professor of singing at The Royal Academy of Music in 1898. Denza is best known for his 1880 song "Funiculi, Funicula" inspired by the inauguration of a funicular railway at Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Six years after its publication, composer
Richard Strauss mistook it for an Italian folk tune and incorporated it into his tone poem "Aus Italien" resulting in Strauss having to share royalties with Denza.