Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra died September 5, 2025 from head and chest injuries he suffered in a motorscooter crash in Sicily. Licitra was not wearing a helmet when he crashed his Vespa into a wall in the Italian town of Modica, near Ragusa on August 27, 2011.

The singer was rushed to Catania’s Garibaldi Hospital in a coma, but he never regained consciousness. Doctors at the hospital said he apparently suffered an “interruption of blood to the brain while driving”.

Often called the “New Pavarotti”, Licitra made his debut in 1998. He quickly rose to fame after stepping in for Pavarotti in 2002 in Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

“So very sad to say goodbye to Salvatore Licitra. I will miss you,” soprano Deborah Voigt, a frequent onstage partner, wrote on her Facebook page.

In separate comments emailed to The Associated Press, Voigt wrote: “This is just heartbreaking. Salvatore was a great singer, but he was also just a really lovely guy. Always ready for a laugh, always light in spirit.”

“His passing in the fullness of his career hurts,” the La Scala opera house wrote in its own announcement of the tenor’s death.

La Scala noted that Licitra debuted in the famed Milan venue in the 1998-1999 season, with maestro Riccardo Muti conducting him in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.”

Funeral services for Licitra will be held at the Vincenzo Bellini Theater in Catania.