Italian poet, novelist, and Romantic period composer Arrigo Enrico Boïto (1842-1918) composed only one complete opera, Mefistofele, for which he also wrote the libretto. He spent the rest of his life without completing his second, Nerone. Yet he remained active in opera, writing libretti for Ponchielli's La Gioconda and Verdi's Shakespearean operas Othello and Falstaff, among others. He also created the libretto for Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.