Literary Tour of Rome
The Piazza di Spagna, was known locally by the Romans for many years
as the "English Ghetto". A place where visiting writers from
around the globe and particularly England called their home. At No.
26 we find the house where John Keats lived for a few months before
dying from tuberculosis. In the Keats-Shelley Memorial house there is
a collection of documents concerning the English Romantic poets, such
as Percy Bysshe Shelly and George Byron.
The nearby Antico Cafe Greco, located at Via Condotti 86, was
a famous stop for Italian and foreign artists. Founded in 1760 by Nicola
della Maddalena, a Greek, the cafe achieved fame later when it
began to serve a better coffee, served in small cups. Amongst some of
its famous clientele were Liszt, Gounod, Stendhal, Heine, Wagner, Twain,
Gogol, and D'Annunzio.
In Via del Corso 18, you'll find the Goethe Museum, set up in rooms
of a boarding house. Casa Moscatelli, was where the poet stayed in Rome.
When Goethe left Rome after his second visit in 1788 he declared "Leaving
this capital of the world, of which I have been a citizen for so long,
and without hopes of returning, gives a feeling that cannot be expressed
in words. No one, except those who have felt it, can understand it".
Behind the Pyramid of Cestius, is the Protestant cemetery, the final
resting place for non-catholic foreigners who died in Rome since the
late 18th century. There are numerous tombs including that of Keats,
with the simple epitaph " Here lies one whose name was write in
water", and the tomb of Goethe's only son, born from the poets
affair with Christiane Vulpius.
In the Museo di Roma in Trastevere, you'll find the study centre on
the Roman poet and journalist Carlo Alberto Palustri, better known as
Trilussa. Another important Roman literary figure was Guisseppe Belli,
the city's greatest bard, who was born in 1791 and died in 1863. he
is buried in Verano cemetery.
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