Guiccioli Palace finds new life with innovative Byron Museum

by Elisabetta Stefanelli (ANSA) - ROME, NOV 25 - Countess Teresa Guiccioli changed Lord Byron's life, guiding him to the heart of Ravenna and to the rooms of the splendid Guiccioli Palace, which has been transformed into a museum dedicated to the poet and to the 19th-century movement for Italian unification Risorgimento.
    On November 29, the history of the poet symbolizing Romanticism will star at the inauguration in Ravenna of the Museo Byron e del Risorgimento at Palazzo Guiccioli, an innovative exhibition site which was first conceived by the president of Cassa di Ravenna Antonio Patuelli.
    Alberta Fabbri took on the role of director of the museum complex which hosts, among other things, also the Museo delle Bambole (Museum of Dolls) - Collection Graziella Gardini Pasini.
    As part of an initiative promoted by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna, the imposing historic building - which has been revamped during a decade-long renovation - was bought by the municipality of Ravenna in 2013 and became a museum in which - across two floors including 24 rooms stretching over 2,220 square metres - visitors can discover all the details of Lord Byron's stay in the city.
    The poet lived in Ravenna from 1819 until 1821 to follow his beloved Teresa Gamba, wife of Count Alessandro, who was 40 years older.
    Percy Shelley also visited during his stay.
    The rooms bear witness to the poet's love for the countess and his interest in the Carboneria movement advocating liberal and patriotic ideals - the first step in his path to champion freedom and join the fight for independence in Greece.
    Such history is showcased by the documents and objects on display in the rooms where Bryon wrote and loved.
    In his small study, where restoration work has brought to light a fresco he commissioned, he wrote the uncompleted Don Juan, Sardanapalus, The Two Foscari and The Prophecy of Dante, among others.
    The museum is also innovative with an interactive experience provided by Studio Azzurro transporting visitors back to 19th century Ravenna.
    The noble palace Guiccioli was among the most imposing and elegant in the city, built at the end of the 1600s for the Osio family and bought at the beginning of the 19th century by Alessandro Guiccioli.
    Over the years, visitors included patriot Luigi Carlo Farini, Napoleon's niece, a princess of Valacchia and Oscar Wilde.
    In 1943, it became the headquarters of German troops.
    The building's rooms are now back to their original splendour with an ideal itinerary of the Byron Museum - which now hosts the Italian chapter of the Byron Society - ending with the poet's departure for Greece and continuing with the Museo del Risorgimento.
    Visitors will get an insight into local and national history, first with Napoleon's era and then the unification of Italy, with the journey ending with the section dedicated to the myth of Giuseppe Garibaldi and his wife Anita, who died in 1849 in Mandriole.
    The objects on display - over 450 paintings, sculptures, photos, weapons and uniforms, medals, edicts and manifestos - belong to the municipality of Ravenna, including the Guerini Collection, and coming from the Classense Library, Fondazione Spadolini Nuova Antologia and Fondazione Bettino Craxi, granted to Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna. (ANSA).