{"id":28274,"date":"2025-09-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/areademo.beculture.it\/?p=28274"},"modified":"2025-08-24T10:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T08:50:25","slug":"casa-manzoni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/areademo.beculture.it\/en\/casa-manzoni\/","title":{"rendered":"Casa Manzoni, the Museum celebrating the intimate world of a great writer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Casa Manzoni<\/strong><\/a> combines the charm of a historic residence with the documentary function of a museum. The Milanese home of the great writer from 1814 until his death, it preserves some rooms in their original layout and devotes others to telling the story of the man, the writer, and his work. A rich and recently updated exhibition route\u2014following a project by Michele De Lucchi\u2019s architecture studio<\/strong>\u2014guides visitors through the life and legacy of one of the most significant figures of 19th-century Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alessandro Manzoni and his family within the walls of Via del Morone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was October 1813. Manzoni had returned from Paris and was living in Milan, surrounded by his loved ones: his young wife Enrichetta Blondel, whom he married in 1808 when she was just sixteen; his mother Giulia Beccaria, daughter of the renowned Cesare Beccaria and also known as Donna Giulia; and his first two children, Giulietta and Pietro. When he purchased the townhouse at Via del Morone 1171<\/strong> (today no. 1), the family was thrilled. The building required substantial modernisation, but the Manzonis lacked the necessary funds. Still, after carrying out the most urgent renovations, they moved in and enjoyed a lively family and social life. The house was ideal for hosting friends and notable figures such as Massimo d\u2019Azeglio<\/strong> and Claude Fauriel<\/strong>, all in an atmosphere of warm intimacy. The large drawing room overlooking the garden comes to life during sociable evenings filled with conversation and games, such as blind man\u2019s buff, organised by Enrichetta for the older children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study on the ground floor<\/strong> also faces the garden. A secluded spot near the servants\u2019 quarters and bounded by the courtyard, it\u2019s where Alessandro could meet guests, read, and write in peace while daily life bustled upstairs. It is in this very room that he began the first draft of Fermo e Lucia<\/em>, which later became I Promessi Sposi<\/em> (The Betrothed),<\/em> the historical novel that contributed to making Manzoni the man \u201cwho brought great honour to Italy\u201d, as Giuseppe Garibaldi would say upon meeting him in 1862.
Domestic harmony was, however, shattered in 1833 by the death of Enrichetta, his beloved wife<\/strong> with whom he had nine children\u2014left prematurely without their gentle and caring mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Giardino<\/em>, Casa Manzoni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1837, Manzoni remarried Teresa Borri<\/strong>, who brought fresh vitality and new habits into the household along with her son, Stefano Stampa. The kitchen became active once again, serving both the family and their guests, and even Manzoni would occasionally make hot chocolate using a recipe he had learnt in France. Not everyone welcomed the change. The memory of Enrichetta was still vivid, and comparisons between the two women were inevitable\u2014especially for Giulia Beccaria, who did not hide her displeasure. Vittoria, Manzoni\u2019s sixth child, also resented her stepbrother for what she perceived as inappropriate attention. Nonetheless, the couple remained strong, united by a sincere and deep affection, as shown in some of Manzoni\u2019s writings after Teresa\u2019s death in 1861.
Personal joys and professional recognition<\/strong> were always interwoven with grief and loss<\/strong> in Manzoni\u2019s life. Only two of his children, Vittoria and Enrico, outlived him when he died in Milan on 22 May 1873.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Museum route<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is always fascinating to visit the places where great figures of the past lived and worked, imagining them in their domestic settings, engaged in everyday tasks. Unfortunately, changes in ownership following Manzoni\u2019s death altered the house\u2019s original layout. Nevertheless, Casa Manzoni succeeds in evoking the writer\u2019s daily life<\/strong> through a captivating and well-designed museum route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Disegno della Famiglia Manzoni<\/em>, Ernestina Bisi Legnani<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first two rooms: family and portraits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first two rooms are dedicated respectively to Manzoni\u2019s portraits and family<\/strong>. This allows us to piece together key details about the author\u2019s rather complex past: he spent a long time away from his biological mother, whom he was happily reunited with in adulthood. In a pencil and pastel portrait on paper by Ernesta Bisi<\/strong> Legnani<\/strong> (c. 1823), Alessandro is pictured in profile alongside Donna Giulia and his wife Enrichetta. Also depicted are seven of their children: Giulietta, Pietro Luigi, Cristina, Sofia, Enrico, Clara (who died on 1 August of that same year), and Vittoria. Thanks to this and other works on display, we are able to put faces to the various family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second room focuses on Manzoni\u2019s own image. Although he was always reluctant to be portrayed, he could not entirely prevent unauthorised images of himself from circulating. Notable exceptions include the painting by Giuseppe Molteni and Massimo D\u2019Azeglio (1835, Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense) featuring the Lake Como background, and the portrait by Francesco Hayez, commissioned by his stepson Stefano Stampa (1841, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera). Manzoni agreed to sit for both portraits. Stefano also produced one of the most successful drawings of his stepfather<\/strong>, shown in three-quarter view with an introspective expression. He inscribed it: \u201c18 October 1848, in two rainy hours\u2026 Certified likeness A. Manzoni\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ritratto di Alessandro Manzoni<\/em>, Stefano Stampa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Promessi Sposi<\/em> and the illustrations in rooms III and IV<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed),<\/em> Manzoni\u2019s most famous work, has always enjoyed critical and artistic success, inspiring painters and sculptors. Among the most notable is the series of frescoes by Nicola Cianfanelli, created between 1834 and 1837 in the Royal Apartments of Palazzo Pitti<\/a> for Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany, a great admirer of Manzoni.
Room III features paintings, sculptures, and illustrations inspired by the novel<\/strong>, often centred on its most iconic scenes, such as Lucia\u2019s farewell to the \u201cmountains rising from the waters\u201d. Particularly striking is the series of lithographs by Gallo Gallina<\/strong>, published by Ricordi between 1827 and 1828, known for their historical detail and richness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following room explores the influence of Teresa Borri<\/strong>, a cultured and refined woman who had developed long lasting friendships with artists and illustrators during her years in Paris. She is credited with enriching the household\u2019s library\u2014many of those volumes (<\/strong>travel books, novels, often illustrated) are now on display. Among them are French satirical publications<\/a> such as La Caricature e Chiavari<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Camera, Casa Manzoni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bedroom and the Study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The only two rooms that have come down to us intact are the bedroom<\/strong>\u2014Room V, at the midpoint of the visit\u2014and the study<\/strong>, which is the final room (Room X).
The modest bedroom, furnished with only the essentials, was Manzoni\u2019s own: a single bed, which was enough for him, a walnut and yellow marble table, a few armchairs, a small chest of drawers, and not much more. Above the fireplace hung a mirror, upon which, as reported by a witness in 1873, rested \u201ctwo brushes, one for the beard and one for the hair\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study is slightly more formal but equally simple, with bookshelves and paintings on the walls.<\/strong> Opposite the desk\u2014the writer\u2019s favourite spot\u2014stands a fireplace flanked by two mismatched armchairs. The large windows overlook the private garden<\/strong>, and it is easy to picture Manzoni gazing out, lost in literary or botanical thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Studio, Casa Manzoni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A passion for botany: Room VII<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Room VII reveals a lesser-known side of Manzoni\u2014his keen passion for gardening and botany.<\/strong> Like many Lombard gentlemen of his time, he was a knowledgeable agronomist, particularly during his stays in Brusuglio, at the villa inherited by his mother from her companion Carlo Imbonati. There, Manzoni would spend his days reading, studying new horticultural techniques, raising silkworms, and experimenting with crops such as hemp and cotton. Paintings and artefacts in the Casa Manzoni collection confirm this lifelong interest, which also finds expression in the moving natural descriptions found in his most famous novel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n