The Keats–Shelley Memorial House is a writer's house museum in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, commemorating the

Romantic poets Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Neoclassical ideas of the 18th c ...

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

and

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

. The museum houses one of the world's most extensive collections of memorabilia, letters, manuscripts, and paintings relating to Keats and Shelley, as well as

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ...

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

, and others. It is located on the second floor of the building situated just to the south of the base of the

Spanish Steps The Spanish Steps () in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairway of 135 steps is linked with the Trinit� ...

and east of the

Piazza di Spagna The Piazza di Spagna is a square in the centre of Rome, the capital of Italy. It lies at the foot of the Spanish Steps and owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, the seat of the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. The Column of the Immaculate Con ...

History

In November 1820, the English poet

, who was dying of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, came to Rome at the urging of friends and doctors who hoped that the warmer climate might improve his health. He was accompanied by an acquaintance, the artist Joseph Severn, who nursed and looked after Keats until his death at age twenty-five on 23 February 1821, in this house. The walls were initially scraped and all things remaining in the room immediately burned (in accordance with the health laws of 19th century Rome) following the poet's death. The effort to purchase and restore the two-room apartment in which Keats spent his final days began in 1903 at the instigation of the American poet Robert Underwood Johnson.''Remembered Yesterdays'' by Robert Underwood Johnson, George Allen & Unwin ltd, 1924 Assisted by interested parties representing America, England, and Italy, the house was purchased late in 1906 and dedicated in April 1909 for use by the ''Keats–Shelley Memorial Association''. The rooms then became known as the Keats–Shelley House. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Keats–Shelley House went "underground", especially after 1943, in order to preserve its invaluable contents from falling into the hands of, and most likely being deliberately destroyed by,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. External markings relating to the museum were removed from the building. Although the library's 10,000 volumes were not removed, two boxes of artifacts were sent to the Abbey of

Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...

in December 1942 for safekeeping. In October 1943, the abbey's archivist placed the two unlabelled boxes of Keats–Shelley memorabilia with his personal possessions so that they could be removed during the abbey's evacuation and not fall into the hands of the Germans. The items were reclaimed by the museum's curator and returned to the Keats–Shelley House, where the boxes were reopened in June 1944 upon the arrival of the Allied forces in Rome.

Architecture

The building at Piazza di Spagna 26 was remodelled as part of the project to build the

in 1724–25. The project was designed by Francesco de Sanctis, who wanted to frame the steps with an identical building on either side.

References

External links

*
Keats-Shelley Memorial Association website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keats-Shelley Memorial House Museums established in 1909 Poetry museums Museums in Rome Houses in Rome Keats Literary museums in Italy Rome R. IV Campo Marzio

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links