Go: Casa Guidi, Home of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
In 2018 when I was visiting one of my favorite cities in the world, Florence, Italy, I finally was able to visit the home Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning found in 1846 and would share until Elizabeth’s death in 1861. My daughter Kelsey studied abroad in Florence, and also fell in love with this magical city. She shared my love for all things Florentine, and joined me in Italy for this Read Watch Go adventure.
We loved searching out several locations in Florence we had found in many books that featured Florentine art, music, architecture, food, places of worship, history, and experiences. We both were so taken by the stories of Elizabeth’s relationships with her father, her lady’s maid Wilson, and the love of her life, Robert Browning, that one of the highlights of our trip was visiting the place where Elizabeth, Robert, and Wilson all lived together.
Casa Guidi is a lovely roomy flat on the piano nobile of the 16th Century Palazzo Guidi on Piazza San Felice near the Pitti Palace. When we walked in, we walked back in time. The flat has been restored to carefully reflect as much as possible the apartment the Brownings shared together for fifteen years. It was easy to imagine one of them walking in and greeting us.
The two poets wrote some of their most important works here - Elizabeth in the drawing room, and Robert in his study (where Elizabeth’s daybed from Wimpole Street now resides). Elizabeth described watching the rise and fall of Italy’s struggle for Independence through her home’s windows in Casa Guidi Windows. She also wrote Aurora Leigh, a romantic poem that brought her much success. Robert penned Men and Women, a collection of monologues with poems that proved to be influential such as Fra Lippi Lippi, and Love Among the Ruins.
Here in Casa Guidi is where their only child, Robert Barrett Browning, nicknamed Pen, was born. Here is where their beloved home became a center of British society and a friendly meeting place welcoming many well known expatriate British and Americans. And here is where Elizabeth, grief stricken with the news of her beloved sister Henrietta’s death, sat for days and caught a terrible cold while sitting in the draught from one of her windows looking towards Chiesa di San Felice.
Courtesy of Trip Advisor
Elizabeth settled into the couple’s bedroom (where Elizabeth’s portrait is hung today) as she struggled to breathe and continued to get worse. On June 29,1861 Robert asked Elizabeth if she knew him. She replied, “My Robert, my heaven, my beloved.” He asked if she was comfortable and she said “Beautiful.” Robert took her in his arms and a maid in the room seeing Elizabeth’s face cried out, “This blessed soul has passed away.”
You mustn’t miss visiting this lovely 15th century patrician house. The Browning Society in New York restored it and gave it to Eton College. It is sometimes used by Eton students for writer retreats and during certain seasons is available for holiday bookings. Be sure to check times it is open to the public when planning your visit.
(And while you’re in that beautiful part of town, enjoy a delicious lunch anywhere nearby, and walk down the street to the spectacular, mostly Renaissance, Pitti Palace which houses several important museums!)
Pro Tip: The Entrance can be a bit difficult to find if you’re using maps alone! Look for the large arched wooden doors as the landmark for where to enter the museum.
