Inside the house where Manzoni once lived, everything seems to be frozen in time. There is an evocative atmosphere inside the rooms where the author wrote some of the most influential works in Italian literature. All Italian schoolchildren study “I Promessi Sposi” (The Betrothed) and “Il Cinque Maggio”.
You can still see the author’s desk in the very room where Manzoni met Garibaldi in 1862 and Verdi in 1868. There are portraits, prints and mementos that were donated by collectors such as Pietro Brambilla.
At present a museum, the house in Via Morone, where the author lived with his family from 1814 to 1873, was famous even in its day. It was a favourite meeting place for intellectuals such as Tommaso Grossi, Antonio Rosmini, Luigi Rossari, Giovanni Berchet and Ermes Visconti.The garden was one reason why Manzoni decided to buy the house since his hobbies included botany and gardening.
Tommaso Grossi had a studio in the Manzoni home and lived happily there for a long time.
Séances and magnetism experiments, both in fashion at the time, were held at the house. These practises were introduced by Stefano Stampa, son of Donna Teresa, Manzoni’s second wife.
The collection of Manzoni’s first editions, from the “Centro Nazionale Studi Manzoniani,” were not the authors’ volumes, but a gift from his heirs, the Treccani family.