Este
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| In August 1818, Shelley and Claire
Clairmont left Bagni di Lucca and traveled to
Venice; they hoped to be able to convince
Byron to give Claire some sort of regular
access to her daughter Allegra. Byron would
not see Claire, but agreed to permit Allegra
to spend some time with her mother at his
villa just outside of Este, a tiny town
southwest of Venice. Shelley, Claire,
Allegra, and the Swiss nurse Elise traveled
to I Capuccini, named for the Capuchin
monastery which once stood there. Shelley
sent a message to Mary at Casa Bertini,
demanding that she and the children leave at
once for Este. Although five grueling days of
travel in the heat of an Italian August was
obviously not the best thing for small
children (especially little Clara, who was
suffering from a fever), Shelley was adamant.
It was a tragic inflexibility on his part;
the trip either significantly contributed to
or caused his daughter's death. |
| Capuccini is situated just east of the
town on route 10, behind a ruined castle. The
place is constructed rather like a fortress,
with only a single rather grim facade (the
rear of the estate and the stables) visible
from the highway. A short driveway permits
only a very limited view of the front of the
house. |
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| The current owners were unavailable, so
it seemed we would have to settle for this
extremely restricted view of the property.
Then we noticed a tiny public road at the
side of the villa. Feeling like architectural
paparazzi, we negotiated the path, then
climbed over a railroad trestle in the rain
(praying that the local express train
wasn’t due at any time soon, and that
the skull and crossbones images prominently
stenciled on the electrical conduits we clung
to weren't really serious). |
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| The view was worth the effort: before us
lay spread the impressive house and its
lovely gardens. |
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