Gulf of Spezia
|
| On 25 April 1822, Shelley was in Pisa
when he received two simultaneous pieces of
news: Allegra, Claire's daughter by Byron,
had died of typhus at Bagnacavallo; and
Edward Williams had discovered a dilapidated
but nonetheless habitable house for rent near
the fishing village of Lerici, on the Gulf of
Spezia. Worried about the effect of the
child's death on Claire, and eager to leave
Pisa (he had been involved in the attack on a
Pisan dragoon resulting in Byron's
banishment), Shelley decided that a change of
scene was just the thing. Within a day and a
half, he had seen to moving arrangements,
packed Mary, Claire (who had not yet been
told about Allegra) and his son Percy
Florence into a coach, and was himself aboard
a luggage boat for Lerici. |
| Lerici is an exquisite coastal town,
dominated by the massive 800-year-old Lerici
castle of San Georgio, which overlooks the
port. |
|
|
| In the town itself, the central feature
is the oratory of Saint Rocco's Church, built
in 1287, and rebuilt in 1524 by plague-weary
citizens. From Lerici, one can see the nearby
town of San Terenzo and the creamy white
arches of Shelley's last residence, Casa
Magni. |
|
|
| Casa Magni was roughly two miles up the
coast toward San Terenzo, in an extremely
isolated area. In 1822, there was not even a
road to the place—furniture and luggage
had to be brought in by boat. Today, the
residence is crowded into the center of town,
and only a virtual view can give a sense of
its isolation. |
|
|
| The Shelleys, the Williamses, their
children, and the servants finalized lease
arrangements and moved in on 30 April 1822.
The ground floor, invaded by sand and surf on
a fairly regular basis, was useful only for
storing boat equipment. The main floor was
the only habitable section, consisting of a
large central room which the party used for
dining, three small bedrooms, and a rear area
for the servants and children. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The house overlooks the lovely gulf of
Spezia, where Byron and Shelley sailed their
yachts Bolivar and Don
Juan. |
|
|
| Shelley had sailed to Livorno to greet
the Hunts, whose arrival in Italy he had long
anticipated. His ill-fated trip was the
Livorno-Lerici run. Shelley's boat was caught
in a terrible storm, and although passing
sailors warned him to lower his sails, he
refused—indeed, the captain stated that
"one of the gentlemen (Williams it is
believed) was seen to make an effort to lower
the sails—his companion seized him by
the arm as if in anger" (cited in Holmes
729). The Don Juan sank under full
sail and Shelley, Williams, and the boat-boy
Charles Vivian were drowned. Ten days later,
the bodies washed up on the beach off
Viareggio (roughly halfway between Lerici and
Livorno). |
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)