Ravenna
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| In August 1821, Shelley spent ten days
visiting Byron, who was comfortably ensconced
in a lavish suite of apartments in the
Palazzo Guiccioli. (The Ravenna palazzo was
the property of the Count Guiccioli, whose
wife Teresa was Byron's mistress.) The place
swarmed with an eclectic menagerie of humans
and animals—Shelley counted among the
latter "two monkeys, five cats, eight dogs .
. . ten horses . . . an eagle, a crow, and a
falcon." All except the horses, he noted,
"walk about the house, which every now and
then resounds with their unarbitrated
quarrels" (cited in Holmes's Shelley: The
Pursuit, 664-5). Today, the palace houses
offices on a busy pedestrian walkway; it is
currently in some disrepair but was
undergoing restoration when we visited. |
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| Although the gardens are overgrown and
the plaster chipped and peeling, one can
still get a sense of how luxurious the
Palazzo Guiccioli must have been. |
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| Nearby is the Capuchin convent of
Bagnacavallo, where Byron sent his daughter
Allegra, and the lovely hill-town of
Fossonbrone, which Shelley visited in
1822. |
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