The renovated BYRON and RISORGIMENTO MUSEUM is now hosted in Palazzo Guiccioli, overlooking the central Via Cavour.
In close relationship with the fascinating halls of the palace, the set-up curated by Studio Azzurro take shape through words and images, and on various levels of thinking, with literary elements, stories of characters, socio-political events and multimedia narrations.
The exhibition itinerary, with the Byron Museum on the mezzanine floor of the Palace and the Risorgimento Museum on the piano nobile, is enriched with advanced digital and interactive technologies, capable of taking visitors deep inside the various literary, historical and civic memories characterising Ravenna.
BYRON’S HOME IN RAVENNA
The display dedicated to Lord George Gordon Byron goes through the life and works of the poet, who was hosted in Palazzo Guiccioli between 1819 and 1821, when he came from Venice to follow his beloved young and beautiful Teresa Gamba, wife of the owner of the palace, count Alessandro.
The set-up develops around a project for the valorisation of the memories collected by Teresa herself at the time of her intense relationship with the poet, during the Risorgimento in Ravenna.
The museum includes precious original editions and memorabilia, portraits and busts of the protagonists, medallions and Teresa’s sentimental memories, in an arrangement that highlights Byron and his work, mixing life experiences and writing in a continuous interplay of voices and images.
RISORGIMENTO
It is right in Ravenna, in the heart of the revolutionary and oppressed Romagna, that Byron encountered his passion for politics. Overwhelmed by dangerous relationships with rebel Carbonari, Byron engaged in the fight for the independence of Italy before and Greece later – a passion that replaced the literary and romantic ones, and brought him to death when he was only 36.
Part and parcel of the history of Risorgimento in Ravenna, his intellectual life intertwines with reflections, literature and the political engagement of the Italian people. Risorgimento was made of conspiracy and thoughts, which are told through the memories of the people of Ravenna in the sumptuous piano nobile of the palace.
The exhibition of these objects witnesses the fight for independence from the Napoleonic era to the Unification of Italy, through the adventurous passage of Garibaldi in the pine forests and lagoons around Ravenna. Here emerge the great and tragic figure of Anita and the many stories of the people from Ravenna, often very young, pursued ideals of freedom. Objects tell thousands of stories, of politics and fights – an epic period narrated through images, personal objects, public symbols.
