A Literary Tour of Florence
A brief account of some famous figures from the world of literature, who stayed in Florence for longer or shorter periods.
From October 1819 to January 1820 Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), his wife Mary Shelley (1797-1851) and Mary's stepsister (and mother of Byron's daughter, Allegra), Claire Claremont, stayed at the boarding house of Madame Merveilleux du Plantis, which was situated in the Palazzo Marini on Via Valfonda (plaque in the Piazza della Stazione). On November 12th 1819 Mary gave birth to a baby boy, who was named Percy Florence Shelley. During his time in Florence, Shelley wrote Ode to the West Wind.. and worked on Prometheus Unbound.
In 1821 the writer and poet Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) came to live in Florence, where he would write his most famous work Imaginary Conversations. Landor stayed in Florence for much of the rest of his life and is buried in the 'English' cemetery.
In 1828 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), the poet and first American translator of the Divine Comedy, lived for a period in Piazza Santa Maria Novella (plaque). The piazza was sometimes called the Piazza degli Stranieri, on account of the number of foreigners who lived there.
George Eliot (1819-80) first visited Florence in 1860 with her consort G. H. Lewes. The couple stayed at the Pensione Suisse (via Tornabuoni, 13), today marked by a plaque. ‘We are at the quietest hotel in Florence having sought it out for the sake of getting clear of the stream of English and Americans, in which one finds oneself in all the main tracks of travel…..’ In May, 1861, they returned and took up residence at the Hotel della Vittoria (Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, 10). The hotel had an English landlady, according to Baedeker.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81) also stayed in the Pension Suisse. He first stayed there in 1861 and returned in 1868. However, he soon moved across the river to the via Guicciardini, 22 (plaque), where he completed his book The Idiot. He wrote of Florence: ‘When the sun shines it is almost Paradise. Impossible to imagine anything more beautiful than this sky, this air, this light.’ Dostoevsky was so enraptured with the bronze doors of the baptistery that he vowed if he should ever become rich, he would buy photographs of the doors, as large as the originals, to hang in his study.
In the spring of 1858 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64) and his family arrived in Florence from Rome. They found accommodation in the Casa del Bello (Via dei Serragli, 36, plaque). In the summer they moved up to the Villa Montauto (Via San Carlo) on Bellosguardo, where he began writing The Marble Faun.
In April 1847 Robert Browning (1812-89) and Elisabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) arrived in Florence from Pisa. The 'wild poets but wise people’ first settled in Via delle Belle Donne before moving to the Palazzo Guidi in Via Maggio (plaque). There they lived until the death of Elisabeth Barrett Browning in 1861. She is buried in the 'English' cemetery. Robert Browning left Florence never to return.
Henry James (1843-1916) visited Florence for the first time in 1869, when he stayed at the Hotel du Nord (Palazzo Bartolini-Salimbeini in Piazza Santa Trinita). James spent three weeks in the city ‘communicating with the immortals’. He returned to Florence in 1872 and rented an apartment in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella, 10, on the corner of via Scala. It was here that he worked on his first novel, Roderick Hudson. For James, Florence, ‘a vulgar little village’, always suffered in comparison with Rome, ‘her great smiting hands have snapt the tender cords to which Florence appeals.' Between 1886 and 1887 he often resided at the Villa Brichieri-Colombi in Bellosguardo. It was there that he began his novella The Aspern Papers. The apartment in which he stayed belonged to the American writer Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-94), who became infatuated with her younger compatriot.
Constance Fenimore Woolson was the great-niece of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851), author of Last of the Mohicans. Cooper lived in Florence from 1828 until 1829. He and his wife first rented a suite of rooms in the Palazzo Ricasoli (Via del Cocomero, nowVia Ricasoli) before taking a villa in the hills to the south of the city.
In the winter of 1874 the poet and literary critic James Russell Lowell (1819-91) stayed in the Hotel du Nord (Palazzo Bartolini-Salimbeni, plaque).
In 1892 Mark Twain (1835-1910) and his family rented the Villa Viviani in Settignano. While he was living there he wrote Pudden'head Wilson. In 1903 Twain returned to Florence with his ailing wife and rented the Villa di Quarto. In the following year his wife died.
In 1901 E. M. Forster (1879-1970) and his indomitable mother, stayed at the Hotel Bonciani in Via de’ Panzani before moving to the Pensione Simi (now the Hotel Jennings Riccioli), the model for the Pension Bertolini in A Room With a View.
D. H. Lawrence (1886-1930) first visited Florence in 1919, when he stayed at the Pensione Balestra (Piazza Mentana, 5), which was described in his novel Aaron’s Rod as Pension Nardini. In 1922 Lawrence stayed at via de’ Bardi, 32, the house in which, according to tradition, Eliot’s Romola lived. In 1926 Lawrence wrote Lady Chatterley's Lover while he was staying in the Villa Mirenda in Scandicci.
Aldus Huxley (1894-1963) and his wife Maria Nys arrived in March 1921 and stayed in the wing of the Villa Minucci, (Via Santa Margherita a Montici, 4). Huxley started writing Antic Hay in Florence, finishing the book in Siena. Most of his novel Time Must Have a Stop is set in Florence. He would later write about the city in somewhat disparaging terms: ‘After a third-rate provincial town, colonised by English sodomites and middle-aged lesbians, which is, after all, what Florence is, a genuine metropolis will be lively.'
In the summer of 1947 the poet Dylan Thomas (1914-53) stayed in Scandicci at the Villa del Becaro. The poet found Florence 'a gruelling museum.'
From October 1819 to January 1820 Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), his wife Mary Shelley (1797-1851) and Mary's stepsister (and mother of Byron's daughter, Allegra), Claire Claremont, stayed at the boarding house of Madame Merveilleux du Plantis, which was situated in the Palazzo Marini on Via Valfonda (plaque in the Piazza della Stazione). On November 12th 1819 Mary gave birth to a baby boy, who was named Percy Florence Shelley. During his time in Florence, Shelley wrote Ode to the West Wind.. and worked on Prometheus Unbound.
In 1821 the writer and poet Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) came to live in Florence, where he would write his most famous work Imaginary Conversations. Landor stayed in Florence for much of the rest of his life and is buried in the 'English' cemetery.
In 1828 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), the poet and first American translator of the Divine Comedy, lived for a period in Piazza Santa Maria Novella (plaque). The piazza was sometimes called the Piazza degli Stranieri, on account of the number of foreigners who lived there.
George Eliot (1819-80) first visited Florence in 1860 with her consort G. H. Lewes. The couple stayed at the Pensione Suisse (via Tornabuoni, 13), today marked by a plaque. ‘We are at the quietest hotel in Florence having sought it out for the sake of getting clear of the stream of English and Americans, in which one finds oneself in all the main tracks of travel…..’ In May, 1861, they returned and took up residence at the Hotel della Vittoria (Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, 10). The hotel had an English landlady, according to Baedeker.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81) also stayed in the Pension Suisse. He first stayed there in 1861 and returned in 1868. However, he soon moved across the river to the via Guicciardini, 22 (plaque), where he completed his book The Idiot. He wrote of Florence: ‘When the sun shines it is almost Paradise. Impossible to imagine anything more beautiful than this sky, this air, this light.’ Dostoevsky was so enraptured with the bronze doors of the baptistery that he vowed if he should ever become rich, he would buy photographs of the doors, as large as the originals, to hang in his study.
In the spring of 1858 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64) and his family arrived in Florence from Rome. They found accommodation in the Casa del Bello (Via dei Serragli, 36, plaque). In the summer they moved up to the Villa Montauto (Via San Carlo) on Bellosguardo, where he began writing The Marble Faun.
In April 1847 Robert Browning (1812-89) and Elisabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) arrived in Florence from Pisa. The 'wild poets but wise people’ first settled in Via delle Belle Donne before moving to the Palazzo Guidi in Via Maggio (plaque). There they lived until the death of Elisabeth Barrett Browning in 1861. She is buried in the 'English' cemetery. Robert Browning left Florence never to return.
Henry James (1843-1916) visited Florence for the first time in 1869, when he stayed at the Hotel du Nord (Palazzo Bartolini-Salimbeini in Piazza Santa Trinita). James spent three weeks in the city ‘communicating with the immortals’. He returned to Florence in 1872 and rented an apartment in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella, 10, on the corner of via Scala. It was here that he worked on his first novel, Roderick Hudson. For James, Florence, ‘a vulgar little village’, always suffered in comparison with Rome, ‘her great smiting hands have snapt the tender cords to which Florence appeals.' Between 1886 and 1887 he often resided at the Villa Brichieri-Colombi in Bellosguardo. It was there that he began his novella The Aspern Papers. The apartment in which he stayed belonged to the American writer Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-94), who became infatuated with her younger compatriot.
Constance Fenimore Woolson was the great-niece of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851), author of Last of the Mohicans. Cooper lived in Florence from 1828 until 1829. He and his wife first rented a suite of rooms in the Palazzo Ricasoli (Via del Cocomero, nowVia Ricasoli) before taking a villa in the hills to the south of the city.
In the winter of 1874 the poet and literary critic James Russell Lowell (1819-91) stayed in the Hotel du Nord (Palazzo Bartolini-Salimbeni, plaque).
In 1892 Mark Twain (1835-1910) and his family rented the Villa Viviani in Settignano. While he was living there he wrote Pudden'head Wilson. In 1903 Twain returned to Florence with his ailing wife and rented the Villa di Quarto. In the following year his wife died.
In 1901 E. M. Forster (1879-1970) and his indomitable mother, stayed at the Hotel Bonciani in Via de’ Panzani before moving to the Pensione Simi (now the Hotel Jennings Riccioli), the model for the Pension Bertolini in A Room With a View.
D. H. Lawrence (1886-1930) first visited Florence in 1919, when he stayed at the Pensione Balestra (Piazza Mentana, 5), which was described in his novel Aaron’s Rod as Pension Nardini. In 1922 Lawrence stayed at via de’ Bardi, 32, the house in which, according to tradition, Eliot’s Romola lived. In 1926 Lawrence wrote Lady Chatterley's Lover while he was staying in the Villa Mirenda in Scandicci.
Aldus Huxley (1894-1963) and his wife Maria Nys arrived in March 1921 and stayed in the wing of the Villa Minucci, (Via Santa Margherita a Montici, 4). Huxley started writing Antic Hay in Florence, finishing the book in Siena. Most of his novel Time Must Have a Stop is set in Florence. He would later write about the city in somewhat disparaging terms: ‘After a third-rate provincial town, colonised by English sodomites and middle-aged lesbians, which is, after all, what Florence is, a genuine metropolis will be lively.'
In the summer of 1947 the poet Dylan Thomas (1914-53) stayed in Scandicci at the Villa del Becaro. The poet found Florence 'a gruelling museum.'
Walking Tours of Florence
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