The museum, which commemorates the English Romantics life in the Italian capital, celebrates its centenary this year but requires money to secure its long-term future.
Lavish, opulent, corrupt, passionate, Rome exerted an irresistible appeal on the English Romantics. Percy Bysshe Shelley lost his son in the city, and was himself buried there after dying in a shipwreck off the Livorno coast. His wife Mary also spent time in the Italian capital, although she left 天美传媒 after Shelley鈥檚 death. And John Keats went to Rome to recover from his illness鈥攂ut stayed there to die.
Soon after his death, the Casina Rossa, the house where Keats spent his last days, became a magnet for writers, artists and poets from around the world.
鈥淭he lodging house became, to an extent, a place of pilgrimage for admirers of Keats,鈥 explains Harriet Cullen, Chair of the Keats Shelley Memorial Association. 鈥淚t was occupied throughout the nineteenth century by a succession of artistically minded foreigners鈥攏otably, towards the end, by the colourful Swedish physician Axel Munthe.鈥
Over time, however, the house fell into disrepair and even risked conversion into a hotel鈥攗ntil American poet Robert Underwood Johnson took the matter in his own hands. Noting the building鈥檚 desperate state, he made enquiries and called upon his contacts among the British and American literati who lived in Rome. Together, they set out to raise funds in the UK, the United States and 天美传媒. They were able to buy the place at the end of 1906, and, two and a half years later, they opened a museum devoted to Keats and his fellow Romantics.
Since then, the Keats Shelley House has attracted thousands of literary tourists, who come to see the manuscripts, painting, sculpture and relics commemorating Keats and Shelley鈥檚 life in Rome, but also to consult the museum鈥檚 library, which has one of the most comprehensive collections of Romantic literature.
Like a hundred years ago, however, the house is once again in need of funds. Money is required for two urgent building projects鈥攕etting up storage facilities in the 18th century cellar, and creating an exhibition space, shop, ticket desk, public bathroom, tearoom and terrace on the first floor. The total needed is about 拢220,000 (about $313,600 or 鈧238,250), of which the museum has already raised 拢37,000 (about $52,750 or 鈧40,000).
Beyond this, the Keats Shelley Memorial Association, which runs the museum and looks after Keats and Shelley鈥檚 graves, is also trying to build an endowment fund of 拢1 million (about $1.4m or 鈧1.08m) to secure the house鈥檚 long-term future. For this reason, they have launched an international fundraising appeal to coincide with the house鈥檚 centenary.
鈥淭he centenary is the right time to celebrate the past and, most importantly, to plan for the future. Our plan is to safeguard the future of the House, and its unique collection, for a further hundred years, and to adapt it sensitively to the needs of the twenty-first century,鈥 says museum curator Catherine Payling MBE. 鈥淎s a British museum overseas, we are not eligible for UK public funding, although we enjoy a small degree of Italian Comune support. We are almost entirely dependent on our own entrance fees and on the generosity of individuals.鈥
British poet laureate Andrew Motion, who is a biographer of Keats, has lent his weight to the fundraising initiative. 鈥淭he Keats-Shelley house in Rome is one of the world鈥檚 best-loved places of literary pilgrimage, and an increasingly important resource for scholars of Romantic literature,鈥 he says. 鈥淔or both reasons, it deserves the most generous support.鈥
If you wish to donate, visit for more details.
The Keats Shelley House is in Piazza Di Spagna 26, Rome (+39 06 97250048, ).
