Not all museums in Florence are over-subscribed with queues of several hours. Casa Guidi, visited today, is the opposite extreme, with an average of just seven visitors a day. Casa Guidi was the home of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning for fourteen years until Elizabeth’s death in 1861.
You may remember the film, ‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street’, based on the meeting and subsequent marriage of the two poets.
Elizabeth had a domineering father who did not believe in marriage for any of his children, so when Elizabeth and Robert first met, they kept their relationship secret. On their marriage, Elizabeth was disinherited by her father, but fortunately with income of her own, Elizabeth and Robert were able to rent rooms in Florence.
Despite Elizabeth’s poor health, she and Robert had one son, Pen, who himself married, but had no children.
The house is managed by The Landmark Trust and may be rented for holidays. It is open for just three afternoons a week between April and the end of November.
In all, fifteen motorbikes and one car were destroyed – the perpetrator of the crime has still to be caught.
Tortoise Travel 