LECCO: VILLA MANZONI, Lecco : Villa Manzoni

HI, I am Rick, your personal guide, and together with MyWoWo I’d like to welcome you to one of the wonders of the world: Villa Manzoni.

Villa Manzoni is a beautiful 18th-century neoclassical villa that houses the Museo Manzoniano.

There is no Italian student who does not know the works of Alessandro Manzoni, in particular his historical novel I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), the first written in Italian and the first published with illustrations in Italy. The story told is closely linked to the Lecco area, which is mentioned in the very first lines.

Perhaps the many tourists who come here from other countries know a little less, which is why I want to tell you some curious facts.

You should know that the novel was first published in three volumes, between 1825 and 1827, but it was only between 1840 and 1842 that the final version came out, divided into booklets, with illustrations by Francesco Gonin. In the original project, the drawings were supposed to be made by the well-known painter Francesco Hayez, but he considered the work too demanding....