Villa Il Meleto - Casa museo di Guido Gozzano

Poet Guido Gozzano's summer residence in Agliè preserves its early-twentieth-century furnishings, books, butterfly collection and the trunk associated with his journey to India. The house offers a material setting for the literary world of his poetry.

Why it matters

The house preserves settings associated with Gozzano's poems and letters. Its name refers to the apple-tree avenue, and its facade reflects an early-twentieth-century refurbishment by the poet and his mother in a French Liberty style. For readers of La via del rifugio and I colloqui, the house offers a tangible connection to the poet's life and work.

What to notice

The Salotto di Nonna Speranza is associated with Gozzano's poem of the same name. His study preserves books connected with the poet, while the bedroom contains his lamp, butterfly collection and the trunk associated with his Indian journey. The garden includes a lime tree mentioned in a letter to Amalia Guglielminetti, and the apple-tree avenue gives the villa its name, Meleto.

Context and history

Construction dates to the second half of the nineteenth century; the property then passed to the poet's family by inheritance from his mother, Deodata Mautino, herself the daughter of a member of parliament. Around the turn of the century mother and son embellished the facade in step with the French Liberty fashion, turning a plain country house into an elegant seasonal residence. Gozzano, born in Turin in 1883, made the villa his summer retreat and a setting woven through his poetry; his tuberculosis drove him to travel to India and Ceylon — the voyage that produced his travel writing — and he died in 1916 at thirty-two. Treccani's encyclopedia ranks him the leading figure of the crepuscular poets, whose signature was nostalgia and quiet suffering. The house is now run as a casa museo with the support of the Amici di Guido Gozzano association, which also keeps alive the literary prize hosted here.