Villa delle Ginestre

HERE ON THE ARID BACK
OF THE FORMIDABIL MONTE
STERMINATOR VESEVO

GIACOMO LEOPARDI
He wrote

THE GINESTRA AND THE SUNSET OF THE MOON

Villa delle Ginestre

At the foot of Vesuvius, in a splendid panoramic position, dominated on one side by the power of the volcano and on the other by the Gulf of Naples, stands Villa delle Ginestre which hosted Giacomo Leopardi in the last years of his life.

The Villa was built at the end of the seventeenth century by Canon Simioli who used it as a summer residence, often hosting important personalities of the Neapolitan culture such as Luigi Vanvitelli who probably designed the staircase leading to the upper floor. Later the residence was inherited by Simioli's niece who married Diego Ferrigni. From the marriage was born Giuseppe Ferrigni who in 1826 married Enrichetta Ranieri, sister of Antonio, a close friend of Leopardi. It is at this moment that the destinies of the villa intersect with those of the Poet: Ferrigni placed at Leopardi's disposal the dwelling which, in the mildness of the climate, would offer comfort to his poor health. Thanks to Ferrigni, a politically committed lawyer and magistrate, founder of the authoritative Minerva Napolitan periodical of Neapolitan constitutionalism, a person with vast cultural interests, particularly philosophical and literary, Leopardi was able to be surrounded by a lively intellectual environment.

The current name of the Villa refers to one of the two poems composed by the Poet in this residence: La Ginestra precisely, and the Sunset of the moon. Around 1847 the Ferrigni family moved to Naples and the Villa resumed its function as a summer residence. At the end of the nineteenth century, a nephew of Giuseppe Ferrigni married Adelaide Leopardi, great-granddaughter of the Poet and they lived for a short time in the Villa where the young bride died. In 1907 the Villa was inherited by Antonio Carafa, great-grandson of Giuseppe Ferrigni. The renovation of the residence dates back to that period with the creation of the portico on three sides to support the upper terrace, giving the Villa its current appearance. In 1937, in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III, the villa was proclaimed a National Monument with the affixing of a commemorative plaque.

The Villa has been owned by the Federico II University of Naples since 1962. Currently the management and enhancement of the site is entrusted to the Ente Ville Vesuviane Foundation which has created a museum itinerary that enhances the visit to the room that housed the poet where the structure and the historic furniture are kept. The narration of Leopardi's Torrese and Neapolitan stay follows in the other rooms on the first floor by means of audio-visual languages ​​capable of presenting themselves to the student as to the traveler.

the broom or the desert flower

 Here on the arid back
 Of the formidable mountain
 Exterminator Vesevo,
 Which nothing else is cheerful arbor or flower,
 You scatter around your solitary tufts,
 Smelling broom,
 Happy with the deserts. I still saw you
 Your stems will embellish the herm district
 That encircle the city
 Who was once a woman of mortals,
 And of the lost empire
 It seems with a grave and taciturn aspect
 Faith and remember the passenger.