Important Homes of Verdi

Birthplace of the Maestro

The house at Roncole di Busseto, in which Giuseppe Verdi was born on 10 October 1813, is a modest building situated in a quarter which consists today, as it did then, of few houses and good land. Some important documents are conserved there and a few commemorative works. It is a national monument which has been re-opened to the public after recent restoration work.

In the building, which was also used for the collection and distribution of the post, his father ran a tavern and general store. His mother was a spinner. Verdi's family was one of small property owners but not illiterate. Very often, in fact, the innkeepers, would read letters to those who were not able to do so themselves.

With its predominantly symbolic value the house should be considered simply as a stop on a Verdi itinerary which leads to various historical buildings such as Palazzo Orlandi in Busseto where the Maestro began his musical career and married Margherita Barezzi and finally to Sant'Agata di Villanova in the province of Piacenza

Roncole di Busseto (PR) Via Verdi, 1
Telefono 0524.97450

For information and reservations:
Tourist Information Office
Telephone: 0524.92487
Guide to the Area

Casa Barezzi

A marble and bronze plaque on the front of the house remembers Antonio Barezzi with the words of Arrigo Boito (1913). The first public performance of the young Verdi in 1830 had the salon of Casa Barezzi as its theatre - home of the Busseto Philharmonic founded in 1826 by Barezzi and Provesi. Verdi lived for a number of years in the house of his rich benefactor which allowed him, among other things, to undertake the study of music with Maestro Vincenzo Lavigna in Milan and marry his daughter.

Numerous Verdi curios can be found including the Viennese Tomaschek piano on which the Maestro composed "I Due Foscari" and which he played during the last moments of Barezzi's life (1869), an oil painting of Barezzi, the first portrait of the young Verdi in charcoal, signed letters and the patriotic appeal of 1859. The record collection of Antony Rocco Schipper-Suppa containing over 3,000 disks and 500 works is also housed there.

The rooms adjacent to the halls houses the permanent Stefanini collection which is rich in signatures, original images of the Maestro and his 19th century performers. The visitor will also find documents relative to Verdi celebrations in Busseto from the opening of the Verdi Theatre (1868) to the presence of Toscanini in "La Traviata" (1913) and “Falstaff” (1926).

Via Roma, 119
43011 Busseto (PR)

For information and reservations:
Tourist Information Office
Telephone: 052492487
Guide to the Area

Palazzo Orlandi

Built by the architect-painter G. Cavalli of Busseto who was also responsible for the decoration of the salon. Verdi purchased it on sight from the proceeds of his own fortune in 1849 and lived there from 1849 to 1851 with Giuseppina Strepponi creating a scandal among good society.

It was here that Verdi composed the opera "Luisa Miller", "Stiffelio" and "Rigoletto". In January 1867 Carlo Verdi died there. Nowadays in the apartment, which is privately owned, there is an exhibition of period furnishings, signatures and curios relating to Verdi and Arturo Toscanini who stayed there from 1913 to 1926.

For information:
Palazzo Orlandi Via Roma, 56 - Busseto (PR)
Telephone 0524. 92487
Guide to the Area