“The Byron and Risorgimento Museums share an important similarity with the University of Bologna: they seek—with success—to be internationally attractive. In Baku, President Mattarella reminded us that we Italians are the world’s leading exporters of culture, and this ability to connect the world unites us with the Museums inaugurated by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna,” said Rector Giovanni Molari, as he received the ‘Silver Crozier – Lifetime Achievement Award’, an honour bestowed by the Accademia degli Incamminati during a ceremony held this morning in the Sala Muratori of the Biblioteca Classense.
“The most important reason the Accademia degli Incamminati wishes to honour Professor Giovanni Molari with the Silver Crozier is his constant, focused, and I would say enthusiastic commitment to establishing the University throughout Romagna. Having a university means having a life and a future—study is freedom.” It was with these words that Academy President Venerino Poletti opened the session dedicated to ‘Byron in Romagna and Tuscany’.
“This Academy shares many features with the Alma Mater,” continued Molari. “The first is the promotion of culture; the second is the fact that it is one of the oldest cultural institutions, just as the Alma Mater is one of the oldest universities. For the University, it is crucial to have premises that are not rented, in order to secure the future. We are pursuing this goal everywhere, and in Ravenna we are working to make our establishments increasingly permanent, as shown by the works that have been carried out in all our institutions.”
“This is a doubly important day,” said President Falconi Mazzotti, “because the award given to Rector Giovanni Molari highlights his continuous commitment to strengthening and developing the University in Romagna and particularly in Ravenna. Moreover, the fact that the Accademia has visited the Byron and Risorgimento Museums confirms that the Museums—conceived by Antonio Patuelli and realized by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna—are becoming an increasingly sought-after destination for Italy’s foremost cultural institutions.”
“I come here accompanied by the spirit of one of our great predecessors, Natale Graziani, who was for many years President of the Academy and who wrote a beautiful volume, Byron and Teresa: The Italian Love,” began Antonio Patuelli.
“But who was Byron? He was the heir to a family of great English feudal lords. Byron had to flee England because of the prudish spirit of the age, his own libertarian temperament, and the controversy provoked by his libertine habits. He therefore had to seek a new place to live—and he was not the only intellectual of his time to do so. Their favourite destination was Florence, because Tuscany had always been a beacon of freedom in the obscurantist Italy of the eighteenth century – and this obscurantism returned after the Congress of Vienna. Florence had abolished the death penalty as early as the eighteenth century, the first to do so in Europe and among the first in the world.”
The Grand Tour was a fundamental part of a young man’s education in those days. “Byron,” continued Patuelli, “set out on his Italian journey shortly before Goethe, who left us a magnificent portrait of Italy at that time—its customs, profound culture, and regional diversity. Byron’s journey, however, took a different course: his first stop was Milan, where he was captivated by La Scala, and from Milan he went straight to Venice. After the Congress of Vienna, Venice had returned to Austrian rule, which stifled its international aspirations but not its customs. These customs included a European outlook, a love of luxury, and a Carnival that lasted three months.”
Patuelli reconstructed Byron’s character: “He suffered greatly and concealed the pain caused by the deformities that had marked his life. In Venice, where he lived from 1816 to 1819, he went almost every day to the Lido to ride on horseback, and on his return he often swam from the Lido back to Palazzo Mocenigo. Then began the long evening of the English lord, which usually ended in amorous adventures and a swim home, followed by a gondolier.”
Patuelli then turned to Teresa, painting her place in the story. “She was a Gamba, born in Palazzo Gamba on Via Gamba, but she studied in Faenza at the college of the former convent of Santa Chiara, where she boarded with her sister Faustina and her cousin Teresa Cavalli, of the same age. Teresa stayed there for seven years. Count Guiccioli, her husband, owned Palazzo Osio and lived on what is now Via Cavour. Wealthy noblemen from Ravenna used to spend their winters in Venice, where they mingled with other rich and cultured noblemen during the long Carnival. But knowing how both Dante and Cardinal Bessarion had died on the road, they would travel there by sea from the port. And thus began the meeting between Teresa and Byron.”
“Count Guiccioli,” continued Patuelli, “had been strongly in favour of Napoleon, which was understandable but not greatly appreciated: the Napoleonic forces had brought with them a great wind of freedom, but they were French—and even Napoleon himself had hesitated to enter a city as ecclesiastical as Ravenna. In fact, he travelled along the Via Emilia without entering the city, which then had two Cardinals, four great Abbeys, and a population of whom a large portion were clergy.”
Byron’s journey, reminiscent of Dante’s, followed a longer route: “Passing through Bologna, where he stayed a few days, he eventually arrived in Ravenna. Among the first things he did was to kneel before Dante’s tomb and then write The Prophecy of Dante, inspired by Teresa herself. In it, he attributed to Dante all his own desires for freedom and for the separation of Church and State—a work that became the first ‘book of liberty’ and a source of inspiration for the patriots of Romagna.”
In Ravenna, Byron met the Carbonari, whose gathering place was what is still today the Farmacia Chigi, at the corner of Via Cavour and Via Carlo Cattaneo. “The poet, who was very wealthy, bought rifles and hid them in the spaces that now hold the Taverna Byron. In 1821, a Constitutional Charter was granted in Cadiz—a powerful moment for the first stirrings of the Italian Risorgimento. The Cadiz Constitution was even adopted in Turin by Carlo Alberto, and several cities attempted uprisings. The news reached Ravenna late, and the first insurrection attempt quickly collapsed, forcing the Gamba family to leave overnight for Florence.”
“Byron, who held a British passport and was well liked by the people, remained a little longer, but it was soon made clear to him that he had better leave. He went immediately to see the Countess, but realized that their passion was no longer as strong. He then went to Pisa, where he found Shelley and another circle of writers; the city also had Tuscany’s oldest and most historic university, so that going to Pisa for Byron also meant returning to a centre of culture. From there, he left again for Liguria and then for Greece: and there, sadly, began the final chapter of his life, which ended there. A story that today makes Ravenna the world capital of Byron.”
Also taking part in the session were Franco Gabici, Vice President of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna; Ernesto Giuseppe Alfieri, President of the Italian Byron Society; and Patrizia Ravagli, President of the Biblioteca Classense Institution.
In the afternoon, the members of the Academy visited the Byron and Risorgimento Museums, accompanied by the Director, Alberta Fabbri.
Ravenna, October 18, 2025
