Evening Tours at Vittoriale Priory Include Rare Access to D’Annunzio’s Bedrooms
Evening Visits to the Priory of Vittoriale
The gates of Gabriele d’Annunzio‘s final residence open to the public, even during the early evening hours. Starting Monday, July 10th, the Fondazione del Vittoriale is once again offering evening tours of the Priory—the set of rooms designated as the residence, which the Vate playfully nicknamed with a Franciscan flair.
Every Monday, until August 7th, visitors can explore the labyrinth of d’Annunzio’s rooms from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., by reservation, at the regular ticket price (20,000 lire). This initiative also offers a rare opportunity to discover the “Clausura,” the area of the Priory normally closed to the public and exceptionally included in the Monday evening tour route.
The Rooms of the Priory and Their Importance
This includes the so-called “guest apartments,” rooms inhabited by Luisa Baccara, the “Lady of Vittoriale” and d’Annunzio’s last companion, and Aélis Mazoyer, the faithful housekeeper who lived with the poet from the years of his French exile. The extended visiting hours, although limited to Monday evenings, will allow a greater number of visitors to access the Vate’s chambers.
For obvious security reasons, access to the Priory has long been regulated; the visits are limited daily to a restricted number of visitors. Especially in summer, many are often disappointed by the inability to fully explore the imposing extravagance of what is considered the sancta sanctorum of Vittoriale—the intact residence of the poet, a testament to a person and an era rarely seen in such detail.
The Culture and Objects of the Priory
The Priory, open to the public since 1975, is the most faithful reflection of d’Annunzian culture, a decadent symbolist muse: “Everything here has been created and transfigured by me. Everything bears the marks of my style, in the sense that I want to give to style. My love for Italy, my cult of memories, my aspiration for heroism, my premonition of the future homeland, manifest here in every line, every harmony or discord of colors. Everything here is therefore a reflection of my mind, an aspect of my soul, a proof of my fervor.”
Within the evocative environment of the Priory, one can perceive the poet’s very personal style and his taste for collecting: relics that recall his heroic moments, a splendid collection of ancient wooden statues, ceramics, glassware, silverware, carpets, over 33,000 books—some rare and precious—spread across rooms and corridors, and everywhere, lines, mottos, poetic phrases.
The Main Rooms and Environments
Among the significant rooms are: the Vestibule, the Music Room, the Zambracca (where d’Annunzio died at his writing table from a brain hemorrhage on March 1, 1938), the Leper Room, the Reliquaries Room, the Dalmatians’ Oratory, the Workshop, and the Cheli Room.
After the evening visits, the Fondazione del Vittoriale will offer visitors the chance to attend concerts organized by maestro Marco de Santi, available with a ticket costing 10,000 lire. The concerts will begin at 9:30 p.m. and will be held in the evocative setting of the Dalmata Square.