Plaque: Byron in Bologna
Erection date: 2008
In questo sito sorgeva fino al 1930 circa l’albergo del Pellegrino che nell’estate del 1819 ospitò George Gordon Byron. Nel 1886 il proprietario Francesco Ravaldoni volle ricordare il passaggio del poeta romantico inglese con una lapide e un testo dettato da Giosue Carducci.
Qui in Agosto e Settembre MDCCCXIX albergò e per la liberta congiurò Giorgio Gordon Lord Byron che alla Grecia la vita All’Italia die’, il cuore e l’ingegno del quale. Niuno surse tra i moderni più potente d’accompagnare alla poesia l’azione. Niuno più inclito e pietoso a cantare le glorie e le sventure del nostro popolo.
A ricordo con gratitudine d’Italiano Francesca Ravaldoni. Pose MDCCCLXXXVI
G Carducci
L’albergo del Pellegrino, edificio di fondazione cinquecentesca, ebbe come ospiti anche Giacomo Casanova e Charles Dickens
Il comune di Bologna pose nel 2008 la lapide originale è conservata al N. 7 di questo edificio.
{A translation is provided on the smaller bronze plaque, below:}
In this place until about 1930, was found the ‘Albergo del Pellegrino’ where in the summer of 1819 resided George Gordon Byron. In 1886 the owner Francesco Ravaldoni commemorated the visit of the English romantic poet with a plaque and a text composed by Giosue Carducci.
Here in August and September MDCCCXIX {1819} resided and conspired for the cause of liberty George Gordon Lord Byron who gave to Greece his life, to Italy his heart and genius. No one among the modern poets was more powerful than he in accompanying poetry with action, no one more willing and compassionate in singing the glories and misfortunes of our people.
In memory with the gratitude of an Italian. Placed by Francesco Ravaldoni. MDCCCLXXXVI.
G. Carducci
The ‘Albergo del Pellegrino’, a building founded in the XVI century, also hosted Giacomo Casanova and Charles Dickens.
Placed by municipality of Bologna in 2008. The original plaque is preserved at number 7 of this building.
The creators of this plaque have copied the two paragraphs from the original plaque and topped and tailed it with information about the building and about the original plaque.
Site: Byron in Bologna (2 memorials)
Via Ugo Bassi
Byron spent 1816 - 1823 in Italy in various towns and in 1819 he came to Bologna once or twice in pursuit of his married lover, Teresa Contessa Guiccioli. He stayed at a luxury, elite hotel, L’Albergo del Pellegrino which was at no 7 Via Ugo Bassi, this address. In 1886 the owner, Francesco Ravaldoni, erected a plaque commemorating Byron's visit in the entrance lobby of the hotel.
At the end of the 1920s the road needed widening and the hotel was demolished, and apparently the plaque was preserved. Then in 2008 this new plaque, with almost identical wording to the original, was erected by the commune of Bologna. This new plaque says that the original plaque is preserved at this address. And online we found reference to the original plaque, even a photo. We looked around, inside and out, but could not find it.
We could not have reported on these two plaques without the help of our Italian consultant, John Hartley, to whom, grateful thanks.
