“In the city of Asti in Piedmont, on the 17th day of January in the year 1749, I was born to noble, wealthy and honourable relatives” (V. Alfieri)
Asti was his city, where he lived his childhood years and where he developed his indomitable yet melancholic character. Vittorio Alfieri was a keen traveller, but he never forgot the elegant palazzo at 375 Corso that now bears his name, where he was born and lived as a child. You can almost hear little Vittorio's whims, hidden in the red damask cascade of the four-poster bed. So much pain and a life of drama, adventures and long journeys kept him far from his city, but he was fond of it and, years later, he dedicated some splendid sonnets to it.
“Asti, antiqua Città, che a me già desti la culla, e non darai (pare) la tomba; poich'è destin, che da te lunge io resti, abbiti almen la dottrinal mia fromba".
(Asti, ancient City, that has already given me the cradle, and will not give me the grave; since it is destiny that I remain far from you, have at least my legacy in words.)
He wanted his book heritage to live in Asti, but history and fate decided otherwise and the library never made it to his city. Just like his mortal remains, which today rest among the marbles sculpted by Canova in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. What is left today is his birthplace, a medieval palace on which the hands of architect Benedetto Alfieri, Vittorio's cousin, masterfully rested and turned it into an elegant and harmonious building. Visitors can access it through a large 18th-century door. A small atrium opens onto a dramatic trapezoidal courtyard which, on the left, widens into a garden with a monumental plane tree dating back to 1849. The main floor houses the flats and the room where Vittorio Alfieri was born. The visitors' path is enriched by panels that tell about the life of the great tragedian, through his travels, passions, achievements and literary production.
Modern, free, never subject to the power élite: Alfieri's thought lives on and Asti honours him.
Twenty years of long restoration work (which also brought to light some elements of the old medieval building) and finally here it is, Palazzo Alfieri in all its splendour and elegance.A house-museum that describes Alfieri's thought and makes us understand how contemporary it is. A place where the essence of his spirit lives on in the pages of his books, which are leafed through every year by scholars and students from all over Europe on the occasion of the Certame Alfieriano. The palace is also home to the Centro Nazionale di Studi Alfieriani (National Centre for Alfieri Studies) and on the ground floor and in the cellars there is the Eugenio Guglielminetti Museum, set up to commemorate the work of the Asti set designer who was responsible, among others, for important Alfierian productions.
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