Description
The Museo Civico Belliniano is the house where Vincenzo Bellini was born, on the second floor of Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas, in Piazza San Francesco in Catania: a few rooms filled with handwritten scores, pianos, letters, and personal mementos of the composer.
Bellini was born here on November 3, 1801, and lived here until he was sixteen, before leaving to study in Naples. The house has been a national monument since 1923, and the museum was inaugurated in 1930 in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III.
The apartment is small, just five rooms, and the route follows the musician's life in chronological order. In the entrance hall, set models re-create scenes from the ten operas Bellini composed, next to an Apotheosis of the composer painted by Michele Rapisardi.
The highlight is the collection of autograph music manuscripts, with many sketches, plus the score of La sonnambula.
Then there are the instruments: a fortepiano that belonged to Bellini, his cousin's harpsichord, a square piano, and the spinet of his grandfather, Vincenzo Tobia.
Among the personal belongings are watches, cutlery, inkwells, handkerchiefs, and gold pins, a letter in Rossini's hand, and miniatures of the singer Maria Malibran. Two rugs were embroidered by Giuditta Turina, the woman the composer loved.
The most moving part is devoted to the end. Bellini died in 1835 in Puteaux, France: the museum keeps the original documents and his death mask, a wax cast of his face.
One room tells the story of the journey of his body from Paris back to Catania in 1876, with photographs and objects from the ceremony. Today the composer rests in the Cathedral of Saint Agatha.
In the same palace, since 2023, the Multimedia Museum has told Bellini's story in an immersive way, as "a life in four acts": his youth in Catania, his studies in Naples, his successes in Milan, Venice, London, and Paris, and his return to Sicily in 1832.
A curiosity if you're also visiting the archaeological area: Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas, which houses the museum, was originally built on the ruins of the Odeon and the ancient Theater of Catania.
Bellini was born here on November 3, 1801, and lived here until he was sixteen, before leaving to study in Naples. The house has been a national monument since 1923, and the museum was inaugurated in 1930 in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III.
The apartment is small, just five rooms, and the route follows the musician's life in chronological order. In the entrance hall, set models re-create scenes from the ten operas Bellini composed, next to an Apotheosis of the composer painted by Michele Rapisardi.
The highlight is the collection of autograph music manuscripts, with many sketches, plus the score of La sonnambula.
Then there are the instruments: a fortepiano that belonged to Bellini, his cousin's harpsichord, a square piano, and the spinet of his grandfather, Vincenzo Tobia.
Among the personal belongings are watches, cutlery, inkwells, handkerchiefs, and gold pins, a letter in Rossini's hand, and miniatures of the singer Maria Malibran. Two rugs were embroidered by Giuditta Turina, the woman the composer loved.
The most moving part is devoted to the end. Bellini died in 1835 in Puteaux, France: the museum keeps the original documents and his death mask, a wax cast of his face.
One room tells the story of the journey of his body from Paris back to Catania in 1876, with photographs and objects from the ceremony. Today the composer rests in the Cathedral of Saint Agatha.
In the same palace, since 2023, the Multimedia Museum has told Bellini's story in an immersive way, as "a life in four acts": his youth in Catania, his studies in Naples, his successes in Milan, Venice, London, and Paris, and his return to Sicily in 1832.
A curiosity if you're also visiting the archaeological area: Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas, which houses the museum, was originally built on the ruins of the Odeon and the ancient Theater of Catania.