Petrarch's House

Home where he lived the last years of his life. Frescoed in the 1500s with scenes from his works.

After a long time spent wandering between cities and courts, in the last years of his life Francesco Petrarca retired to this home, in the tranquility and silence of the Euganean Hills which perhaps reminded him of his native Tuscany.

The building was renovated following the poet's instructions. After his death, it was remodeled several times by the numerous owners who succeeded him. In particular in the sixteenth century, in the wake of Petrarchism which indicated the poet as a model of perfection of Italian literature, the owner Paolo Valdezocco wanted to make it a house museum: the entrance loggia, the external staircase, the frescoes inspired by the works of the Petrarch.

Curiosity: in a room, inside a walled case, there is a stuffed cat! As Petrarca himself recounts, while he was busy writing, a cat entered his study and landed on his legs: she became at home and much loved. These mummified remains are not actually that feline's, but were added in the seventeenth century as a tribute to that affection and perhaps passed off as originals.

Short but beautiful visit, entrance fee (see link for times and prices). Quite crowded on weekends, like the rest of the splendid Arquà Petrarca.

arquapetrarca.com/cosa-vedere