Inside the Compedium are included the places where Giuseppe Garibaldi lived the last years of his life, where he died and where you will find his tomb. The site is owned by the Italian State and is used as a museum. Garibaldi landed for the first time at Caprera on 25 September 1849, coming from Tunis. Thanks to a bequest of his brother, bought half the island in 1855 and settled there in 1856, living in a small flock, restored with the help of his son Menotti and some friends. Having intention to gather at Caprera his sons, and being the construction of insufficient capacity, Garibaldi did arrive from Nice a hovel of wood. The children, Teresita and Riccioti, arrived at Caprera in the summer of 1856.
On completion of the accommodation of the provisional house began those of construction of the Tabernacle proper, which will later be called the White House. Here Garibaldi lived with the children, with the last wife Francesca Armosino and with some of the faithful friends, dedicating themselves to sheep farming and agriculture, until death, overtaken on 2 June 1882. Against the will of the hero of the two worlds, that would have liked the cremation of his relics, the body of Garibaldi, embalmed, was buried in the cemetery of family, close to the White House, under a boulder of raw granite.
Subsequently, Casa Garibaldi continued to be inhabited by the family. The last to abitarla was Clelia Garibaldi, until his death in 1959. The site became a museum in 1978.
The compendium Garibaldian develops around a central courtyard, on which overlook the White House and other buildings which constitute the farm. In the center of the courtyard is enthroned in the huge “tree of Clelia”, the pine that Garibaldi planted in 1867, on the occasion of the birth of her daughter Clelia.
La Dimora di Garibaldi is a simple building made of granite and plastered with white. The façade, facing west, has a archivolted portal. The original nucleus of the house (enlarged in 1861 toward the south and in 1880 toward north), develops on a quadrangular plan, with a succession of intercommunicating rooms arranged around a central compartment, where is located the scale that allows access to the terrace.
In addition to the living room, the bedroom is accessed where Garibaldi died. This room was built at the behest of Francesca Armosino and used as a lounge; Here Giuseppe Garibaldi he brought back a few days before dying. In the room is his death bed, protected by a glass case and by a balustrade of bronze, donated in 1882 by veterans society of Livorno. The clock of the room as you can still see, was stopped at 18 and winds, time of death of General. The valuable portrait of Garibaldi, guarded in this room is the work of Xavier Altamura.
Other premises
the death bed of Garibaldi that in recent days of life, it was put in front of the window that overlooks the sea. In addition to the White House, the museum the Garibaldian comprises other buildings, starting from the first house of Garibaldi at Caprera, consisting of a pre-existing ovile restored to which was added the hovel in wood, come disassembled from Nice and reassembled at Caprera. The so-called “house of iron”, donated in 1861 of the friend captain Happy Orrigoni, is a sort of prefabricated house in wood, upholstered in lamina of iron, where Garibaldi settled his library. The local originally used as a barn, collects today numerous objects from the work of Garibaldi. There is also a bath of copper, that was placed here to exploit the heat produced by the animals. In the area behind the White House are a mill, by now devoid of blades, and an oven. Not far away there is located the monumental marble bust of Garibaldi, sculpted by Luigi Bistolfi in 1883.
Cemetery
from the central courtyard, a path leads toward the small cemetery of family. Here you will found the tomb of Giuseppe Garibaldi, under a large boulder of granite where is engraved his name. For a hundred years, since 1882 (year of the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi) to 1982, his tomb was constantly manned by a stake of honor of the Navy.
pm-sar.museigaribaldi.caprera@beniculturali.it
