Villa Silvia Carducci
In the first hills of Cesena stands Villa Silvia Carducci, the eighteenth-century palace, at the time, property of the counts Pasolini-Zanelli.
Villa Silvia's guest (1904) by Augusto CasalboniComune di Cesena
In the past, the Villa was frequented by famous exponents of the culture of the time, enough to become one of the most important cultural salons in Romagna.
The meetings were set up by the Countess herself.
Villa Silvia (1904) by Augusto CasalboniComune di Cesena
To be mentioned are the visits of the tenor Alessandro Bonci and of the poet Giosuè Carducci.
Villa Silvia (1904) by Augusto CasalboniComune di Cesena
The most illustrious guest of Villa Silvia Carducci was the poet Giosuè Carducci.
Villa Silvia (1700) by Augusto CasalboniComune di Cesena
There, Carducci enjoyed the quiet of the park, the mild climate, the listening of music and to the words of the Countess, to whom the poet was strongly tied as well as to the place and the relaxed atmosphere.
Villa Silvia (1700) by Conti Pasolini-ZanelliComune di Cesena
The strong friendship between two characters and the length of Carducci’s stays in Villa, made the latter be the only guest to own a bedroom dedicated to him and not a simple guest room.
Carducci's Room
The Carducci’s room is amazing and perfectly preserved as it was in 1906 (the year of the poet’s last visit) at the behest of Countess Silvia who donated, by will, the Villa to the municipality of Cesena as long as the location of Carducci was kept intact and it become a place to "sooth human suffering”.The room is open to the public and it still presents all the original furniture and many objects as well as most of the personal effects and numerous photographs that portray him during his stays at the Villa.
Tap to explore
The interior of the Villa consists of the Musical Museum which is constituted by seven thematic rooms that illustrate the sixteenth-century history about mechanical music.
War Marquee
It is a 1500s war marquee dedicated to the historical ancestor of mechanical music: Leonardo da Vinci’s war drum, rebuilt with the help of leonardesche machine experts.
Nouble Lounge
A mid-nineteenth century noble lounge reserved for mechanical musical instruments that populated the houses of upper bourgeoisie of the time.Among those on display there’s no shortage of "jewels" that arouse curiosity and wonder: finely decorated snuffboxes equipped with very small music boxes and cages with mechanical birds that sing and move.
Villa Silvia by Museo MusicaliaComune di Cesena
Organs’ Room
It immerses the visitors in the magical atmosphere of historic “piazza del Popolo” in Cesena. Here, it can be found many mechanical musical instruments used by street artists since first decades of the twentieth century. These are hand-cranked pianos that were played by the musicians in exchange for a few coins, along the streets and in the city squares.
Phonograph Hall
The Phonograph is the first instrument in history capable of recording and playing voice and music, through cylinders, read from a metal dot connected to a trumpet. This invention is a genial discovery made by T. Edison in 1879. In addition, the visitors can admire the reproduction of one of the first music recording chambers.
Villa Silvia by CesenaWebTvComune di Cesena
Queen's room
Finally, the visitors come across the Queen’s Room which was made for the Queen Margherita of Savoia by the counts, on occasion of the presumed visit of the sovereign that eventually did not take place.The great protagonist of this magnificent ambient is the melodic piano Racca, a musical instrument working with a perforated cardboard which belonged to the Queen herself.
Villa Silvia by CesenaWebTvComune di Cesena
Hall’s Room
The last room recreates the atmosphere of the Grand Hotels’ Hall of the twentieth century. In these places there were, in fact, musical instruments that served as background: worth to be mentioned is the Violano Virtuoso, which was able to reproduce the sounds of two instruments at the same time: violin and piano.
Fair Organ’s Room
At the end of the path there is an enormous musical instrumental that used during country festivals in the squares: a fair organ which reproduces songs making us relive the atmosphere of the old fairs.
Villa Silvia by CesenaWebTvComune di Cesena
Villa Silvia (1700) by Conti Pasolini-ZanelliComune di Cesena
The interior of the Villa is not the relevant part of this beautiful place: consisting of a huge park, the exterior is provided with a sound path named “Giardino Letterario Parlante”, which guides the visitor discovering the history of the Villa, from its origins to personalities, the dramas, and passions of the Counts Pasolini-Zanelli and especially, the friendship that linked Countess Silvia to the poet Carducci.
Villa Silvia (1700) by Conti Pasolini-ZanelliComune di Cesena
The first part of the sound path is dedicated to the deepening of Countess Silvia’s figure. The noblewoman knew lot of pains in her life, how explains the narrator. The tuberculosis took away her three children: Paolo, Tiberio and Pietro Scipione. The loss of the eldest son, Piero Scipione, was the most painful for her because he was her favorite one.
Villa Silvia's garden (1700) by conti Pasolini-ZanelliComune di Cesena
The other figure to whom the story is dedicated is the one of the poet Carducci. It is narrated that the poet was very close to the Countess at the moment of the loss of her children. In the same way also the Countess was of great help to the poet: crushed by the weight of old age, he felt like a "lion that no longer roared."
Villa Silvia (1700) by Conti Pasolini-ZanelliComune di Cesena
Over time, attempts were made to ideally reconstruct the original features of the Villa Silvia’s park.
Before the end of the two wars, the Villa became an antitubercular sanatorium and later, school and playroom for children.
Villa Silvia's garden (1700) by conti Pasolini-ZanelliComune di Cesena
In addition to the magnificent garden on the side of the Villa, based on vintage photographs, was to be located the lemon house of the Counts and probably, on the opposite side, there should also be a maze of hedges and a pond.
Villa SilviaComune di Cesena
Giorgia Ferrani, Università di Bologna;
Mariasole Lega, Assessorato alla cultura;
Jessica Muka, Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo";
Museo Musicalia, Villa Silvia Carducci;
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