When Johann Wolfgang Goethe arrived in Rome in 1786, he was already a world-famous writer, thanks to his “Werther,” but not yet that undisputed genius of the “Elective Affinities” or of the invention of the concept of world literature.
Certainly – as we know from chronicles of the day – Goethe’s “Italian Journey,” which took him to Rome for two years, was not only a stay of pleasure, but rather a rebirth: “In Rome I first found myself. For the first time, I achieved inner harmony; I was happy and reasonable…”
He was almost forty years old when he arrived in the Capital, between 1786 and 1788, and resided with the German painter, Johann Heinrich Tischbein, in his house in Via del Corso.
Goethe’s stay in Rome made it possible for him to leave an indelible mark on the Eternal City.
We will now begin a journey through the artist’s most beloved places, starting from his home, which has now become a museum called the “Casa di Goethe,” a well-known tourist destination still found at Via del Corso 18.
The monumental staircase of Trinità dei Monti (135 steps) must have been a usual route for Goethe, leading him up to the Church of Trinità dei Monti from which he could admire the beautiful view below.
From Piazza di Spagna to the Caffè Greco, from the Trevi Fountain to the Quirinale, Goethe loved to stroll through these places, pursuing a path of ideal beauty which he usually loved to finish at Villa Medici.
Located in Via Condotti 86, the Antico Caffè Greco is one of the Capital’s historic cafés, opened in 1760 by a Greek. This was for Goethe a place for social encounters, just a few steps from his home, where he loved to linger over lengthy Italian breakfasts.
Palazzo Montecitorio and Piazza del Quirinale were two places where Goethe loved to go for a stroll with his friend, the painter Tischbein. Every time he walked in the square, the author was fascinated by it: “The piazza before the palace has something altogether singular, so irregular is it, and yet so grand and so beautiful! I now cast eyes upon the Colossuses [the statues of Castor and Pollux]!”
As we read in “Italian Journey” Goethe not only loved the eternal city – “There is only one Rome in the world. Here I feel like a fish in the water […]” – but also the trips out-of-town that led him into the green Roman countryside – “[…] on the hills of Albano, Castello and Frascati, where I spent three days last week, the air is always limpid and pure. There is a nature for you which is worth studying!”