Via Alessandro Manzoni

Italiano

Via Alessandro Manzoni is a street in the historic center of Barzio in Valsassina, where Palazzo Manzoni is located, a building once inhabited by the ancestors of the famous novelist of The Betrothed, from whom the street takes its name. Palazzo Manzoni houses the town hall and the municipal library. Via Alessandro Manzoni is narrow and short, only fifty meters long, and intersects with Piazza Garibaldi, the heart of the town;[^][^] traffic is one-way towards the square.[^] It should be noted that in Barzio there are five other Manzoni streets: Via Achille Manzoni, Via Ing. Angelo Manzoni, Via Ercole Manzoni, Via Francesca Manzoni and Via Ippolito Manzoni, all of which are unrelated to the famous Lombard writer.

Description

Via Alessandro Manzoni branches off north from the uphill side of Piazza Garibaldi on a slight slope. The road surface is paved with cobblestones. A vehicle can barely fit between the wall of the Marocco Sport building and the one uphill.[^] The sports shop has a door and windows on the ground floor and first floor that open onto Via Manzoni 1, on the white wall of which at the top is attached the street sign Via Alessandro Manzoni writer and poet 1785 - 1873.[^] At number 3, a door and on the wall a small panel of the Madonna and Child with the inscription Mater, which does not go unnoticed for its artistic quality.[^]

In the buildings above, beyond the door of number 2, you'll be surprised to find two shop windows with the post office. Poste Italiane moved its historic headquarters at Piazza Garibaldi 5 to the shop next door, from a square to a street, at Via Alessandro Manzoni 4, on July 1, 2013. The Poste Italiane office in Barzio - Via Alessandro Manzoni, as it is written on the sliding door,[^] is open every other day, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 8:20 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.; on Saturdays, it closes at 12:45 p.m.; telephone number 0341 996313. Next to the post office, at Via Alessandro Manzoni 6, a recess with two more shop windows houses the Dimore di Barbara Locatelli real estate agency; telephone number 347 9121986.[^] After a courtyard, with some parked cars, in the three-story yellow house in Via Alessandro Manzoni 10 there is the glass door of the Bakery, as it is written on a vertical sign,[^] run since 2012 by the Aldeni family, originally from Ponte San Pietro. The bakery, which produces its own bread, is located at number 8. The owner is Angelo, and his wife, Anna, a down-to-earth and generous woman, serves. The pane all'acqua, water bread, sold in two sizes, small and large, is delicious and sells out early in the morning, many people reserve it by calling 0341 996256, the raisin bread is also excellent. The counter features pasticciotti, numerous pizzas, mini pizzas, and focaccias, while tartlets, strudels, and cabiadini are available on the side.

At the corner, finally, about thirty meters away from the square, here is Palazzo Manzoni, externally it is only one floor high, the wall is painted pink. Here, the road flattens out, while to the right, Via Paolo Scandella rises. The entrance is through a wooden door framed by a fine portal and two steps, which narrow the road to vehicles, which is only 3.5 meters at its widest point. On either side of the door are three plaques, one summarizing its past history: Palazzo of Pasino Manzoni. The first of the Manzoni residences, it was inhabited in the late 16th century by its founder Giacomo Manzoni ..., and two for the current one, Town Hall and Municipal Library. Indeed, on the first floor is the town hall of Comune di Barzio,[^] the library is on the second floor. On the facade, but higher up on a gray background, to the left of the main entrance, hangs a medallion with the face of a man with a plaque to the right: To Tranquillo Baruffaldi, champion of Valsassina virtue among the Thousand, the mentors of the valley here in the house where he was born, XX September MCMVIII. The Baruffaldi family lived in the building from the 19th century until 1972. In front of the entrance to Palazzo Manzoni, there is a white-striped parking lot for four cars with a maximum stay of 30 minutes, bordered by the passage at number 7 of an old wooden door and that of number 9; the buildings are ground-floor only.[^]

Walking along Palazzo Manzoni, hindered by the passage of vehicles that are allowed into the square, I note the four large windows of the valuable Civic Hall of the palace that once belonged to the Manzoni family, a venue for cultural and institutional meetings. Opposite, after the parking lot, a staircase leads down to Via Giovenale Sacchi, at whose intersection is Bar Zio. On the pink wall of Palazzo Manzoni, however, is the plaque Via T. Baruffaldi; from Piazza Garibaldi, I walked only fifty meters.

History

The narrow street, named in 1886 after the author of The Betrothed and other works of great literary, religious, moral and historical significance, was for centuries the town's main artery to Introbio, the valley floor and Lecco, a natural continuation of the road to Cremeno through Piazza Comunale. Today's Via Alessandro Manzoni and Via Tranquillo Baruffaldi once formed the 115.80-meter-long Contrada della Piazza. It's no coincidence that this street is home to two of the town's most iconic buildings: Palazzo Manzoni, dating from the late 16th century, and the church of San Giovanni Battista, rebuilt in the 17th century, but no longer a place of religious worship for about a hundred years.[^] Over time, the village expanded, and other roads were built to cross it or lead down into the valley. The street remained the natural connection from the square to the village cemetery at Robiasca, and from the 1960s to the departure station of the Barzio-Piani di Bobbio cable car. In the first decade of the new cableway, before the opening of Via Todeschini, the main road was precisely the inadequate space of Via Manzoni, with alternating traffic regulated by traffic lights, one of which was at the intersection of Piazza Garibaldi, a memory of which remains alive among the Barzio residents and vacationers of no longer young age. Today, the street is the shortest walking route from the square to the cable car.

Alessandro Manzoni

Alessandro Manzoni was an Italian writer, poet, playwright, and philosopher, born in Milan on March 7, 1785, and died in Milan on May 22, 1873. He is considered one of the greatest novelists of all time for his famous novel The Betrothed and author of other morally and civilly committed works typical of the Enlightenment and of a Catholic believer.

The Betrothed

The protagonists of The Betrothed are two young people from the people, Renzo and Lucia from Lecco, in that branch of the Lake of Como. The lord who governs, the overbearing Don Rodrigo, bets on making the girl his own, a game started by the provocation of his cousin, Count Attilio; through the Bravi, men-at-arms, he threatens the curate Don Abbondio, who must marry them, that this marriage will not take place, not tomorrow, not ever. The realism of the characters, The realism of the characters, the depth of the themes, in which the unfathomable divine grace operates in a Christian manner in human history through Providence, or God's benevolence, and the language, which marks a fundamental shift towards a more modern Italian, are some of the elements that make it appreciated by readers of all ages. The Betrothed is the first example of a historical novel, that is, based on rigorous historical research. It is set between 1628 and 1630, when a plague epidemic broke out in Lombardy during the Spanish government; the novel shows the political illusory nature of foreign domination, the corruption and inefficiency of the judicial system; just when the Austrians were ruling Milan at the time Manzoni wrote it.[^]

In chapter XXIX of the novel, the lansquenets, called by the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg to fight in the War of Succession of Mantua, descend from Colico and Bellano passing through Valsassina: They are coming; there are thirty, there are forty, there are fifty thousand; they are devils, they are Arians, they are antichrists; they have sacked Cortenuova; they have set fire to Primaluna: they are devastating Introbbio, Pasturo, Barsio; they have reached Balabbio; Barsio is the ancient toponym of Barzio. Agnese, Lucia's mother, is from Pasturo, where she takes refuge to escape the plague; Renzo reaches her toward the end of the novel to tell her that her daughter is alive at the Lazzaretto in Milan.

I eagerly reread The Betrothed in the summer of 2023, marking the 150th anniversary of the writer's death. I was captivated by the beautiful story, set in my region, and it seems to me that it was the wisdom of the Gospel that inspired it in the profound thinker. It would have been unfortunate if it had remained unknown, as Manzoni wrote in the introduction, pretending to transcribe it into more understandable Italian from a seventeenth-century manuscript.

Life

Alessandro was the son of Pietro Manzoni and Giulia Beccaria. Manzoni was a noble family who lived in Caleotto di Lecco, originally from Barzio in Valsassina, while Giulia was the daughter of Cesare Beccaria, an illustrious jurist, author of the treatise Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crimes and Punishments), which Manzoni used in his Storia della Colonna Infame (History of the Column of Infamy). There was a twenty-six-year age difference between the Manzonis; the marriage failed, and they separated a few years later. Alessandro's real father was most likely Giovanni Verri, with whom Giulia had been having an affair even before they married, but who broke it off after the birth of their child. Giovanni was the brother of Pietro Verri, one of the leading figures of the Italian Enlightenment and the author of Osservazioni sulla tortura (Observations on Torture), one of the sources on justice that shaped Alessandro's thinking.

Alessandro studied at Catholic institutions, for five years at the San Bartolomeo dei Somaschi college in Merate, then at the Sant'Antonio college in Lugano, and finally at the Longone college in Milan, run by the Barnabites. In 1805, Alessandro moved to Paris with his mother, Giulia, after she had widowed Carlo Imbonati, who she had married as a second husband.
In 1807, in Blevio, he met Enrichetta Blondel for the first time, captivated by the sweetness and grace of the young woman, the daughter of a Genevan banker who lived in Milan. In 1808, in the French capital, Alessandro married Enrichetta in a Calvinist rite, his wife's religion. Alessandro developed his Christian faith, which over time made him a fervent believer. Enrichetta converted to Catholicism. The following year, after a plea to Pope Pius VII, they were able to marry in a Catholic ceremony. Their firstborn, Giulia, was born in Paris. In 1810, Alessandro and his wife returned permanently to Milan, where in 1813 they bought the house at Via del Morone 1, where they would live the rest of their lives. In 1807, his father Pietro died, and the writer inherited the villa in Caleotto, where he spent his summer holidays as a student, which he sold in 1818.[^]

Family life was happy and fruitful, with the birth of nine more children: Luigia (1811), but she dies at birth, Pietro Luigi (1813), Cristina (1815), Sofia (1817), Enrico (1819), Clara (1821) who died at the age of two, Vittoria (1822), Filippo (1826), Matilde (1830), and coincides with his creative period. Manzoni led a secluded life, devoted to his studies and literary interests, to caring for his family and cultivating close friendships; in daily life he conversed mainly in the Milanese dialect. He lived in the house in the centre of Milan and in the summer in Villa Brusuglio in Cormano, with his large family and his mother Giulia, who had inherited the villa from Imbonati; here the novelist devoted himself to botany.
Upon Napoleon's death in 1821, he wrote the ode Il cinque maggio (The Fifth of May); in the same year, he began Fermo e Lucia, the novel that would make him famous under another name. The Betrothed was published between 1825 and 1827. Dissatisfied with his work, after a stay in Florence, he rewrote the novel in a more modern style; the new draft was published between 1840 and 1842.

The quiet world of family affection that had helped Manzoni's human, literary and religious inspiration was shattered on Christmas Day 1833 by the death of his beloved Enrichetta after an illness, which was followed the following year by the death of his dear first daughter Giulietta. Three years later, in 1836, Alessandro remarried the widow Teresa Borri di Brivio, who was introduced to him by Tommaso Grossi, the writer from Bellano, after he saw his friend falling into melancholy. Teresa had a son named Stefano, with whom Alessandro had a wonderful relationship. In 1845, Teresa gave birth to twins, who died on the same day, and she fell ill. His second wife was protective of her husband, but her strong character brought her into conflict with the writer's mother and her young children. Giulia left home, as did her older children, who married; the younger ones went to boarding school. The following years of Don Lisander, as Alessandro Manzoni was revered by the Milanese, were marked by a series of bereavements, with the deaths of Cristina and her mother Giulia (1841), Sofia (1845), Matilde (1856), and his wife Teresa (1861). From 1860, he was a senator of the Kingdom of Italy.

On the afternoon of May 22, 1873, Alessandro Manzoni died at the age of 88 in his home from a head injury sustained in a fall on the steps of the Church of San Fedele on January 6. A month before his death, he learned of the death of his eldest son, Pier Luigi. On May 29, the funeral took place in the Cathedral, with a never-ending crowd taking part in the funeral procession from Piazza del Duomo to the Monumental Cemetery. The remains of the greatest Italian man of letters were transferred to the Famedio in 1883, where they remain to this day.[^]

References

1. Mauro Vezzoli (2 June 2005- ). "Via Alessandro Manzoni". [Google Photos album]. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
2. Mauro Vezzoli. "Via Alessandro Manzoni". [Flickr album]. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
3. Mauro Vezzoli (6 September 2025). "Walking along Via Alessandro Manzoni in Barzio is no walk in the park, as cars are still driving along the narrow street in the direction of Piazza Garibaldi in 2025.". In Centro storico di Barzio, Estate, In giro per Barzio and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos video]. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
4. Mauro Vezzoli (23 August 2025). "Via Alessandro Manzoni from the square with the street signs on the corner. No entry, turn left because the narrow street is one-way downhill.". In Centro storico di Barzio, Estate, In giro per Barzio, Piazza Garibaldi and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
5. Mauro Vezzoli (6 September 2025). "A street sign for Via Alessandro Manzoni, Writer and Poet 1785-1873, is located on a high white wall near the intersection with Piazza Garibaldi. The street is home to the building that belonged to the ancestors of the famous author of The Betrothed.". In Centro storico di Barzio, Estate and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
6. Mauro Vezzoli (25 August 2013). "Via Alessandro Manzoni 3 with the Mater tile.". In Centro storico di Barzio, Estate, In giro per Barzio and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
7. Mauro Vezzoli (25 October 2025). "The two windows of Poste Italiane Barzio on Via Alessandro Manzoni with the new postamat.". In Centro storico di Barzio and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
8. "Agenzia Immobiliare Dimore di Barbara Locatelli". dimorebarzio.it. (in Italian). Retrieved 23 August 2025.
9. Mauro Vezzoli (6 September 2025). "Bakery on Via Alessandro Manzoni in Barzio. The water bread I buy every morning from Anna at Panificio Aldeni is fragrant and delicious.". In Centro storico di Barzio, Estate and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
10. "Comune di Barzio". www.comune.barzio.lc.it. (in Italian). Retrieved 23 August 2025.
11. Mauro Vezzoli (25 August 2013). "Free parking for four spaces, valid for thirty minutes, in front of the town hall.". In Centro storico di Barzio, Estate, In giro per Barzio and Via Alessandro Manzoni. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
12. Oriani, Federico (July 2015). "Via Alessandro Manzoni.". In 2 - Viabilità urbana barziese [2 - Urban roads of Barzio]. Le strade di Barzio, trasformazioni e denominazioni tra Sette e Novecento [The streets of Barzio, transformations and denominations between Eighteenth and Twentieth Century] [PDF File] (in Italian). Comune di Barzio. pp. 40-41. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
13. "The Betrothed". Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
14. "Alessandro Manzoni". Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
15. Redemagni, Paola (25 April 2023). "Funerali di Alessandro Manzoni [Funeral of Alessandro Manzoni]". Storie di cimiteri [Stories of cemeteries]. Retrieved 23 August 2025.