Description
The Casa del Rigoletto is the medieval house on Piazza Sordello, in Mantua, behind the cathedral and a stone's throw from the Castle of San Giorgio, which tradition assigns to the court jester of Verdi's opera: an invented character with a real address.
For the premiere of Rigoletto, in 1851, the stage set was designed on this very house. The libretto places it "at the most deserted end of a blind alley": today the square is open and airy, but until the early 20th century this corner really was dark and secluded.
At the time a building joined the Palazzo Ducale to the cathedral and closed off a narrow, deserted little square known as the piazzetta della legna. Living a few steps from the palace was, after all, ideal for a jester in the service of the Gonzagas.
From the square you can see the walled courtyard with its double loggia: below, round arches on marble columns; above, a flower-filled small loggia that opera lovers call "Gilda's balcony", after Rigoletto's daughter.
In the little garden stands the bronze statue of Rigoletto, by Aldo Falchi, placed here in 1978. At the entrance, under the portico, two small 13th-century marble columns may come from a cloister of the canons' house.
The living quarters date from the 12th century, while the loggia and portico are from the 15th. The 1976-77 restoration showed that the outer walls, on Vicolo Gallo, were part of a defensive ring around the city, with the typical medieval masonry of pebbles and bricks.
For centuries the Chapter let the house to the cathedral canons. One of them left his mark: the coat of arms with the monogram of the Arrivabene family, painted in the frescoes, carved on two capitals and repeated on the wooden ceiling, suggests that a canon from this family commissioned the renovation.
Old maps hold another surprise: the main entrance was probably on Piazza Canonica, and the side facing Piazza Sordello was the back of the house.
For the premiere of Rigoletto, in 1851, the stage set was designed on this very house. The libretto places it "at the most deserted end of a blind alley": today the square is open and airy, but until the early 20th century this corner really was dark and secluded.
At the time a building joined the Palazzo Ducale to the cathedral and closed off a narrow, deserted little square known as the piazzetta della legna. Living a few steps from the palace was, after all, ideal for a jester in the service of the Gonzagas.
From the square you can see the walled courtyard with its double loggia: below, round arches on marble columns; above, a flower-filled small loggia that opera lovers call "Gilda's balcony", after Rigoletto's daughter.
In the little garden stands the bronze statue of Rigoletto, by Aldo Falchi, placed here in 1978. At the entrance, under the portico, two small 13th-century marble columns may come from a cloister of the canons' house.
The living quarters date from the 12th century, while the loggia and portico are from the 15th. The 1976-77 restoration showed that the outer walls, on Vicolo Gallo, were part of a defensive ring around the city, with the typical medieval masonry of pebbles and bricks.
For centuries the Chapter let the house to the cathedral canons. One of them left his mark: the coat of arms with the monogram of the Arrivabene family, painted in the frescoes, carved on two capitals and repeated on the wooden ceiling, suggests that a canon from this family commissioned the renovation.
Old maps hold another surprise: the main entrance was probably on Piazza Canonica, and the side facing Piazza Sordello was the back of the house.