Stendhal's House

A modest plaque on Via Aurelia Antica in the old quarter marks the house where the French novelist Stendhal lived and wrote The Charterhouse of Parma during his years as French consul in Civitavecchia. The building itself is unremarkable — just a small townhouse, not a museum — and there is nothing to see beyond the plaque.

But Civitavecchia is light on literary connections, and Stendhal is a serious one. A two-minute stop, in passing, en route between the cathedral and Piazza Leandra.

things to do sight
A story
Stendhal — Henri-Marie Beyle — was French consul in Civitavecchia from 1831 until his death in 1842 and disliked the place intensely, calling it "the loneliest hole on earth". He nonetheless wrote *La Chartreuse de Parme* here in just 52 days in 1838, dictated in a tearing hurry. He died in Paris on a visit and is buried in Montmartre, but the plaque on this building is the only marker of the time he spent here.