The Casa del sarto is the building in the Chiuso district of Lecco that, according to the Manzoni tradition, sheltered Lucia after her release by the Unnamed; since 2023 it has been a lodging.
In the novel
In chapter XXIV Lucia, abducted and held at the Unnamed’s castle, regains her freedom when the Unnamed converts after his talk with Cardinal Federigo Borromeo. With Don Abbondio and a good woman sent by the village priest, Lucia is taken to the village and put up in the tailor’s house, where she meets her mother Agnese (Wikipedia). In the first draft, “Fermo e Lucia”, the priest is identified with the blessed Serafino Morazzone and the village with Chiuso (La Provincia, 13 February 2023). For Lecco Tourism the house is at the corner of via Bellini and via del Sarto; Chiuso is also the district where tradition places the meeting between the Unnamed and the cardinal, in the church of San Giovanni Battista known as that of Blessed Serafino.
The building
It is a seventeenth-century house with a stone portal (Wikipedia). Lecco News tells that a small plaque recalls the passage of “The Betrothed” and that, at the time of the article, the house was being restored. After the renovation it was inaugurated on 11 February 2023 as a non-hotel lodging, with four apartments and six rooms, run by two young people who said they wanted to join the Manzoni itineraries and open to the public on event days, such as the Manzoni walk (Prima Lecco, 11 February 2023; La Provincia, 13 February 2023).
The address
The sources do not agree: via Vincenzo Bellini 8 for Wikipedia and Prima Lecco; via del Sarto 17 for Wikivoyage; at the corner of via Bellini and via del Sarto for Lecco Tourism.
Practical information
- Lecco Tourism warns that many places in the novel are private buildings visible only from outside. The Casa del sarto is now a private lodging and we have not found official rules for visiting.
- The lodging has the same name as the house; for any openings to the public on Manzoni days we have not found an official calendar.
- Nearby: the church of San Giovanni Battista and, in Vercurago, the Castello dell’Innominato. It is part of Lecco Tourism’s Manzoni itinerary and can be combined with the Manzoni’s Lecco itinerary.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Casa del sarto
- Prima Lecco, «La Casa del Sarto riapre finalmente le sue porte» (11 February 2023)
- La Provincia di Lecco, «La Casa del sarto. Dopo il restauro accoglie i turisti» (13 February 2023)
- Lecco News, column «Sulle strade di Lecco: via del Sarto a Chiuso»
- Lecco Tourism, Manzoni itinerary
- Wikivoyage, Luoghi manzoniani (address and coordinates)