Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy villas

Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy villas were two Roman villas owned by Pliny the Younger in the 1st century. They were on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. Pliny had several villas on Lake Como. He wrote to his friend Voconius Romanus that the Comedy villa and the Tragedy villa were his two favorites. In Italy, the villas are called Villa Commedia and Villa Tragedia. In Italian, "commedia" means "comedy" and "tragedia" means "tragedy".^[1]

Villa Commedia is built in the more baiano style, that is, as they used to build in Baia, on the Gulf of Pozzuoli, where the heights allow such an arrangement

— Pliny the Younger

Villa Jovis, imaginäre Rekonstruktion einer antiken römischen Villa

In his letter to Voconius Romanus Pliny also wrote that the Tragedy villa was on a hill above the lake but that the Comedy villa was right on the water's edge. Their names come from the theatre of ancient Greece and Rome. Pliny said that the villa on the hill was like the actors in tragedies who wore platform boots. He named that villa "Tragedy". The villa down by the water was like the actors in comedies who wore flat slippers. He named that villa "Comedy". Both villas were destroyed long ago. No one is sure exactly where they stood.^[2][3]

Most people think that the Tragedy villa was in Bellagio, a small town on Lake Como.^[4] People are less sure where the Comedy villa was. The historian Paolo Giovio (1483-1552) thought that by the 16th century the Comedy villa was under the water of Lake Como near the village of Lenno. The geographer Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) also wrote that the Comedy villa was in Lenno.^[2][5] But in 1876 a Roman mosaic floor and many Roman coins were found in Lierna, another small town on Lake Como. Many people there now think that the mosaic floor was part of the Comedy villa. In the early 20th century the French geographer Élisée Reclus wrote that Lierna was the site of one of Pliny's villas, but he did not say which one.^[6][7]

In 1751 John Boyle, 5th Earl of Orrery, published his English translation of Pliny's letters. The letter to Voconius Romanus describing the Comedy and Tragedy villas was illustrated with an imaginary picture of the Comedy villa drawn by Samuel Wale. The art historian Pierre de la Ruffinière du Prey, has said that the villa in Wale's drawing looks like Alexander Pope's villa on the River Thames in London. Alexander Pope was a friend of John Boyle.^[3] Pliny's own description of the Comedy villa in his letter said that its terrace was gently curved like the shore of the lake. He could fish directly from his bedroom window. He said that lying in his bed at the Comedy villa was like lying in a fishing boat on the lake.^[1]

Villa Commedia and Don Abbondio's House

"There stood a villa with a long tree-lined avenue, and with a gentle curve it overlooked a single gulf (the one on the Varenna side)… At the base of the villa, the sedan-chair promenade extended along a long straight stretch by the lakeshore; and beneath it, one could cast a long fishing rod from one's room, and at times even from one's bed, as from a boat."

The description of Villa Commedia, located on Lake Como, appears to have inspired the famous house of Don Abbondio in I promessi sposi. Alessandro Manzoni takes this image of a lakeside residence and reworks it in a symbolic and narrative way.

In the first chapter of the novel, Manzoni begins with the renowned description of the "branch of Lake Como" and then introduces — inspired by that landscape — Don Abbondio's house. It is not a real place, but a literary space constructed to make the character’s inner condition visible and concrete: a serene and everyday environment, reflecting his calm and timid nature, which contrasts with the tensions and conflicts of the story about to unfold.

The subsequent, more detailed description seems to refer to the caretaker’s house of the villa: "There stood a small house, or rather, a little villa, with a small courtyard in front and a garden on one side, situated right in the middle of the slope, where the road began to curve, with the mountain on one side and a cliff on the other. [...] The house faced south, and was located in a spot where the view opened over a stretch of the lake, closed at the end by two mountains that seemed to come together, leaving a glimpse of the opposite shore, distant, blurred, almost suspended in the air."

• Its position on the slope, somewhat secluded and protected but also exposed, mirrors Don Abbondio's character: a man who seeks safety but cannot completely escape the pressures of the outside world.
• The lake view introduces the aesthetic and contemplative dimension typical of Manzoni’s landscapes, contrasting the beauty and calm of nature with the fear and weakness of the protagonist.

Geographical location and inspiration

Manzoni describes "a small house… with a view over a stretch of the lake, closed at the end by two mountains that seemed to come together, leaving a glimpse of the opposite shore, distant…". This view corresponds remarkably well with the lake’s formation in the Lierna area, on the eastern branch of Lake Como:

• The town is located opposite Varenna;
• It features a sloping stretch with a view of the gulf;
• From there, the opposite shore appears to "come together," as in Manzoni’s passage.

Several modern and local scholars have identified Lierna as the geographically most coherent location for Don Abbondio's house, suggesting that Manzoni may have been inspired by these places to construct the opening setting of the novel.

Links

• Villa Pini (Lake Como)