Ernest Renan in Casamicciola

Who was Ernest Renan?

Ernest Renan (Tréguier 1823 – Paris 1892) was one of the most debated intellectuals of 19th-century Europe: a philologist, historian of religions and philosopher, he became famous with his Life of Jesus (1863). In the 1870s he chose Casamicciola, then an internationally renowned spa resort, as a place to rest and work.

Three stays in Casamicciola

1875: the first cure

Renan first came to Ischia in 1875 with his wife, Cornélie Scheffer, and stayed in Casamicciola to take the thermal baths.

1877: the Caliban spring

Two years later he returned for a new course of treatment, this time with his children Noémi and Ary as well. It was a long stay, in spring, during which Renan worked on the philosophical drama Caliban, a political reworking of the characters of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

1879: the Villa Zavota hotel

In August and September 1879 the Renan family was back in Casamicciola, staying at the Villa Zavota hotel, the “Belle Vue” on the Sentinella hill where Giuseppe Garibaldi had stayed in 1864. On that occasion his son Ary, a painter, made several drawings of the island.

Casamicciola, a magnet for European intellectuals

Renan's stays belong to the golden age of Casamicciola's spa tradition, when the hotels, villas and baths of Piazza Bagni welcomed guests from all over Europe. Before him had come Alphonse de Lamartine and, in 1867, Henrik Ibsen. For the background, read Casamicciola, a European spa resort.

What to see today

The Villa Zavota building, now known as Villa Parodi Delfino, stands in the Sentinella area, in the upper part of town. It is a private residence: you can see it from the outside on a walk that also takes in the area of the Geophysical Observatory and the sanctuary of the Immacolata.