“River, that rollest by the ancient walls, Where dwells the Lady of my Love”.
So wrote Lord Byron in its work Stanzas to the Po. The river is, of course, the Po.
And the Lady of his Love is the young countess Teresa Guiccioli, born Teresa Gamba in 1800 and married in 1818 to the 60 year-old Count of Ravenna Alessandro Guiccioli.
Teresa and Byron met in the drawing room of Countess Benzoni in Venice, April 1819. Teresa arrived at Ca’ Zen when she was confined to the estate on the orders of her husband, as a punishment. Despite this, the Countess was able to send her letters to Byron through her faithful governess Fanny Silvestrini.
For Byron, Teresa would be his last great love and Ca’ Zen the setting for their everlasting devotion.
