Louise of Stolberg: Loves, Salons and Scandals in Eighteenth-Century Florence

Louise of Stolberg: Loves, Salons and Scandals in Eighteenth-Century Florence

At Palazzo Gianfigliazzi on Lungarno Corsini, Louise di Stolberg-Gedern, daughter of Prince Gustav Adolf of Stolberg-Gedern, resided. Born in Mons, Belgium, in 1752, Louise was raised in the Sainte-Waudru monastery and became a canoness at sixteen. State affairs, however, led her to Charles Edward Stuart, Count of Albany, the pretender to the English throne

The marriage was almost secretly arranged in Macerata, April 1772. The couple first settled in Rome and later, in 1774, in Florence. Louise's salon became the most distinguished in Italy, hosting notable figures like Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Canova, Byron, Tommaso Moore, and Ugo Foscolo.

Emilio Bertana, an Alfieri scholar, sees the relationship as the most complex psychological problem in the poet's life. He acknowledges Louise's superficial cultural refinement as a salon queen but questions her true virtue. Louise, seeking refuge from her husband's vulgarity, fled to a monastery in 1780. Cardinal Enrico di York, Charles Edward's brother, and Maria Antonietta intervened, granting her a pension for independence. In 1781, Louise moved to the Cancelleria Palace in Rome, where Alfieri joined her. The scandal forced Alfieri to leave Rome, and their cohabitation was short-lived.

Reuniting in Alsace in August 1784, the lovers stayed together until 1792, returning to Florence at Palazzo Gianfigliazzi, recreating their salon. Louise died in 1824, and François-Xavier Fabre, her universal heir, erected a monument in her memory at the Basilica di Santa Croce

ritratto della Contessa d'Albany di Francois-Xavier Fabre, 1793 ritratto della Contessa d’Albany di Francois-Xavier Fabre, 1793
Alfieri e la contessa d'Albany di Francois-Xavier Fabre, 1796 Alfieri e la contessa d’Albany di Francois-Xavier Fabre, 1796

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