ABSTRACT
When thinking about the houses of Goethe, our mind obviously goes to those buildings inhabited by Germany’s First Poet that have been transformed into places of commemoration. Apart from some inns and restaurants which claim to have given shelter to the poet on occasion of his numerous journeys in Germany, it’s the homes of Goethe in Frankfurt and Weimar that spring to our minds. And since May 1997 also the Casa di Goethe, the House of Goethe in Rome. This chapter focuses on the long, complex, and sometimes adventurous history of this memorial place, which is not only Germany’s first and only museum on foreign soil but also a Goethe Haus that in several ways is untypical and different from the other buildings associated with the poet. In fact, what the numerous visitors to the Casa di Goethe actually find when they first set foot in the rooms that once hosted Goethe’s Roman apartment is not what an average literary tourist might expect to find.
