"Rome is yet the capital of the world. It is a city of palaces and temples, more glorious than those which any other city contains, and of ruins more glorious than they."
Percy Bysshe Shelley to Thomas Love Peacock.
March 23 1819

Welcome to the web site of the Keats-Shelley House, Rome. Situated on the Spanish Steps, the house is part of Roman folklore. For generations Piazza di Spagna has been visited by architects, painters, musicians and poets who all lodged here. Tobias Smollett, George Eliot, Goethe, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, the Brownings, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde and Joyce were just a few of the many who were attracted and inspired by the celebrated 'centro storico'.

The exterior of the House is exactly as it was when John Keats travelled to Rome and spent what were to be the last few months of his life in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable effects of consumption. In addition to the extensive collection of paintings, objects and manuscripts celebrating the lives of Keats, Shelley and Byron, and our comprehensive library dedicated to the late British Romantic Poets, our collection includes a reliquary containing a lock of Milton and Elizabeth Barrett's hair, a manuscript and poem by Oscar Wilde, splendidly bound first editions and letters by Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Joseph Severn, Charles and Mary Cowden-Clarke.

Many thousands of people visit every year in tribute to Keats's genius, and that of Percy Bysshe Shelley, to whom the house is also dedicated.