Island of Caprera: a visit to the house of Giuseppe Garibaldi

A simple building built in granite and whitewashed. The facade of the house faces west, and a filed portal opens in it. Also the structure of the building is simple: with a quadrangular plan, it is composed of successive rooms that develop around a central room. This is the home of Garibaldi, one of the places to see in Caprera.

And if your holiday in Sardinia will be around here, a visit is simply a must.

The House

Also called “White House”, there are several rooms that make up the house of Garibaldi in Caprera:

• The atrium, where a portrait of the Hero of the two worlds stands;
• The double bedroom;
• The bedroom of the son Manlio;
• The bedroom of the first daughter Clelia;
• The kitchen with the large stone fireplace;
• The so-called room of relics that collects paintings, clothes and various objects that belonged to Garibaldi;
• The living room, and next to it there is the room where the Hero of the two worlds died.

Crossing the rooms that make up the White House is a little like retracing the entire story of Giuseppe Garibaldi. In the rooms, in fact, paintings, clothes, weapons, objects of daily life, photographs, original furnishings, uniforms, furnishings are kept.

The garibaldino compendium

The house is part of the Garibaldino complex. It is a relatively large area, owned by the Italian State and used as a museum. The site collects and protects all the important places where Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of the two worlds, lived the last years of his life on the island of Caprera. In addition to the “White House”, the compendium also includes other buildings, always linked to the Hero of the two worlds: the first house of Garibaldi in Caprera, was built on a goatherd; the “iron house”, a sort of prefabricated building that Garibaldi used as a library; behind the “White House” there is a mill, an oven and the marble bust of Garibaldi.

The grave and the tree

From the central courtyard, we arrive at the small family cemetery where there is the tomb of Garibaldi, along with the burials of his last wife and children. While the large tree that stands out in the middle of the courtyard is “the tree of Clelia”: Garibaldi planted it in 1867, when his daughter Clelia was born.

How to get

To reach the house of Garibaldi, after having disembarked from the ferry to Golfo Aranci, just follow the signs to get to Caprera:

• Reach Palau (by car the distance is covered in a very short time);
• Take a new ferry towards La Maddalena;
• Drive along the Passo della moneta (the bridge connecting La Maddalena with the island of Caprera).

Immediately after the bridge, you will enter directly into the pine forest of Caprera and you will find all the indications to easily reach the house of Garibaldi.

Timetables and information

The Garibaldino compendium is open every day except Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.. Depending on the season, there may be variations to the opening hours. For more information, please refer to the official website of the garibaldino compendium, Compendiogaribaldino.it.

Image source: Di Daniel Ventura – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3873962