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Books, Autographs & Prints

Tuesday 24 June 2025 e Wednesday 25 June 2025, 03:30 PM • Rome

353

Verdi, Giuseppe

Autograph letter with signature, 1859

Estimate

€ 2.500 - 3.000

Sold

€ 3.354

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Autographed and signed letter by Giuseppe Verdi, 135 x 210 mm. dated Parma 11 September 1859 and addressed to Mr. Luigi Bezzi, Albergo del Canaletto, Parma. Written only on the first recto sheet. The second verso sheet contains the name and address of the recipient, the stamp and the sealing wax. The rare stamp is the 20 centesimi blue imperforate of the Provisional Government of Parma issued in 1859. When Maria Luisa of Bourbon fled Parma, the capital of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, in 1859, she was replaced by a governor appointed by Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, King of Sardinia, who introduced Sardinian stamps in place of those of Parma on 1 August. This seemed to herald an imminent annexation of Parma to Sardinia, but Napoleon III prevented it. The Sardinian stamps could no longer be used and the government decided to adopt a provisional issue that reported, inside a curved octagon, the simple wording “Stati di Parma” together with the value. Traces of folding, some small marginal tears, but well preserved.


Specialist Notes

Beautiful domestic letter from Verdi, who writes from Parma to a certain Luigi Bezzi, presumably the owner of an inn in the Duchy of Modena and Reggio Emilia called Albergo del Canaletto, asking him to receive a “zampetto di Modena”, a sort of boiled salami made from pork, lard and rind typical of Modena, today called zampone. It seems that Bezzi was the supplier of zampone for Verdi, since the latter promised to pay this time too for what Bezzi had brought him in the spring and had forgotten to pay.

Giuseppe Verdi, one of the most famous composers of all time, had a farm in his hometown near Parma and, despite his frequent travels and tours, he always tried to personally take care of the management of the company, being a lover of quality products and good food, just like his colleague Gioacchino Rossini.

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