The Rome Index
Keats-Shelley House
Where Keats died in 1821 — a small, moving museum at the foot of the Spanish Steps.
What it is
John Keats came to Rome in 1820 hoping the warmer climate would improve his tuberculosis. He died in the apartment at the foot of the Spanish Steps in February 1821, aged 25. The rooms are preserved as a memorial and literary museum, containing manuscripts, letters and portraits connected to the second-generation Romantic poets.
The collection
Letters between Keats and Fanny Brawne, a lock of Milton's hair, a cast of Keats's hand and face made after death, and editions of Shelley and Byron alongside correspondence between all three poets in Rome.
Why it's worth visiting
Small, quiet, and deeply specific — a complete contrast to the overwhelming scale of most Roman sights. The view from the window over the Spanish Steps is exactly what Keats saw in his last months.
A death chamber preserved
The room where Keats died in 1821, aged 25, is preserved as close to original as possible, given Italian law at the time required the room's furnishings to be burned as a health precaution.
The wider Romantic circle connection
The museum's collection extends beyond Keats to Shelley, Byron and their wider circle — letters and manuscripts give a genuinely intimate window into this literary generation's relationship with Rome.
