The Museum of Love Letters is located in Torrevecchia Teatina, a municipality of just over 4 thousand souls in the province of Chieti (Abruzzo). Since 2011, the year of its inauguration, it has been housed inside Ducal Palace Valignani, dating back to the 700th century, in the central Piazza San Rocco. The idea of giving life to this singular museum, guardian of thoughts and words of love, was the Theatine poet and essayist Massimo Pamio and his wife, Giuseppina Verdoliva.
Before building the museum, the couple organized a international Love Letter competition, which still takes place annually today. Only later, due to the success of the prize, did they decide to identify a suitable place to welcome love letters and postcards from the past and present. The municipality of Torrevecchia Teatina contributed to this, making this building of great value and historical interest available.
Not just letters
The Museum of Love Letters houses letters from different eras, starting from the late nineteenth century. It is an unmissable place for all romantics and lovers. How much feeling there is inside those letters, how many stories to tell! Other jewels that enrich it are rare love postcards period, in black and white and hand painted by the most famous illustrators of the time. Of these, approximately 160 were donated by the collector Renato D'Amario.
A dedicated room was inaugurated in 2016 at Cartoline d'Amore d'Epoca. This innovative museum has the ability to involve visitors and represent love in its thousand faces, moving from mysticism to eroticism. The palace that houses it belonged to the marquis Federico Valignani, who lived from 1669 to 1754, who was a poet and man of letters. The inauguration of the museum took place on 9 August 2011, at the conclusion of the literary festival and in conjunction with the award ceremony of the related XI competition. The creator, Massimo Pamio, is also the director of the museum. In addition to the initial supply of letters which were admitted to the competition for over a decade, the structure also welcomed donations of letters of historical-literary importance or from private municipalities.
The Papaboys' donation
On 16 October 2013, a very precious donation arrived at the Museum of Love Letters from the Papaboys: the letters, messages and cards that faithful from all over the world had addressed to Pope John Paul II, from his election to the papal throne (16 October 1978) until his death (2 April 2005). Everything is kept in a special room named after him.
In the museum itinerary there is also a room in which the Love Letters come down from the ceiling, tied together like a sort of Fil rouge which connects in time and space the profound emotions aroused by Love. Another room is dedicated to the delicate theme of the correspondence of feelings and affections originating from Italian emigration to the New World.
The village
In addition to the Museum of Love Letters, the village of Torrevecchia Teatina is embellished by the artistic churches of the Madonna della Libera; of St. Joseph; of San Pasquale Baylon; of San Rocco. Here, lovers of gastronomy can appreciate the typical and tasty Abruzzo cuisine. Since 2004, the municipality has been home to the Leonardo da Vinci telematic University, legally recognized by the Italian state as an emanation (only online) of the Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti and Pescara.
(Photo: Palazzo Ducale Torrevecchia Teatina)
