Mozart &
Material Culture

Souvenirs

Saint. According to the acts of her canonization, Rosa at the age of 3 allegedly raised to life her maternal aunt; at the age of 10 she is said to have communed with the Virgin Mary. She was admitted to the Franciscan Third Order but returned to her native Viterbo in 1250. Her remains were moved to the church of Santa Maria, Poggio, in 1257; she was canonized in 1457. 

St Rosa of Viterbo, anonymous engraving, nineteenth century

St Rosa of Viterbo, anonymous engraving, nineteenth century

Mozart Relevance

Mozart and his father visited Viterbo about 10 April 1770. Shortly after their arrival in Rome, Leopold wrote to his wife on 14 April: 

  1. I won`t bore you with a long description of our appalling journey here. Imagine only a largely uncultivated country and the most appalling inns, filth everywhere, nothing to eat except - if we were lucky - the occasional meal of eggs and broccoli: and sometimes they even made a fuss about giving us eggs on fast days. Fortunately we got a decent supper and slept well in Viterbo. While there we saw St Rosa of Viterbo of Viterbo - |: like St Catherine of Bologna in Bologna :| she can be seen in a perfectly preserved state. From the former we took away an ague powder and some relics as a souvenir, from the latter a belt.
Date 1
1223 circa, Viterbo
Date 2
1251-03-06, Viterbo
Bibliographic Reference
Cenci, 1981