Lord Byron's Life in Italy

Book excerpt: Lord Byron's Life in Italy is an English translation of Vie de Lord Byron en Italie by Byron's Italian friend Teresa Guiccioli, the manuscript of which has lain in Ravenna since the early 1880s, and which has never-been published, or even read except by a small number of scholars. Teresa Guiccioli was the poet's last mistress, his liaison with whom was of longer duration than any other. They met in 1819, and their relationship lasted until he left Italy for Greece in 1823. Persecuted by the authorities because of the friendship with such a dangerous man, Teresa's family had to move from Ravenna to Pisa and finally to Genoa. Teresa knew Byron better, probably, than any other person, and her fresh and original account of his life has been unknown for too long. This superb translation, with elaborate introduction and notes, fills a long-acknowledged gap in studies of Byron. Michael Rees is a past joint chair of the Byron Society. Peter Cochran is the editor of the Newstead Abbey Byron Society Review.