The so-called “Eremo dannunziano,” also known as the “Eremo delle Portelle” due to its location in Portelle (a charming hillside area in San Vito Chietino with a sea view, part of the Costa dei Trabocchi), owes its name to the stay of the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, who spent time there with Barbara Leoni in the summer of 1899. The house was chosen and recommended by the friend and painter Francesco Paolo Michetti for the particular beauty of the place. During this stay, D’Annunzio wrote Il Trionfo della Morte, a famous autobiographical narrative of his love for the woman, from their first meeting to the two months spent with her in the hermitage, which is carefully described in many parts of the work. Since 2009, the hermitage has hosted the tomb of Barbara Leoni.
Architecture: Used as D’Annunzio’s house-museum, the building is a rural house type, developed on two levels with an external staircase, reflecting the characteristics of typical 19th-century Abruzzo rural architecture. Clad in squared blocks of sandstone, the main façade, facing the small square, adopts the “neomedieval” style seen in public buildings of Lombard influence. The ground floor is porticoed; on the upper floor, the central section, slightly projecting in relation to the lateral parts, features a sequence of three full-arched openings providing access to the balcony.
