IV
The Genius’s haven
"You can die more than once. It is the grave that is but one for each man."
Camilo Castelo Branco
In the winter of 1863, Camilo and his irregular family settled in São Miguel de Seide, in the house of Pinheiro Alves, Ana Plácido's husband, after his death.
The final 25 years of his life were spent, with great constancy, in the house and farm of this village in Minho.
Alongside the dramas of his novel characters, Camilo experienced a succession of dramas that would wound him to the core of his soul: the death and suicide of very close friends; Jorge's dementia; Nuno's follies; the death of Manuel Plácido, Ana Plácido's son; the death of a granddaughter; and the progressive loss of his sight until his blindness.
Casa de Camilo’s details
(Exterior)
Casa de Camilo’s
details (Interior)
King Luís awarded him the title of "Viscount of Correia Botelho" in 1885. It may have been a vain honour that didn't appease his vanity. But it certainly guaranteed Jorge, his demented son, a more secure future and one less prone to destitution. That was also why, in 1888, he formalised his marriage to Ana Plácido.
Unable to read and write, the most important reasons for his happiness, he shot himself with a revolver.
The suicide revolver
He used this weapon to end his life. The reasons are unfathomable, although the act is attributed to his inability to read and write and, above all, to his lack of hope.
Camilo's House
A major altar of Portuguese Literature, where the life and work of one of the greatest creative geniuses of Portuguese Literature of all time is evoked.
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