Museo Hermann Hesse Montagnola: “Important cultural site in the canton of Ticino”
The Museo Hermann Hesse Montagnola is today considered one of the most important addresses for Hesse admirers and literature lovers worldwide.
In 1997, on the occasion of Hermann Hesse’s 120th birthday, the Hermann Hesse Museum was opened in the Torre Camuzzi in Montagnola. The Museum came into being as a result of a private initiative. The Fondazione Hermann Hesse Montagnola was established on 1 January 2000 with the aim of preserving and promoting the legacy of the writer and Nobel Prize laureate Hermann Hesse. To this end, it operates and manages the Hermann Hesse Museum in Montagnola and supports its ongoing development. Today, the Fondazione Hermann Hesse Montagnola is presided over by Marc Andreae.
Born in Calw in 1877, Hermann Hesse already aspired to a career as a writer from a young age. At the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for military service in Germany, but was deemed unfit. Deeply shaken by the war, he became an outspoken pacifist and opponent of war. His first newspaper appeal opposing the war appeared in November 1914 in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. After separating from his first wife, he found refuge in the Casa Camuzzi in idyllic Montagnola in 1919. There he began to capture the landscape of the Collina d’Oro in numerous watercolour paintings. In 1931, the Casa Rossa in Montagnola became his new home. His literary work during this period secured him an enduring place in world literature and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Hermann Hesse died in Montagnola in 1962.
The Foundation and the Museum strive to bring the work and life of Hermann Hesse closer to a broad audience and to promote cultural diversity in the region. The permanent exhibition and the numerous activities and events are the fruit of a dedicated collaboration between the Foundation board, the Museum team, the Hesse family, and the patrons, partners and friends of the Museum and the municipality of Collina d’Oro. The Museum has, since the beginning of 2023, a new director, Marcel Henry, after a long and successful directorship by Regina Bucher.
With its ongoing commitment to bringing the life and work of Hermann Hesse closer to the general public and to promoting cultural diversity in the region, with 10,000 and 15,000 visitors the Museum has become an important cultural venue in the canton of Ticino.