The house is an example of XVI century rural architecture in the lowlands of the Po river: the roof is terracotta pantiles and there are a number of rooms on the ground and first floor, with a cellar, an attic, a pigsty, a well and an oven. Giuseppe Verdi, the paternal grandfather from whom the Maestro took his name rented it in 1790 and his son Carlo, the Maestro’s father, took over from him in 1807 and stayed there for 20 years.
Giuseppe Verdi was born in his parents’ bedroom at 8pm on 10th October 1813 and his birth was registered in French as the Municipality of Busseto was directly annexed to the French Empire at that time. The legend surrounding the Maestro’s birth concerns the festivities around the celebration of the patron Saint of the diocese of San Donnino and the activities of a group of travelling musicians who were performing inside the hostelry, so the future Maestro came into the world to a musical accompaniment. This was obviously very auspicious for the baby !
In 1872 Giuseppe Verdi tried to buy the property, together with the windmill behind it from the owner, Marquis Giuseppe Pallavicino of Parma. The amount offered was the remarkable sum of 22.000 lire and Verdi wanted to pull the house down as the constant pilgrimage of supporters and the simply curious really annoyed him. The Marquis refused and donated the property to the Municipality of Busseto so that it would stand as a monument to the musical genius of Verdi. This can be seen on the plaque on the front of the house. The second plaque was placed there in 1901 by the poor inhabitants of Le Roncole who had benefitted in Verdi’s will.