The final phase of his life was marked by his poor state of health. Blindness and the gradual inability to read and write caused him great dismay and he ended up committing suicide on 1 June 1890.Ĭommitted to valuing Camilo's life and work, Póvoa de Varzim is now a member of the Association of Camillian Lands, which promotes strategies to promote and preserve the Camillian architectural and literary heritage of the lands where the novelist lived and about which he wrote.īorn in Aver-O-Mar, Póvoa de Varzim, on 13 August 1827, he died in Lisbon on 4 November 1891. In the last 26 years of his life, while residing in the village of Seide, in Vila Nova de Famalicão, the novelist regularly visited the city of Póvoa de Varzim, where he met important cultural and political personalities, including Francisco Gomes de Amorim, Father Sena Freitas and Bernardino Machado. He wrote some of his works in the city, indulged in nightlife amusements and lost money at the roulette wheel. The geography of his life and work is umbilically linked to various locations in Portugal, particularly the North Region. 'Amor de Perdição', a seminal work of romantic aesthetics, through which Camilo consolidated the prestige of an exceptional prose writer and cultural developer of the Portuguese language, was published in 1863. A major figure of Portuguese romanticism, he lived his life accordingly, troubled by multiple passions. He was a novelist, polemicist, chronicler, playwright, poet and translator.

During his stays in Póvoa, Garrett found inspiration to write the masterpiece of romantic theatre, 'Frei Luís de Sousa'.Ĭamilo Castelo Branco was born in Lisbon on 16 March 1825. Garrett was a regular visitor to Póvoa, due to his close friendship with the intellectual, Francisco Gomes de Amorim, of Póvoa de Varzim. He collaborated with several newspapers and magazines, through which he shared his opinion on the political, social and cultural situation of the country. He was the forerunner of Romanticism in Portugal when, in 1825, he published the poem 'Camões', he marked the Portuguese romantic theatre with the play 'Frei Luís de Sousa' and developed a campaign in favour of the construction of the Dona Maria II National Theatre and the creation of the Dramatic Arts Conservatory. Of note among his many achievements is his role as a writer, poet, playwright, diplomat and journalist, and his literary work is now published in 14 countries.

Almeida Garrett was born in Porto on 4 February 1799 and died at the age of 55, on 9 December 1854, in Lisbon.

A Sibila by Agustina Bessa-Luís