''Casa de Isla Negra'' is one of the three houses owned by Chilean poet

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

. It is located in

Isla Negra Isla Negra (Spanish: ''Black Island'') is a coastal area in El Quisco commune in central Chile, some 45 km (70 km by road) south of Valparaiso and 96 km (110 km by road) west of Santiago. Pablo Neruda Isla Negra was the re ...

, a coastal area within the commune of

El Quisco El Quisco is a Chilean city and commune in San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region. Located in the country's central coast, it serves as a popular summer resort for the population of Santiago and forms part of the Coast of Poets, a cultural sp ...

, approximately 45 km south of

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

and 96 km west of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. The house served as Neruda's favorite residence, where he and his third wife, Matilde Urrutia, spent much of their time while in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Designed to reflect Neruda's fascination with the sea, the house resembles a ship, featuring low ceilings, creaking wooden floors, and narrow passageways. A dedicated collector, Neruda filled the house with various thematic collections, including bottles, ship figureheads, maps, ships in bottles, and an extensive shell collection housed in a room named ''Bajo el mar'' ("Under the Sea"). Neruda discovered the site during a visit to the area and requested an advance from his publisher, Carlos George-Nascimento, to purchase the property. Initially conceived as a meeting place for writers, the house was later dedicated to Nascimento in recognition of his support. Neruda and Urrutia are buried at the site. Despite its name, Isla Negra ("Black Island") is not an island but refers to a prominent dark rock formation off the coast. The region's intense winter storms inspired several of Neruda's poems, including ''Oda a la Tormenta'' ("Ode to the Storm"). Today, the house functions as a

writer's home Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...

museum administered by the Pablo Neruda Foundation and is a popular tourist destination.

External links

*
Pablo Neruda Foundation's Site on Isla Negra
*

Pablo Neruda's Grave
{{Coord, 33, 26, 34, S, 71, 41, 02, W, type:landmark_region:CL, display=title Houses of Pablo Neruda

Literary museums in Chile Biographical museums in Chile Historic house museums in South America Coasts of Valparaíso Region

See also

External links