La Chascona

La Chascona Review

This house designed by the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda was dubbed the "Woman with the Tousled Hair" after Matilde Urrutia, the poet's third wife. The two met while strolling in nearby Parque Forestal, and for years the house served as a romantic hideaway before they married. The pair's passionate relationship was recounted in the 1995 Italian film Il Postino. The house is accessible by tour only; the tours allow you to step into the extraordinary mind of the poet whose eclectic designs earned him the label "organic architect." Winding garden paths, stairs, and bridges lead to the house and its library stuffed with books, a bedroom in a tower, and a secret passageway. Scattered throughout are collections of butterflies, seashells, wineglasses, and other odd objects that inspired Neruda's tumultuous life and romantic poetry. Neruda, who died in 1973, had two other houses on the coast—one in Valparaíso, the other in Isla Negra. All three are open as museums. Though it's not as magical as Isla Negra, La Chascona can still set your imagination dancing. The house is on a little side street leading off Constitución. It's advisable to book your visit ahead of time.