The Gučetić (Gozze) family
The Dubrovnik noble family Gučetić / Gozze, whose roots date back to the Middle Ages according to older chronicles, originates from the Dubrovnik hinterland. They occupy one of the most important places in the history of the Republic of Dubrovnik. In 1687 King Leopold I granted the Gučetić family the hereditary title of Hungarian counts "of Trebinje and Popovo". In 1818 King Francis I confirmed the count’s dignity to seven members of the Gučetić family, and in 1835 Ferdinand I did the same to two more. One branch of the Gučetić family that merged with the Baseljić family (Basegli) was the owner of the summer villa and the garden in Trsteno, taking care of the estate and arranging the garden. The last owner Vito Basegli - Gozze took care, with special attention, of decorating the interior of the summer villa with works of art and family memories.
Numerous members of the Gučetić family distinguished themselves in the economy, trade, politics, religious life, culture and science.
Marin Klementov de Gozze (Dubrovnik, circa 1369) stands out in political and economic life. The poet Ivan (1451-1502), the poet and translator Sabo Gučetić Bendevišević (1531-1603), the poet Jeronim (1596-1667), the poet, the translator and playwright Ivan Jr. (1625-1667), the poet and legal writer Vladislav (1678-1746), and the most famous among them the philosopher and polymath Nikola Vitov (around 1552-1610) stood out in the literary life of the city. Also worth mentioning is Vladislav Gučetić, who opened a small theater in his palace in the City in 1822. The Gučetić family members also distinguished themselves as patrons and clients of works of art. Lujo Gučetić/Gozze (Dubrovnik, around 1476 - Ancona, 1539) who commissioned an altarpiece from Titian in 1520, the most valuable painting commissioned by a Croat in history, stands out in particular. His brother, a merchant in Florence, Đuro (Georgius Gozze, Dubrovnik, 1468 - Florence, 1517) ordered the Polyptych for the church of St. Marija at Danče from the painter Nikola Božidarević in 1517. The family owned numerous palaces in the city and summer residences in other parts of the Republic. The Gothic-Renaissance summer residence built by Klement Gučetić in Rijeka dubrovačka in the late 16th century stands out in particular.
Nikola Vitov Gučetić/Nikola Vito di Gozze (Dubrovnik, 1549 - 1610), a philosopher, politician and polymath, was a prince of the Republic of Dubrovnik seven times. He published numerous works in Italian and Latin and because of the value of his works was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy and theology by Pope Clement VIII. His two most famous Platonic dialogues: Dialogue of Love (Dialogo d’amor) and Dialogue of Beauty (Dialogo della bellezza) were printed in a book in 1581 in Venice. In these writings, in a conversation between Gučetić's wife Mara and her friend Cvijeta Zuzorić, the Neoplatonic doctrine of the beautiful is imbued with the idea of Christian mysticism. In the pedagogical and economic work Family Management (Governo della famiglia) he writes about upbringing and the family economy. His book On the Organization of States in the Spirit of Aristotle with Contemporary Examples (Dello stato delle republiche secondo la mente di Aristotele con esempi moderni) published in Venice in 1591 is our first systematic work on political philosophy and state issues. As a representative of Renaissance thought his many works on theology, aesthetics, oratory, poetic theory, music, politics and law intertwine with a wide variety of philosophical, cultural, theological and political thoughts and theories. His painted portrait and several printed books are on display in a contemporary museological display in the summer house.


Cvijeta Zuzorić/Flora Zuzori (Dubrovnik, circa 1552 - Ancona, 1648) is the most famous woman of the Dubrovnik Renaissance who was admired by many writers and poets for her learning and beauty with many songs dedicated to her. She was married to the Florentine nobleman Bartolomeo Pescioni. In Nikola Vito Gučetić's works, in Dialogue on Beauty and Dialogue on Love (1581), Cvijeta is the interlocutor of his wife Marija Gundulić in the summer villa garden in "the shadow of a willow near that clear stream". In the preface to Gučetić's book Conversation on Aristotle's Meteorologics (1584) Marija Gundulić defends Cvijeta from slander, criticizing the Dubrovnik environment and the attitude of the people of Dubrovnik towards it. Cvijeta herself was a writer, however her poetic works have not been preserved. The verses were dedicated to her by Dubrovnik and Italian poets, Dominko Zlatarić, Miho Bunić Babulinović, Miho Monaldi and Torquato Tasso.
Artwork in the summer residence
The summer villa is equipped with artistically valuable antique furniture collected by many generations of the Gučetić/Gozze family (later Bassegli Gozze). Furniture from the 17th and 18th century is predominant, while family portraits, still lifes and landscapes, paintings with sacral themes, and coats of arms of the family and the Dubrovnik nobility are most represented among the paintings. The house chapel on the first floor of the summer house is equipped with an altar and liturgical accessories.
Up until 1945 when members of the Bassegli-Gozze family lived in the summer villa, its inventory was in good condition and tastefully arranged and used in everyday life, testifying to the high culture of Dubrovnik's aristocratic families. After World War II a part of the inventory had changed hands and a part was neglected and damaged over time. In the new museum presentation all works of art are restored and exhibited following the original layout and thus presenting the original equipment of the summer villa and the culture of the countryside in the Dubrovnik Republic.

