At the bottom of San Cristobal Hill, in the Bellavista neighborhood of Santiago, is one of the three houses that the poet Pablo Neruda occupied in Chile.

In 1953, Neruda started to build a home for his secret love, Matilde Urrutia. He named the home La Chascona ("wild hair"), the same nickname he had for Urrutia because of her abundant red hair. Neruda moved in after separating from his wife in February 1955.

Neruda died on September 23rd, 1973, only days after the military coup by Pinochet. The home was vandalized, but Urrutia was determined to have the funeral in the home. She spent the night with friends in the living room surrounded by broken windows.

Urrutia lived in the home until she died in 1985. Today it's a museum and is open to the public.

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“I feel the tiredness of Santiago. I want to find in Valparaiso a little house to live and write quietly. It must have some conditions. It can’t be located to high or to low. It should be solitary but not in excess. With neighbours hopefully invisibles. They shouldn’t be seen or heard. Original, but not uncomfortable. With many wings, but strong. Neither too big or too small. Far from everything but close to the transportation. Independent, but close to the commerce. Besides it has to be very cheap. Do you think I would find a house like that in Valparaiso?- Pablo Neruda in a letter to friends, 1959.

Although his list of demands for a home was impressive, in 1959 Pablo Neruda's friends found this mansion on Florida Hill that fit the poet's desires. Neruda ultimately felt the home was too big; he split the home and sold the bottom two floors to the sculptor Marie Martner and her husband, Dr. Francisco Velasco. Neruda retained the third and fourth floor and a tower.

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Now a museum celebrating his life, this was the home of the poet Pablo Neruda from 1939 to his death in 1973. The "Casa de Isla Negra" was named by Neruda to describe the black rocks right off the shore. It was here that Neruda lived with this third wife, singer Matilde Urrutia, and they are both buried on the property with a clear view of the beach.

In 1973, when armed forces loyal to the dictator Pinochet searched this home of Neruda's, he famously said:

"Look around—there's only one thing of danger for you here—poetry."

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