III
Bohemia and prison
“Love is a light that keeps life from growing dim.”
Camilo Castelo Branco
In 1943, he enrolled at the Porto Medical-Surgical School and the Polytechnic Academy.
His academic studies were relegated to the background very early on, and he gave himself over to a life of bohemia and folly. This lifestyle choice allowed him to immerse his whole energies in the artistic and social life of the city of Our Lady.
From 1849 onwards, he settled permanently in Porto, starting his career as a journalist and interacting with most of the city's promising young people, who had a passion for literature and would go on to win top positions in Portuguese society.
Cadeia da Relação do Porto (Old Municipal Prison)
Marble statue called Amores de Camilo, donated to the City Hall by the sculptor Almada Francisco Simões
A year later, for religious reasons or because he was heartbroken due to Ana Plácido's marriage, he enrolled at the Episcopal Seminary in Porto in order to take minor orders. But he abandoned the idea.
He returned to his bohemian life and became involved with Ana Plácido, a married woman. When the scandal broke, the adulterous couple came under strong pressure from family and society. Unable to persuade his wife away from her love affair with Camilo, the betrayed husband took them to court. They were both imprisoned in the Cadeia da Relação do Porto and, after a year in prison, the court acquitted them of the offence for lack of evidence.
Former Medical-Surgical School (1836-1911)
The building to the left of the GNR District Command and the Carmo Church.
Amor de Perdição
The story of Teresa and Simão's thwarted love affairs in the author's masterpiece is very similar to the story of Camilo's forbidden love affair with Ana Plácido.
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