On 27 January 1858, Bizet arrived at the Villa Medici, a 16th-century palace that since 1803 had housed the French Académie in Rome and which he described in a letter home as "paradise".
O 27 de xaneiro de 1858, Bizet chegaba á Vila Médici, un palacete do século XVI que dende 1803 albergara a Académie francesa en Roma e descrita por el nunha carta que enviou a casa como o «paraíso».