This narrative space is devoted to illustration of the custom of the Grand Tour and what it was that made it such a fascinating cultural phenomenon for centuries.

Our guide in this exploration of the places, times and motivations of those who took the Grand Tour is provided by the accounts of the foreign travelers who came to Italy between the 17th and the 19th century and which, on various levels, represented a new and interesting chapter in the history of European literature.

The Tour was once an experience that required long preparation and great organizational capacities. The successful outcome of a journey like the Grand Tour, which lasted for months if not years, depended on technological contrivances, the help of craftsmen (coachbuilders, blacksmiths, saddle makers) and anything else that might make the bumpy journey along the roads of Europe less uncomfortable. This chapter is devoted to the material aspect of the journey and the incredible adventures of the traveler of old, both on the road and in the inhospitable inns.

If the Journey in Italy represented the final leg of the demanding Grand Tour, on the stages into which it was divided Tuscany wanted to be not just a region of transit but to constitute a primary attraction in itself. In restricting our perspective of the Tour to the area within the borders of the Grand Duchy, the aim is to highlight the attention paid in the 18th century to themes, landscapes and works that, with the changes in taste and the emergence of the Romantic sensibility, were to transform the land of Tuscany into a myth that is still alive and well today.

During his or her Tour of Tuscany, the traveler’s eye rested on a multiplicity of aspects, works and traditions and presents an important cross section of history, custom and local events, from an unusual and curious perspective.

The viewpoint of foreign visitors, who often found themselves directly involved in Tuscan events and social settings, serves as a counterbalance to the voice of the place and its people in a reconstruction of an artistic and historical atmosphere and climate that makes fascinating reading.