Women and the Grand Tour

[1] For British upper-class young women travelling Europe was part of formal education as well as a form of entrance into elite society.

[6] Miller’s book was published as a guide other Grand Tourists on what to expect about Italian culture and which sights and art to seek out during their travels.

[9] Scholars also suspect her sudden uproot to Italy was a form of feminist protest to break away from societal expectations of being an upper-class housewife and mother.

[9] It appeared that Algarotti did not return her affection and stood her up on her first voyage to Venice to meet him, and the two eventually reunited in Turin on a second visit but it was not the romantic encounter Montagu imagined it would be.

[9] Montagu returned to settle in the province of Brescia near Lake Iseo in Northern Italy in 1746, and in 1756 made her final move to live in Venice where she remained until her death in 1762.

[6] Lady Elizabeth Holland was a British heiress of a Jamaican plantation owner whose wealth afforded her the ability to travel Europe at will.

[7] To remember her time in Italy, Lady Holland commissioned a portrait of herself atop Mount Vesuvius by the artist Ann Flaxman.

Starke, a 31-year-old playwright from London, embarked on her journey to Europe to accompany a sick relative to the Italian seaside in hopes of fresh air for recovery.

[12] Among documentation of her sightseeing, her letters also detailed the political turmoil and specific battles between Italy and France and included copies of the correspondence between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VI during the 1796 invasion of the Papal States.

During one such experience, Webb and her sisters participated in a “foot washing ceremony exclusively for women at Trinità dei Pelligrini in Rome during 1864.

[15] Inspired by her dramatic stories, the more affluent of Radcliffe’s readers based some of their travel plans to include towns that fit the Gothic mystique and attempt to pursue mystery and drama.

[10] Similar to Radcliffe, Blessington popularized the Grand Tour and influenced her readers to travel to Italy not just for education, but for personal adventure.