Visitors to Verona

Even before the advent of mass tourism, Verona was a popular destination for travellers, including those undertaking the popular 'Grand Tour' across Europe. In this book, Caroline Webb compares the experiences of travellers from the era of Shakespeare to the years following the incorporation of the Veneto into the new kingdom of Italy in 1866. She considers their reasons for visiting Verona as well as their experiences and expectations once they arrived. The majority of English visitors between 1670 and 1760 were young members of the aristocracy, accompanied by tutors, who arrived on their way to or from Rome, as part of a 'Grand Tour' intended to 'finish' their classical education. With the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the eighteenth century, and the resultant increasing wealth of the upper middle classes, the number of visitors to Verona increased although this tourism was derailed once Napoleon invaded Italy in the late 1790s. After 1815 and the allied victory at Waterloo, there was a new flood of visitors previously deprived of the opportunity of continental travel during the Napoleonic wars. As the nineteenth century progressed, especially with the arrival of the railway, an increasing number of visitors appeared from across Europe and even from across the Atlantic, keen to explore the fabled city of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In comparing a myriad of varied accounts, this book provides an unrivalled perspective on the history of one of Italy's most seductive cities.

Caroline Webb

Plan of Verona Preface 1 The aims of travel 2 The practicalities of travel 3 Accommodation and food in the city 4 L'Arena di Verona 5 Travellers' opinions of the city 6 The city's civic architecture 7 The Veronesi 8 The French occupation 9 The Austrian occupation 10 Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet 11 Scipione Maffei 12 Verona's many churches 13 San Zeno Maggiore 14 Religion through tourists' eyes 15 The Scaligeri monuments 16 Piazza Erbe 17 The Giusti gardens 18 Local artists and aristocratic 'collections' 19 Music and theatre 20 Matters of health 21 Visitors' views on local agriculture and industry 22 The dress of local people 23 How the English saw the Italians Postscript Appendix 1 A history time-line Appendix 2 Biographical notes Endnotes Bibliography Index