English Grand Tourists in Venice and Rome with Sylvia Sagona

Before taking up their “rightful” role in the 17th and 18th century English government, young aristocrats underwent a rite of passage in the form of a tour of Italy. Utterly convinced of the glorious destiny of the British Empire, these Protestants were required to experience the iniquity of “popish” Rome, the decadence of Venice and the chaos of Naples and to understand the lessons taught by the fall of great empires. These high-minded ideals were no match for the lure of Italian style and sensuality. Along with fake antiquities and portraits came the syphilis which would add strains of madness to the English aristocracy for generations. "Tourism" had a dark side.

Sylvia Sagona completed her post graduate studies of a Maitrise ès Lettres at the University of Aix en Provence where she lived and lectured at the university of Aix-Marseilles before taking up a lectureship in the Department of French and Italian studies at the University of Melbourne.