Women's experiences on the Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was a traditional European trip, with Italy a key destination, taken by upper-class young men as an educational rite of passage when they came of age. What can women's experiences reveal about how this travel tradition changed and was understood? The lessons consider women's place in the Grand Tour through travel, family, and cultural expectations.
2 articles, 1 book · about 22 min of reading and viewing
The reading path
- Readthe history of the grand tour · Wikipedia · 19 min read
Letters written by sisters Mary and Ida Saxton of Canton, Ohio in 1869 during a six-month tour offer insight into the Grand Tour tradition from an American perspective. British travelers saw Venice, by then a fabled centuries-long independent republic, as the "locus of decadent Italianate allure," making it an epitome and cultural set piece of the tour.
- Read"Little Dorrit and The Grand Tour: PBS Masterpiece Classic" · janeaustensworld.com · 3 min read
As the Grand Tour expanded in the 19th century, more women began traveling abroad with their families and/or chaperones.
- BookA Room with a View · Bookshop.org
A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian-era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a humorous critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century.
Book links are Bookshop.org affiliate links. Curiate may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you — Bookshop.org also gives a share to independent bookshops.
Reading paths, built to arrive somewhere
Curiate turns what you are curious about into a short path — a quick lesson on an article, something to watch, and a book to go deep on. Free to browse.