Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This article is a study of Italian travel as it was understood by English Catholics from 1836 to 1870. In contrast to a historiography that has largely focused on Protestant tourism, this article highlights the presence of a (sometimes countercultural) tradition of Catholic engagement with Italy that achieved prominence during the critical years of the Risorgimento. Drawing on travel narratives, press reports, reviews, debates and ecclesiastical documents, this article highlights the key role of travel in politically constructing the Italian peninsula. Writing about travel allowed English Catholic commentators to combat both domestic and international concerns, with caricatures of Protestant tourists serving important political purposes from the pulpit to parliament. The article will then go on to analyse Catholic attempts to mobilise an independent tradition in response, arguing that while such attempts were only ever partially realistic, they achieved a lasting influence over the expectations and actions of English Catholic travellers in Italy.
Source: Studies in Travel Writing
Author: Patrick Hayes
Institution: University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4405444336