A Picture of Italy (1815) depicts the familiar ‘boot and ball’ of Italy in 1815, the year Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. The map does not reflect the changes ‘restored’ by the Congress of Vienna (June 1815); Genoa is still separated and not annexed to Sardinia; and Venice is still outside the so-called ‘new kingdom’ of the Austrian Empire.]]> Henry Coxe]]> Martin Hürlimann]]> Historie of Italie (1549), which was suppressed and publically burnt after his execution for treason in May 1544. In his account of the then chief Italian states, he praises various ‘Commodities’. Some of the tempters include: fine bread, good wines (both strong and small), flesh (of all sorts wild and tame), fowl (water and land), fish, and delicate fruits, which are seemingly so good that they could turn one into a vegetarian.]]> William Thomas]]> Pietro Bertelli]]> A Tour through Italy (1791). Martyn’s interest was in botany, but he did take time out to offer useful details on currency differences between regions, habitable inns, mileage, and include a colourful map of the then road system. The map excludes all Italy south of Naples, perhaps reflecting the traditional limits of what constituted ‘Italy’; the area outside that consisted of banditti (i.e. outlaws, robbers) and continuous unrest.]]> Thomas Martyn]]> Frederick Harrington Brett]]> Pietro Bertelli]]> Miscellaneous Remarks [1756] depicts the Ponte Santa Trìnita (Holy Trinity Bridge), the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world. Peeking over the houses to the right is the Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito. The city boasts old and new cultures: the 16th century Uffizi and the Pitti Palace (picture the influential Medici Family), and Via de’ Tornabuoni, the city’s top fashion and shopping street, which contains well-known firms such as Cartier, Ferragamo, and Gucci.]]> Sacheverell Stevens]]> [Ludwig] Hermann Friedländer]]> Maximilien Misson]]> Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus) had been travelling in Italy since 1818 and eventually settled in Pisa. On the 8th July, 1822 Shelley was sailing his boat Don Juan back from a trip to Livorno, in Tuscany, when it was beset by a storm in the Bay of Spezia and Shelley and his two companions perished. Byron talks of the event in his letter to Irish poet, Thomas Moore (1779-1852).]]> Edited by Peter Quennell]]> Aliprando Capriolo]]> Gentleman’s Guide, writes of his visit to Genoa in the late 18th century. He describes the population as ‘laborious, industrious and brave’ but laments that ‘scarcely any of them are able to speak pure Italian’; Ligurian, a Gallo-Romance language is still widely spoken in Genoa today. In 1884, 50,000 Italian emigrants passed through Genoa on their way to South America; just a fraction of the 7.5 million Italians that emigrated to the Americas from 1876 to 1914.]]> Thomas Martyn]]> Pietro Bertelli]]> [The Touring Club Italiano]]]> Alps and Sanctuaries (1881) was written after summer trips to Piedmont and Ticino, before rail traffic increased so much as to ruin tranquil spots, and before the opening of the St Gothard tunnel in 1882. Butler did, however, partake in an hour and half train trip from Turin to Lanzo, in the north-west of Piedmont. While staying at the Hotel de la Poste, he relates an amusing conversation with an elderly Italian gentleman. An able artist, Butler also provided most of the sketches for this work.]]> Samuel Butler]]> ___]]> Pietro Bertelli]]> G. G. Craveri]]> The Marvels of Milan. He wrote that among other things Milan had ‘six monasteries, eight nunneries, ninety-four chapels...120 lawyers…twenty-eight doctors…eighty farriers…[and] 440 butchers’ (Dickie, 2007). The Jesuit church San Fedele, built in the 16th century, still stands in the centre of the city today. Milano-born poet and novelist, Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873), worshipped there regularly. Sadly on the 6th of January 1873, he fell while exiting the church, hit his head and died five months later. Manzoni’s death certificate is held in the atrium of the church and a statue of him now stands in the square outside.]]> Alexandre de Rogissart]]> Borsa Italiana. Leading fashion labels Valentino, Prada and Armani (among others) have their headquarters in Milan and the city hosts Milan Fashion Week twice a year. Six million tourists visit every year and there is no doubt that a large number of them would make their way to the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie to gaze upon Leonardo da Vinci’s now crumbling masterpiece, The Last Supper.]]> Pietro Bertelli]]> [Giacomo Marchucci]]]> Observations states that the poet, Virgil (70-19 BC), famous for his Roman epic the Aeneid, was born in a village not far from Mantua, which is 130 kilometres south-east of Milan. Mantua or Mantova is surrounded by three man-made lakes, built in the 13th century as a watery defence for the town. From the 14th to the 18th century the Gonzaga family ruled the city and built an enormous residence there, Palazzo Ducale, second only in size to the Vatican. The Gonzagas were influential in developing and disseminating the new cultures and traditions of the Renaissance, but by 1707 the family had been deposed. Over the next century or so the rule of Mantua changed hands several times between Austria and France until it was incorporated into a united Italy in 1860.]]> Edward Wright]]> [The Touring Club Italiano]]]> Risorgimento.]]> Pietro Bertelli]]>