Impressions of Southern Italy

<p>Naples was conventionally the southernmost stop of the Grand Tour beyond which it was assumed lay violent disorder: earthquakes malaria bandits inhospitable inns few roads and appalling food. On the other hand Southern Italy lay at the heart of Magna Graecia whose legends were hard-wired into the cultural imaginations of the educated. </p><p>This book studies the British travellers who visited Italy's Southern territories. Spanning the late eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century the author considers what these travellers discovered not in the form of a survey but as a series of unfolding impressions disclosing multiple Southern Italies. Of the numerous travellers analysed within this volume the central figures are Henry Swinburne Craufurd Tait Ramage and Norman Douglas whose <i>Old Calabria</i> (1915) remains in print. Their appeal is that they take the region seriously: Southern Italy wasn't simply a testing ground for their superior sensibilities it was a vibrant curiosity unknown but within reach. Was the South simply behind on the road to European integration; or was it beyond a fault line representing a viable alternative to Northern neuroses? The travelogues analysed in this book address a wide variety of themes which continue to shape discussions about European identity today.</p>