The Sinner's Grand Tour

Sex and travel have always been intertwined and never more so than on the classic Grand Tour of Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today the Continent is still littered with salacious remnants of that golden age where secret boudoirs notorious dungeons and forbidden artifacts lured travelers all the way from London to Capri.. In The Sinners Grand Tour celebrated historian and travel writer Tony Perrottet sets off to discover a string of legendary sites and relics that are still kept far from public view. In southern France an ancient text leads him inside the chteau of the Marquis de Sade now owned by fashion icon Pierre Cardin. In Paris an 1883 prostitute guide helps him discover the Belle poque fantasy brothel Le Chabanais and the lost sex chair of King Edward VII. Renaissance documents in the Vatican Secret Archives point the way to the Popes very own apartments in Vatican City wherein lies the fabled Stufetta del Bibbiena a pornography-covered bathroom painted by Raphael in 1516. . With his unique blend of original research sharp wit and hilarious anecdotes Perrottet brings us a romping travel adventure through the scandalous backrooms of historical Europe.