Augustus Hare in Italy (Ecco Travels)

By Gavin Henderson, Augustus John Cuthbert Hare, Augustus Hare

A tour through nineteenth century Italy by a traveler in search of the picturesque.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880012099
• ISBN13: 9780880012096
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Ecco Pr
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Leisurely, Arduous Travel in Italy in Late 1800s

Travel in the 1800s was slow and expensive, and generally limited to the wealthy. Travel books offered a vicarious alternative, perhaps explaining their immense popularity. Augustus Hare, the epitome of the sophisticated, urbane traveler, was an especially popular author in the late 1800s. This guidebook - Augustus Hare in Italy - offers selections from a number of his works including his Cities of Northern Italy, Cities of Central Italy, Days Near Rome, and Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily. Today, Hare's outdated travel tips are simultaneously insightful, entertaining, and humorous. We learn that the San Antonio inn in Bassano is tolerable, but overrun with black beetles. In Siena the Armi d'Inghilterra is a very poor Italian inn, but it is managed by civil people. The sights of Cervetri must be visited in time to catch the evening train to Rome, "for the only inn at Cervetri is so utterly wretched, it would scarcely be possible to spend the night there." We pass through some largely uninhabited areas (like Volci) only in the daytime as malaria was prevalence. Large, smoky bonfires were maintained to fight the mosquitoes, but with little success. For exploring more remote areas Hare instructs the traveler on proper rates for renting mules and donkeys. The descriptions are concise, ranging from a single paragraph to a page or two. Architecture is Hare's passion: Etruscan, Greek, Roman, early Christian, Saracen, Medieval, and Renaissance. Also, he enjoys quoting other travelers, ancient and contemporary, like Pliny, Aeneas Sylvius, Ruffini, J. A. Symonds, Forsyth, Ruskin, and E. Bulwer Lytton. Every page contains one or two illustrations from original wood engravings created by Augustus Hare himself. The editor, Gavin Henderson, carefully matched selections from Hare's extensive writings to each illustration. The descriptions begin in the north at locations like San Remo, Lampedusa, Turin, Milan, and Mantua, then zigzags southward to Rome, and finally ends in Sicily. The index map of Italy was very helpful, particularly for the more remote sites. As you read, I suggest that you try to imagine yourself following in Hare's footsteps, not on a tight schedule but simply strolling along, always finding time to stop to make sketches and drawings. Pleasant journeys!