Jessie Y. Feng and Jessica Metelus
Rome was the primary stop on the Grand Tour. Its history spans over 2,000 years, and is home to Vatican City and the Pantheon. With so much history and mythology concentrated in once place any noble who claimed to be a part of the Grand Tour would not have skipped over it.
With Rome as a major stop on the Grand Tour, Romans grew accustomed to the influx to tourists into their city. There is no doubt that tourism was good for one economy, but there were ways in which it was a strain as well. Cities like Venice also enjoyed a steady flow of toursits during this era. With the rise of tourists, Italian city life began to establish itself, and urban living in general, for centuries to come.
This exhibition considers the urban life of Rome and other cities of the Italian peninsula in the 18th century, and how Grand Tourists interacted with these urban spaces.
JM