For nearly 200 years, the Grand Tour of Europe served as a moveable feast of culture for young elites. From the Enlightenment salons of Paris to the Classical ruins of Rome, these epic journeys lasted months or years and traversed thousands of miles. More than just a glamorous gap year, the Grand Tour aimed to steep aristocratic scions in art, history, languages, and worldly experience in preparation for leadership roles at home.
The tradition emerged in the late 17th century and reached its height from about 1760 to 1820. The typical tourist was British, male, and moneyed, "with a good deal more money than brains, and a good deal more flesh than spirit," as one contemporary put it. But women, Americans, Germans, and others also embarked as continental travel became more common.
Origins and Evolution
The Grand Tour had roots in the Renaissance, when travel to Italy blossomed among artists, scholars, and aristocrats. "The idea was to go and see the marvelous buildings of antiquity and the Renaissance, and travel for the sake of curiosity and learning," explains historian Jeremy Black. Key early figures included the poet John Milton and essayist Michel de Montaigne in the 1500s.
Over the 1600s, a more structured itinerary developed as the Enlightenment sparked new interest in the classical world. The English gentry in particular began sending sons to Europe "to rub off their provincial awkwardness, to learn some languages, and to acquire a little of that social polish which alone can complete a gentleman," wrote one observer. By 1700, "making the Grand Tour" was a recognized rite of passage.
The Typical Tourist
Most Grand Tourists were the sons of nobles, gentry, and wealthy professionals. James Boswell, Edward Gibbon, and Horace Walpole were among the luminaries who made the trip. Some brought along an entourage of servants, tutors, and "bear-leaders" to manage the logistics and their charges‘ behavior. Later, more women participated, like the art historian Anna Jameson and novelist Ann Radcliffe.
A key goal was gaining social polish and connections. Grand Tourists were expected to hobnob with European elites, often bearing letters of introduction. "The Englishman‘s Grand Tour was often a Pleasant Grand Detour to the gaming tables and fleshpots," notes historian Tony Perrottet. Many had flings with local women or fellow travelers of both sexes.
The Classic Itinerary
The standard route varied over time but focused on France and Italy. Here is an outline of the classic itinerary at its 18th century height:
- London – Gathering point and channel crossing to Calais/Ostend
- Paris – Cultural capital and social whirl of salons, theaters, shops
- Geneva – Key intellectual hub and gateway to the Alps
- Turin – First major city in Italy, known for royal court
- Milan – Economic and cultural powerhouse of Northern Italy
- Venice – Mecca of art, Carnival, and courtesans
- Florence – Cradle of the Renaissance with legendary art collections
- Rome – Ultimate goal with layers of Classical and Baroque wonders
- Naples – Scenic beauty, Roman sites, and a wilder side
Some ventured on to Sicily and Greece, while others headed home via Germany or Austria. The full circuit could take two to four years, with long stays in major cities. Art, architecture, music, and antiquities were key draws. "In the 18th century, Italy still shone as the supreme beacon of European civilization," Perrottet notes.
Impact on Art and Learning
The Grand Tour fueled a golden age of cultural exchange between Britain and the Continent. Tourists snapped up Old Masters, sculptures, books, gems, and more in a spending spree that reshaped British collections. The 2nd Earl of Petworth amassed over 200 paintings and 70 statues on his trips, while the Duke of Bedford bought so much he had to build a new wing on his country house.
Italy in turn enjoyed an economic and creative renaissance as artists, dealers, hoteliers and more catered to the tourist trade. "The English are numbered, and they are all very rich…they will take our pictures, our statues, our curiosities," exulted one Roman. Cultural sites like the Uffizi and Pompeii became major attractions.
The Tour also shaped intellectual life as Neoclassicism and Romanticism took hold. Artists from Piranesi to Turner found inspiration in Roman ruins and the Italian landscape. "Rome…appears to me like some mighty ruin of an angelic mind," marveled the poet Robert Lowell. The diaries of Boswell, Goethe, and others became celebrated travelogues in their own right.
Disruption and Decline
The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars brought the Grand Tour‘s golden age to an end. France and Italy became perilous for Britons as the two nations warred from 1793 to 1815. Many of Italy‘s artistic treasures were carted off by Napoleon. A generation of young elites had their travels curtailed or spent them on the battlefield instead of the opera house.
As peace returned, so did tourists, but in a different form. The spread of rail and steamships made the Continent accessible to a rising middle class by the 1840s. Thomas Cook launched his famous package tours in the 1860s, offering an affordable taste of the Grand Tour to the masses.
For elite travelers, Europe no longer seemed so rare and wondrous compared to more far-flung destinations. "The idea of the Grand Tour as an aristocratic male preserve was exploded," Black notes. Intrepid Victorians increasingly set their sights on the Middle East, India, and beyond.
A Lasting Legacy
Though the classic Grand Tour faded by the late 1800s, it cast a long shadow over European travel and culture. Its ideals of edification and exoticism still shape study abroad programs, cultural tourism, and creative pilgrimages today. The letters, art, and souvenirs it generated provide a vivid window into the lives and mores of a bygone elite.
The Tour also had a formative impact on the collections that fill Europe‘s great museums, the English country house, and the imaginations of generations of artists and writers. From Keats swooning over a Greek urn to Henry James dissecting the ex-pat scene in Rome, its influence permeates Western culture.
Perhaps most of all, the Grand Tour instilled a sense of Europe as a shared cultural hearth with a deep, living heritage to be explored. At a time of rising nationalism, it emphasized what Europeans held in common and how the Classical world still spoke to the present. It made the Continent smaller and grander at the same time, a tension still at the heart of the European project today.
Key Facts and Figures
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The term "Grand Tour" was coined by the Catholic priest Richard Lassels in his 1670 book Voyage to Italy.
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From 1764-1796, the British took out 6,000 passports for travel abroad, and at least half of those were for the Grand Tour. In the same period, they were granted 40% of the 3,200 export licenses for art from Rome.
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Popular guides included Thomas Nugent‘s The Grand Tour (1749) and Mariana Starke‘s Travels in Italy (1800s). The poet Lord Byron‘s letters home were another hit.
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The average age of the British Grand Tourist was 22. Most were the sons of peers (30%), gentry (35%), or professionals (29%).
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Grand Tourists were among the leading buyers in Italy‘s booming art market. British collectors accounted for 60% of ancient sculpture exports from Rome in the late 1700s.
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Top destinations saw huge upticks in visitors: Venice went from about 10,000 tourists per year in 1700 to over 40,000 per year by 1800. Italy received an estimated £15 million from tourists over the 18th century (over £1 billion today).
Sources and Further Reading
Black, Jeremy. The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century. Sutton, 2003.
Black, Jeremy. Italy and the Grand Tour. Yale University Press, 2003.
Bohls, Elizabeth A. and Ian Duncan (eds.). Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Chaney, Edward. The Evolution of the Grand Tour: Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations since the Renaissance. Routledge, 2000.
Hornsby, Clare. The Impact of Italy: The Grand Tour and Beyond. British School at Rome, 2000.
Perrottet, Tony. "The Grand Tour." Smithsonian Magazine, April 2009, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-grand-tour-142368742/
Redford, Bruce. Venice and the Grand Tour. Yale University Press, 1996.
Wilton, Andrew and Ilaria Bignamini (eds.). Grand Tour: The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth-century. Tate Gallery Publishing, 1996.
