Italy's literary landscape is the most extensively documented single national literature in any western language, the specific Italian literary tradition (from Dante Alighieri's specific 1300 journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise (the Commedia, the specific poem that the specific Florentine exile (1302) wrote during his specific peregrination through the Italian courts of Verona, Ravenna, and the Lunigiana) through Petrarch's specific Canzoniere (the specific Provençal-influenced love poetry that the Avignon-based Aretine poet composed for the specific Laura whom he first saw in the specific Avignon church of Sainte-Claire on April 6, 1327, the specific date that Petrarch himself meticulously documented as the origin of the entire Italian lyric tradition) through Boccaccio's Decameron (the specific 1348 plague year Florence narrative that the specific villa above Florence in Fiesole (the specific Fattoria di Maiano location that scholars identify as the likely narrative setting) frames the 100 tales)) to Umberto Eco's specific Name of the Rose (1980, the most internationally successful single Italian novel of the 20th century, set in a specific northern Italian Benedictine monastery (the specific Abbey of Sant'Alberto di Butrio in the Oltrepo Pavese that Eco used as the research base for the specific monastic architecture and the specific library-labyrinth design)) constitutes the most geographically specific single literary tradition in Europe, almost every major Italian literary work is attached to a specific Italian place that the literary pilgrim can visit.
How do you want to see it?
Lazio, ItalyCompare the same experience on GetYourGuide and Viator, save what you like to My Trip, share it, and book when you’re sure. Nearest to this page first.
Italy Literary Pilgrimage: The Sites and the Circuit
Dante. Florence and Ravenna
The specific Dante Alighieri literary pilgrimage circuit (the 2-city Dante pilgrimage): Florence (the specific Dante sites: the Casa di Dante (Via Santa Margherita 1, the specific medieval tower house in the Dante family neighborhood of the Rione di San Martino: the museum documents the specific Alighieri family history and the specific San Martino neighborhood of medieval Florence where Dante was born in 1265 and where the specific Beatrice Portinari (the Dante's love, the specific daughter of the Florentino banker Folco Portinari whom Dante first saw at a May Day celebration in 1274 at age 9 and who died in 1290 aged 24) lived in the specific Palazzo Portinari (now the Banca Toscana headquarters on Via del Corso))). And Ravenna (the Dante's Tomb (the Tomba di Dante, the specific Neoclassical temple (1780) that houses the sarcophagus (the specific marble tomb (1483) carved by Pietro Lombardo) of Dante in Via Dante Alighieri in Ravenna where Dante died September 14, 1321 after completing the Paradiso): the most specifically moving single Italian literary pilgrimage destination, the specific Dante tomb in Ravenna isn't in the Franciscan church (the San Francesco where the specific Dante funeral was held) but in the specific adjacent mausoleum that the Florentine Republic built (in 1519) and then abandoned (the Republic's request to reclaim Dante's remains for Florence was refused by Ravenna, the specific refusal that the Ravenna city has maintained for 700 years)).
Keats and Shelley. Rome
The Keats-Shelley House (the Keats-Shelley Memorial House, the Piazza di Spagna 26, Rome, the specific apartment above the Spanish Steps where John Keats died of tuberculosis on February 23, 1821, aged 25): the most specifically English-language Italian literary site and the one whose specific room (the specific "death room" (the stanza della morte), the small southeast corner room on the first floor of the specific Casina Rossa (the "little red house") at the foot of the Spanish Steps where Keats spent his final months (the November 1820-February 1821 period in Rome)) is the most specifically emotionally charged single Italian literary pilgrimage destination for the English-language visitor. The specific Keats-Shelley House museum (the museum that the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association opened in 1909 in the specific Keats death apartment): the manuscript collection (the specific Keats manuscripts (the Ode to Autumn draft, the specific letters to Fanny Brawne (the specific love letters that Keats wrote during the specific Rome months)) and the Shelley archive (the specific Percy Bysshe Shelley and the Mary Shelley Italian period documents)): approximately €6, open Monday-Saturday 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00. The Protestant Cemetery (the Cimitero Acattolico. Via Caio Cestio, Testaccio): the specific Keats grave ("Here lies one whose name was writ in water", the specific self-epitaph that Keats requested) and the specific Shelley grave (the "cor cordium" (heart of hearts) epitaph and the specific Ariel poem fragment).
The Libreria Acqua Alta. The Floods and the Books
Libreria Acqua Alta (the "High Water Bookshop", the Calle Longa Santa Maria Formosa, Castello, Venice): the most specifically Venice and the most specifically photogenic single Italian bookshop (the specific shop whose specific name references the specific Venice acqua alta (the high water flooding, the specific meteorological event (the storm surge that pushes the Adriatic water into the Venetian lagoon and thence into the Venice streets) that regularly floods the Venice ground-floor spaces at 80-110cm water height above the mean sea level)): the specific Libreria Acqua Alta management of the acqua alta (the shop owner Luigi Frizzo stores the books in specific waterproof containers (the bathtubs, the gondolas (the specific full-size gondola inside the shop used as the specific multi-tier bookshelf), and the gondola moored outside the rear entrance to the canal) that float when the shop floods, the specific shop continues to operate during the acqua alta, the books continue to be available, and the specific gondola-bookshelf continues to function as the most specifically Venetian single retail display).
Q&A: Italy Literary Pilgrimage
What is the Goethe Italian Journey route?
The Goethe Italienische Reise (the Italian Journey, the specific 1786-1788 Italian journey that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe made from Karlsbad through the Brenner Pass, down the Adige valley, across the Po plain, to Venice (the specific September 1786 Venice (the first Goethe Venice encounter)) and continuing south through Bologna, Florence, Rome (the specific February-June 1787 Rome), Naples (the specific March 1787 Vesuvius climb), and Sicily (the specific April 1787 Sicily with the specific Agrigento valley of the temples and the specific Palermo almond blossom that Goethe described as "the revelation of Italy" in the specific letter of April 14, 1787)): the most specific and the most extensively documented Italian journey account in any non-Italian language. The specific Goethe Italian Journey literary pilgrimage sites: the Vicenza (the specific Palladio basilica that Goethe visited (September 19, 1786) as the specific first Italian architectural revelation ("I see it with the most perfect pleasure")). And the Villa Rotonda (the specific Palladio 1566 villa 2km south of Vicenza that Goethe called "the most inhabitable building ever built"), the most specifically Goethean single Italian architectural site for the literary pilgrim.
