A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. (Samuel Johnson). The journey to Italy was a constant in European history from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. In the Middle Ages, the principal scope was either religious, with its primary destination being the capital of Christianity or for study purposes, as demonstrated by the stay in Italy in the early 17th century of the great humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam.In the following centuries, starting from the 17th and 18th centuries, the tour to Italy was intended to form young noblemen who would become court counsellors or learn to manage family goods. Soon, however, it becomes, above all, a means of personal growth. Travel literature in the 18th century bears witness to its evolution, telling us about the obligatory confrontation with the demanding cultural heritage, the different mentality, the variety in customs, and everyday life itself. Initially carried out only by the young of the British aristocracy, educational trips became popular among the French (under the rule of Louis XIII and the Sun King), the Flemish, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Russians, and people from every other European country. This tour, regularly undertaken, became fashionable and to it, they assigned an international name: The Grand Tour.

Travel memories between perfumes and tastes.

On this Italian journey, even the gastronomic experience becomes a salient moment, revealing to travellers a universe of scents and tastes as diverse as the number of Italian regions. Travel memories help us understand what travellers ate in the places they visited and, in some cases, know the culinary customs and traditions of different social classes.    The food culture of the privileged became a real show off of opulence during banquets, such as the one recalled by the president of the parliament of Bourgogne, Charles de Brosses, who describes a lunch the French Ambassador in Rome offered to the city nobles and cardinals, in 1740: turkey, partridge, roe deer, salmon, ham, candied fruit and more, expensive and sought-after foods.  In contrast to these banquets, we have the food that travellers find at inns along country roads and in the city. It was simple and low-quality food, served in really shabby and unclean places. The French Huguenot François Maximilien Misson, at the end of his tour of Italy in 1688, notes mercilessly: Nothing is more miserable than a meal in a small town inn, especially on some roads. They begin the meal with a dish called antipasto, a plate of gizzards, or legs and wings, boiled with salt and pepper and mixed with little egg whites. Two or three dishes of various stews follow, one after the other, but all in small quantities. Travelling from Rome to Naples, you can sometimes get buffalo or crows, if you’re lucky. Buffalo meat is dark, smelly, and sturdy.

In the early days of street food.
Many travellers were struck by the habit, especially in the South, of consuming food in the streets, for example, macaroni. This popular food impressed the aristocracy, such as the Neapolitans. King Ferdinand IV enjoyed it, and, just like his subjects, he ate it with his hands. Many of the streets in popular districts had outdoor taverns where they boiled macaroni and tomato sauce, served with grated spicy pecorino cheese.

Also, Sigmund Freud, one of the most famous travellers of Italy, was a great admirer of outdoor lunches and dinners. In his notebooks, he describes many of them, among which the one in the small isle of the fishermen of Lake Maggiore, with the boat docked in front of the island, or the one in Piazza Colonna in Rome, surrounded by history itself. In the end, the unforgettable midnight dinner in the little alleys of old Naples.

Between aristocratic cuisine and historic cafes.

Nietzsche’s observations on the cuisine of aristocratic Turin are different. Here, “the food is extremely wholesome, the cooking conscientious, meticulous, and refined.“

At the Ristorante del Cambio, he often enjoys “enormous portions of flavourful soups and high-quality Italian pasta. As for second courses, along with morsels of tender meat, served with assorted vegetables, he particularly enjoys the ossobuco and the highly appreciated lamb”.

The Grand Tour, especially for cultural personalities, is a must-see for stops at the historic cafés in art cities. For example, if we take Venice, the most prestigious and oldest is the famous Florian. Opened in 1720 by Floriano Francesconi with the name “Alla Venezia Trionfante,” it was renamed “Al Florian” after its patrons’ saying, “Let’s go to Florian’s.” Among its many illustrious guests were Charles Dickens, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Also in Piazza San Marco is the Caffè Quadri, founded in 1775 by the merchant Giorgio Quadri and frequented by celebrities such as Stendhal, George Byron, Alexandre Dumas père, Richard Wagner, and Marcel Proust. The Caffè Lavena, founded in 1750, was a favourite of musicians Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner.