About this Book

Filling a significant gap in the English language bibliography on the topic, this is the first full length study in English dedicated to seventeenth-century Italian travel writing, a fertile time for Italian contributions to the genre. Hester argues that many of the characteristic qualities of the Italian travel writing examined can be understood in terms of the larger question of Italian cultural identity during this era.For Hester, the specific 'literary' characteristics of Italian travel writing (including its 'humanism' or its 'Petrarchism'), which leverage the classic status of the Italian literary tradition in Europe, represent a form of compensation for the lack of an Italian national political unity during the early modern period. The chapters are dedicated to the major authors of this period, including Francesco Carletti, Pietro Della Valle, Franceso Belli, Francesco Negri, and Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri, who journeyed through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and America.