1 - Images and Stereotypes

Summary

Most travellers based their opinions on information provided by classical authors, who were considered more authoritative than contemporary writers. Attitudes towards foreigners in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were exacerbated by religious antagonism far more than in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But once the Catholic Church had ceased its campaign of harassing those who followed other religions, Protestant travellers became more open about stigmatizing the character of inhabitants of Catholic lands. A positive perception of the French national character seems predominant throughout the evolution of the Grand Tour. Evidence of this widespread appreciation of French manners is the fact that France had gained the highest reputation in Europe for the art of good living. The international admiration for Italian Renaissance culture came to an end with the Counter-Reformation, when many well-educated sectors of society in non-Catholic countries began to develop ambiguous attitudes towards Italy. Most foreign visitors reported that they were truly mesmerized by the fragmentation of the country and the proliferation of different urban realities – so much that they came across a plethora of epithets and proverbs representing the singular features of Italian cities and the local character of the citizens.