Pictures from Italy book cover
Dickens' Italian Grand Tour

Pictures from Italy

by Charles Dickens, Kate Flint

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format

Paperback ISBN: 9780140434316 29 Jan 1998 199 x 124 x 20 (mm) 202g

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"When Dickens has described something you see it for the rest of your life." — George Orwell

In 1844, Charles Dickens took a break from novel writing to travel through Italy for almost a year, and Pictures from Italy is an illuminating account of his experiences there. He presents the country like a magic-lantern show, as vivid images ceaselessly appear before his — and his readers' — eyes. Italy's most famous sights are all to be found here: St Peter's in Rome, Naples with Vesuvius smouldering in the background, the fairytale buildings and canals of Venice.

But Dickens's chronicle is not simply that of a tourist. Combining compelling travelogue with piercing social commentary, he portrays a nation of great contrasts: between grandiose buildings and squalid poverty, ancient monuments and everyday life, past and present.

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Kate Flint.