Italian Hours

Henry James investigates cultural transformations, political changes and art and religion, as well as the essence of travel itself in these articles he wrote about his travels throughout Italy between 1872 and 1909. The countries explored in the book are Rome, Venice, Ravenna, Florence, Siena, and Tuscany. James's fervent admiration of the unrivalled artistic attractiveness of Venice, the vibrancy of Rome, and the boisterous, sensual appeal of Naples is everywhere. What's unique about this travel writing is that James does not gloss over the shortcomings of a place to present them as perfect. He brings forth both the ugly aspects of a place, for example the poor conditions of Venice while also bringing forth all the beauty as a sort of compensation. He heavily focuses on Venice and Rome but James does not neglect the rest of the country making sure that his essays are extensive and provides the readers with a clear picture of the conditions of a place. However, the essays on Rome feels the most personal to James as he includes a lot of his personal experiences in them like his horseback riding and walks through the different neighborhoods.