Rome's "abundant marvels": Francesco Petrarca and the Birth of the Grand Tour

This talk considers Francesco Petrarca’s fascination with the city of Rome, its history and “abundant marvels” and proposes that the poet’s letters and other works, contributed to the birth of what would become known as the “Grand Tour.”

Mary Watt is a Professor of Italian Studies, and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Florida. Mary holds a Ph.D. in Italian Studies and a J.D., both from the University of Toronto, Canada.  Her work has been supported by the Rothman Endowment for the Humanities, the Municipality of Ravenna, and the Norwegian Institute in Rome. She is the author of over fifty journal articles, book chapters, reviews and translations and currently serves as a review editor for Speculum.  She is the author of The Cross that Dante Bears: Pilgrimage, Crusade, and the Cruciform Church in the Divine Comedy, Dante; Columbus and the Prophetic Tradition: Spiritual Imperialism in the Italian Imagination and Dante’s Golden Legend – Auto-Hagiography in the Divine Comedy.

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All times stated in Eastern time.