Understanding the present through navigating the past

Abstract

In the middle of the seventeenth century, a Maltese traveller, Gio Francesco Bonamico, undertook the Grand Tour. His tour was unusual in that it went against prevailing conceptions of how one was supposed to go about the tour. In history, the Grand Tour is associated with a journey from the North of Europe, usually starting in London or Paris, and ending in Rome or Naples. Bonamico's voyage proceeded in the opposite direction. He departed from Malta travelling towards Marseilles and continued northwards, visiting many European cities. From the North of France he proceeded to Flanders, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and on the southward leg he also visited Spain, Italy; Sicily and some of the Greek islands.