قصة الكتاب :
Italian Journey is a report by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on his travels throughout Italy undertaken in the years 1786 to 1788. The book was originally published in German as Italienische Reise in 1816 and 1817. Although the work is based on Goethe’s diaries, it has been smoothened out to make it less spontaneous and has been enhanced with the several details and afterthoughts. Goethe spent two years travelling through Italy but published his account of the journey only three decades later. He wrote it during the time of the French occupation of Weimar. In a poem that he composed years after his travels Goethe wrote “We are all pilgrims who seek Italy”. To him, Italy represented a warm, passionate south that stood in contrast to the cold north.
\r\nGoethe was 37 when he undertook the journey. His desire to visit Italy stemmed from his childhood days. As a boy, Goethe grew up dreaming of visiting the country himself after listening to countless tales of his father’s own Grand Tour and staring at pictures of famous Italian landmarks. He made the trip in 1786 when he was suffering a mid-life crisis. He was getting tired of his responsibilities in the court of Carl August in Weimar and frustrated by his relationship with the married Charlotte von Stein. He travelled undercover taking the name Johann Philipp Möller. His itinerary included making his way through the Brenner Pass, Venice, Tuscany and finally Rome. In Rome, he stayed with an artist friend of his and took drawing classes from him. His travels truly him helped rediscover the countryside and the ancient world as well as his sensual side thanks to the relationship he is believed to have been in with the daughter of a local innkeeper, referred to as “Faustina” in his later writings. Although Goethe spend a great deal of his time in Rome, he also travelled further south to Naples and then to Sicily, a former Greek colony. To him, Sicily was the embodiment of the classical ideal. It is understood that the two years that Goethe spent in Italy were probably the happiest days of his life. The landscapes, the liberation from his earlier life, the art and culture, the sea, the creativity and “Faustina” – all played a part in making his tenure in Italy special. \r\n
\r\nTo this day Italian Journey continues to inspire millions of Germans to make the trip to Italy in search of pleasure and freedom from conventions and duty. Goethe’s dream remains alive.\r\n