Tuscan Cities: Travels Through The Heart Of Old Italy
Tuscan Cities is one of those books that straddles the line between history and travel writing. Easily mixing the grey stories of years past with vivid images of Tuscany present, or at least Tuscany as it was in the 1880s. From the outset it is apparent that it belongs to an entirely different age; innocent of the wars to come, but still within the orbit of modernity.
About the Author
William Dean Howells was a prolific writer and critic in the late 19th and early 20th century; most noted as the father of American Literary Realism. He served as the editor of the highly regarded literary magazine The Atlantic Monthly from 1871 to 1881, his tenure ending four years before Tuscan Cities was published. He was also one of the first seven members of the Academy of Arts and Letters and has a notable literary award named after him. At the time of his travels, Italy was a young fledging nation - having only united two decades earlier.
The Cities of Tuscany
Howells takes us through Tuscany, on the north west coast of Italy, as if we were part of his touring group. Hopping from city to city on an absorbing account of Tuscan life (as it was in the 1880s). This historical type of travel writing is far removed from the fast-food writing we are accustomed to and may put off readers more used to the highlight-packaged paperbacks or blogs. But you would be missing out on the beauty of the minutia of daily interaction, a hallmark of literary realism, and the reflective prose that hours of slow travel give to Howells' writing.
The Florence I saw was...contemporary, real, busy in its fashion, and wholesomely and every-daily beautiful.
The first stop is Florence, where he tarries for a considerable while. Familiar landmarks like the Cathedral, Ponte Vecchio and the ever present river Arno are visited in detail (along with lesser known sights like Boboli Gardens) as well as the cities history as a whole - with its present well contextualised within its past. Observations of the cities social fabric flows through his writing so that the reader knows Florence the attraction, Florence the story and Florence the society. But it is in the everyday happenings where he really excels; an episode trying to find a carriage driver turns into a character study of the Italian man.
Siena is lifted upon hills that rise alluring and delicious in the centre of Tuscany...The panorama of the city is something enchanting.
Next is the city of Siena. Proud, but impoverished we experience her with the help of Dante who seems to be Howells' favourite literary companion. Here Howells deploys his tools of political commentary when visiting the Palazzo Communale, quoting from local writers as he compares the American system of government and the distinctly Italian form of popular tyranny. Religious life is not spared either with a lengthy account centred on the life of St. Catherine of Siena.
The five cities of Pisa, Lucca, Pistoja, Prato and Fiesole are dealt with in less pages combined than Florence or Siena - which is a pity considering their relative obscurity compared to their more celebrated cousins, but perhaps the author was tiring of travel. His keen observational skills never tire though with a humorous dissection of the failings of the Italian hotel key system making an otherwise dull mishap into an interesting story. Yes, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is mentioned, but it never overshadows; such that we are left with a rounded impression of the cultural heritage of Pisa.
Every acre of that plain had been a theatre of great tragedy; every rood [archaic unit of measurement] of ground had borne its hero. Now, in the advancing spring, the grass and wheat were long enough to flow in the wind, and they flowed like the ripples of a wide green sea to the feet of those purple hills...
Conclusion
Tuscan Cities is a book for the deep traveller, who looks to more than the superficial sheen of Tuscany. You'll be left with an appreciation of Italian history and society that will make you feel as if you've already been there. Although it may challenge some readers, it is a must for italophiles and lovers of history alike: a well written snapshot of a country still young in formation and a region old in history.
EssentialTravel Rating: 7/10