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THE GRAND TOUR
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Guided tours of Rome and Italy on the footsteps of the Grand Tour
Travellers
Educational and
Cultural Touring: guided tours, excursions, private tours, tickets
reservation. |
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WHAT WAS THE GRAND
TOUR
In the past "Grand Tour" was
the name of the journey that the European noblemen and rich
bourgeois took in Italy, to discover its ancient beauty and its
incomparable richness of arts and culture. It was more than a simple tour
or a passing fashion, it became a fundamental moment in the cultural
training of every cultivated European.
To
this end, we put at your disposal highly trained guides that will make you
discover in an involving way the artistic beauties of our country in a new
light. Besides, they
will make you discover the less known treasures usually
ignored by mass tourism. We organize theme itineraries - “tailored”
on demand -, private guided tours to monuments and museums, attendance to
traditional events, and much more.
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The passion
of the traveler for the unlimited artistic heritage of Italy and its
enchanting landscapes is not a
product of the modern mass-tourism industry, but also in the past has
attracted many cultivated persons who choosed our country for their
pleasure travels.
Expensive
pleasure, once reserved to few rich peaple, full of troubles like long and
unsafe travels, thieves, illnesses. These aspects, far from
disturbing the Traveller, made the Gand Tour more appealing.
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THE GRAND TOUR TODAY
Today
The Grand Tour by Alliance
Travel Service aims at promoting the knowledge of the Italian
naturalistic and cultural heritage in the mood of the travellers of that
age
All
this made the Grand Tour an essential step in the cultural an human
training of the high society's members, an experience that was much more
than what may be reprisented today by a simple plesure travel, in our age
characterized by mass tourism and packaged touring.
Anyway
We are convinced that the old Grand Tour's experience have some aspects
that we may try to recover, especially for who wants a full experience of
Italy's artistic and cultural heritage whitout loosing the pleasure of
discover, enjoing the undestranding of the connections between the
many expressions of human spirit.
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WHEN THE TERM WAS COINED
The
term "Grand
Tour" was coined by Richard Lassels in his account "The Voyage of
Italy" inl 1670, in which he described his vojage inn
Italy, voyage that since 1630 was groving in importance among the cultural
elites of northern Europe. Travelers of theis age were, for example, Milton, Marvell,
Harvey the philosopher Hobbes.
Among those who left us
remarkables travel books the most important where Philip Skippon,
William Acton, John Evelyn,
John Raymond and, as we said above, Richard Lassels.
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The New York Times recently described
the Grand Tour in this way:
The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, lay in the
exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the
Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of
the European continent. In addition, it provided the only opportunity to
view specific works of art, and possibly the only chance to hear certain
music. A grand tour could last from several months to several years. It
was commonly undertaken in the company of a Cicerone, a knowledgeable
guide or tutor. The Grand Tour had more than superficial cultural
importance; as E.P. Thompson opined, "ruling-class control in the 18th
century was located primarily in a cultural hegemony, and only
secondarily in an expression of economic or physical (military) power."
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