One of the effects of following Dickens' Italian tour in real-time is that it makes the pacing of his tour that much more noticeable; in particular how much things have slowed down since arriving in Genoa in late July. After the hustle and bustle of the journey down, with what seemed like a new destination... Continue Reading →
Dickens is in Genoa at last! And it only took two weeks since leaving England. This will now be Dickens' main base for the next twelve months - he will travel back to London for Christmas, and down to Rome in the new year, but he will always come back to Genoa. Now that he's... Continue Reading →
Dickens and family are still en route to Marseilles to catch that boat to Genoa, having left Paris on 7th July. He writes of this ensuing stage that 'a sketch of one day's proceeding is a sketch of all three', referring to the monotony and uniformity of modern travel (a phenomena which James Buzard explores... Continue Reading →
Are we there yet? We know Dickens left England on 2 July, and we surmise from contemporary popular routes that he would have travelled from Boulougne through Abbeville and Beauvais to Paris. We can glean further details from a letter dated 7th August to 1844 to the Count D'Orsay, in which Dickens says: We had... Continue Reading →
On 2 July 1844 Dickens and his family set off from Dover for their journey to Genoa - it would take them 18 days to arrive there. For us as modern readers this timescale is either a heavenly idea of a leisurely tour, or a nightmarish vision of the ultimate travel delay; but from the... Continue Reading →
In June 1844, Dickens was making the final preparations for his trip to Italy. The family home in Devonshire Terrace had been let out for the year, which meant that immediately prior to leaving England he and his family were living temporarily in Osnaburgh Terrace - he writes on 11 June 1844 that: The Marble... Continue Reading →
In July 1844, Dickens and his family travelled to Italy where, using Genoa as their main base, they would explore the country over the course of a year. The journey was recorded in personal letters from Dickens, a series of "Travelling Letters" published in the Daily News in 1846, and culminating in Dickens' travelogue "Pictures... Continue Reading →
Dickens In Italy 