The Grand Tour, Rome, and the representation of architectural heritage

European culture acknowledges that the Italian peninsula rules supreme as regards the representation of beauty. In the collective imagination of cultured men of learning, modern Italy is a source of powerful and centuries-old religious tradition and renewed humanist culture. The fact that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the main towns in Italy were crucibles of an international artistic revolution are all elements contributing to the country’s fame and fortune. This is why knowledge about Italy plays an important role in the education and training of any “cultured person” and from the sixteenth century onwards, thanks to the journeys made by diplomats and the religious, a sojourn in Italy became crucial if they wanted to complete their studies. Actually, these journeys did not influence only these ‘tourists’, they also played a crucial role in changing the taste and preferences of people in their native countries. In fact, there was an ‘outward bound’ effect on the person who made the trip, and an ‘inward bound’ effect which spread thanks to the souvenirs the travellers brought home with them. The final result was also influenced by the travel diaries and art collections which were gradually put together. The study will analyse these objects of desire from a new perspective, focusing more at length on technical objects testifying to the state-of-the-art of the architectural artefacts.