[Preliminary entry] The “Grand Tour” was an essential part of the education of many young English gentleman in the eighteenth century and generally involved travelling for up to three years and stopping at cultural centres such as Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome. As travel became easier in the course of the century the Tour often extended to Naples, Sicily and/or Greece and was on occasion undertaken by young women and married couples.
The earliest instances of the Grand Tour were related to the necessity or desirability for young men of Royalist persuasion to be out of England and Scotland at various times during the years of the Civil Wars (1642-51) and Puritan Commonwealth (1649-60). Such men as John Evelyn (1620-1702), for example, who travelled extensively on the continent
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "The Grand Tour". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1546, accessed 06 May 2024.]
