After the recklessness of the "Sturm und Drang" and the euphoria of Jena, - the university city where he lived - Johann Wolfgang Goethe felt the need to look on to the world: the intellectual and measured life Weimar offered was no longer good enough.Italy’s classicism and cult for what is antique were the destination of his journey.
The 3 September 1786 he left for Karlsbad and from there towards the Brennero, where he arrived on the 8th of September.
Thus started his "Journey through Italy". He should have stayed only for a few weeks, whereas he stayed for two years and lived in Rome.
In this "Diary" of his, he divided Italy in two parts: that of the north, which he defined interesting but scarcely stimulating from a human relationship point of view and that of the south, fascinating and lively.
He visited Trento, Verona, where he was interested in the Arena, a true Roman relic, without even considering Juliet’s tomb. Then it was Padova’s turn, and then Venice, where he saw the sea for the first time.
Scents and the “campielli” of the lagoon city remained engraved on his mind. He gave little attention to San Marco’s Basilica and the Doges’ Palace.
He also went to Milan – where a blue-eyed woman bewitched his heart – and to Florence, which seemed to him too false artistically to be truly beautiful.
In Assisi he delayed for many hours in front of the Temple of Minerva, charmed by the linearity of classical forms.
Finally he arrived at Rome, where he was a guest of the painter Tischbein and where he became friends with the writer Moritz and the painter Angelika Kaufmann.
In Rome Goethe found the inspiration for many of his works form the classical period: "Egmont", "Tasso," Ifigenia" and "Faust".
His literary masterpiece, however, were the "Roman Elegies ", where the poet imagines a dialogue with the greatest bards of Love: Tibullo, Catullo, Properzio.
Curiosity led him to descend south: Naples and then Sicily.
For Naples he used words of great admiration. Neapolitans, especially, won him with their survival capacity.
He said about them: they seek wealth, not as an end to itself but to be able to live as “free beings”.
He climbed to the peak of the Vesuvio and studied its lava. He did not love Pompeii, the air was too musty, smelling like death.
In Sicily he stopped in Palermo, and fell in love with the Mediterranean air, its colours and the roughness of its territory.
He was a regular visitor of the Botanic gardens, where he studied various species of plants.
After a stay of two months he returned to his beloved Rome. Of this period we like to recall an immortal masterpiece of his:
“Do you know the land where the lemons bloom,
Where golden oranges glow among dark leaves,
Where gentle breezes blow from the blue sky,
Where the myrtle stands still, the laurel high?
Do you know it perchance? There!
There I want to go with you,
O my beloved.”
:: TRAVELLING :: LIKE IN A NOVEL ::
