Going to Italy: Anne Lister’s Grand Tour and her Italian connections

This brief speech aims to provide hints for further insights into positioning the figure of Anne Lister within historical research, particularly in relation to Italy, its places and its people. It explores how her writings—whether her diaries, travel journals, or letters—can contribute to integrating information and data on events and individuals from a still highly debated historical period, when the Italian Peninsula had just emerged from Napoleonic rule and was in a pre-unification limbo. Even more importantly, it’s about how such specific research can lead to open completely new and unexpected research threads.

However, a good match for her work can be found in Mariana Starke, whom Anne had read and was well acquainted with. Anne Lister’s travel notes are very close to Mrs. Starke’s writing style. In March 1827 Anne bought the 1820 edition of "Information and directions for travellers on the Continent”, while in Paris preparing her journey to Italy with Maria Barlow.  And even years later, in December 1832, she would still mention Mrs. Starke with Vere Hobart in their correspondence about travels, although Vere warned Anne of having -quote- “heard her [Mrs. Starke] called vulgar and not remarkably true in her history and chronologically”. 

Another pillar of this group of travel writers was  Lady Sydney Morgan, who in her "Italy", published in 1821, stands as an unprecedented political and controversial presence, especially as a woman: she was unapologetically Jacobine and anti-Austrian, and her writings were clear about such political views. 

Anne Lister got a taste of the direct effect Lady Morgan’s pen had on people, when the Prior of the Armenian convent in Venice asked them not to write anything about what he was saying, since he already had enough troubles after Lady Morgan’s “reportage”.

Another important person in the Grand Tour literature is Mary Berry, whom Anne Lister had not read (as she stated in 1831, when asked about her by Lady Stuart) but had some things in common with: she was born in Yorkshire too, in 1763. As a young lady, Berry spent some years in France and Italy, and thanks to Horace Walpole we know about her strong character, and that she knew Latin and was fluent in French. Also, for Berry, travelling was the greatest purpose of life, and - just like Anne Lister - she was extremely aware and open about how beneficial it would be travelling abroad.

So, following these few significant examples that find a correspondence in the journals, despite not having published anything in her life, it is clear for us today that what Anne Lister wrote while travelling perfectly fits in today’s general picture of the Grand Tour literature.

As regards Mantua, Lister stayed there overnight en route to Milan with the purpose of exploring the sites related to the Latin author, Virgil. It was here that his literary education had taken place, therefore for the 18th- and 19th-century travellers, visiting his homeland was an experience not to be missed. Lister was mesmerized by the churches and the grand Gonzaga palaces adorned with works by Giulio Romano, particularly the full-room fresco “The Fall of the Giants” in the Ducal Palace.

Beyond the literary references, Lister is extremely drawn to the Italian architect Andrea Palladio. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, also because his style was somehow familiar to her: his works had been the main inspiration for Inigo Jones, who between the 16th and the 17th century introduced the classic Roman and Renaissance architecture in Britain, and more specifically shaping the London of the social circles that Lister knew and attended. While travelling in the Veneto region she was quite obsessed by his works, often making wrong attributions.

After leaving Italy for Switzerland in mid-August, Lister and the Barlows returned in September for a two-day trip in the Kingdom of Sardinia. Crossing the Gries Glacier into Piedmont, they visited the Toce Falls and Lake Morasco. Lister’s observations on Italian food, customs, traditions, and historical sites are pivotal in illustrating Italy’s role in the European cultural landscape

Indeed the impressions of foreigners shaped the image of Italy and set –or confirmed– the many reasons why people embarked on a journey that could also be dangerous. These accounts, though at times influenced by stereotypes, serve as valuable historical evidence today, offering insight into how Italy was perceived in the 19th century and its cultural impact on travellers of the time.

Another significant Lister-Italian connection is Countess Sophy Confalonieri, also known as Miss O’Ferrall, a well-educated and fashionable woman who travelled with Lister to Copenhagen in 1833. Actually they had already met 2 years before when Miss Ferrall and her aunt de Bourke called on her at her Parisian apartment. Lister soon appeared impressed by her -much like the rest of the French society who lavished her with party invitations- as she described the young woman as “a very nice girl, speaks English, French, Italian, and German, besides her native Danish, and is generally well informed” (Letter to Aunt Anne, August 1, 1833). At her aunt’s, Miss Ferrall met Count Federico Confalonieri, an Italian patriot and leader of the Milanese revolution against Austrian rule, whom she married in 1841 and travelled with extensively across Italy, Egypt, France and Denmark. Not only did she witness the birth of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 but also gave her contribution, participating in fundraising for the Italian flag and helping fund a Military Hospital in Milan. The countess passed away in 1868 in Blevio, near Como, where she had settled. Aware of her financial difficulties, King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy covered her funeral expenses as a final tribute to the Confalonieris, who had sincerely believed in the Italian unity cause. 

In the course of our research, we have uncovered many other acquaintances of Lister in the journals as well as archives and newspapers.

In the first mention of Anne Lister in his letter, Edward gives a brief description of her. Part of it reads:

“Miss Lister is really a phénomène – one of the curiosities of the present day – our great grandchildren will certainly have the satisfaction of examining her en détail in some musée.”

We won't speculate on how literal or not Edward's statement was, the letter and its contents may certainly be further studied and historically contextualized. We would like to emphasize, however, the extraordinary nature of Anne Lister in the eyes of her contemporaries, and how fortunate we are to be studying her through her works rather than "examining her" in a museum.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Lister was perceived by her contemporaries we have published the letter on our website where you can read it in full, along with a detailed article about the O’Ferrall family and the place they had in Anne Lister’s life.

In conclusion, thanks to Anne’s Italian travel account and the Italian acquaintances she made and cultivated, it’s important to notice how we were able to not only uncover relevant women for our local and national history but also find novel historical documents that can expand and contextualize even further how a figure like Anne Lister was perceived in the XIX century.