Abstract

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Italy resumed its role as one of the most attractive destinations for tourists, travellers, and exiles. A pervasive Italianism characterised the output of writers who, for various reasons, spent prolonged periods in the Peninsula: Lord Byron, the Shelleys, and Leigh Hunt may be listed among the most passionate Anglo-Italians. Italian expats in London also played an important part in consolidating Italophile feelings in Britain. Nonetheless, some travellers observed with growing anxiety widespread celebrations of cultural and intellectual hybridity as threatening forms of contamination. This essay sets out to analyse the epistolary travelogue penned by Selina Martin − better known for her later children’s books − entitled Narrative of a Three Years’ Residence in Italy, 1819-22 (1828), which may be read as a cautionary tale aimed at discouraging her compatriots from venturing into such a degenerate country.