Narrative of a Three Years’ Residence in Italy, 1819-1822

1838

de Beer Eb 1828 M

London: John Murray

Although claiming that there was an over-abundance of diaries on Italy, Selina Martin continued her jottings, maintaining that her narrative of her residence there between 1819 and 1822 was different, not containing classical descriptions, or critical account of the arts, or road descriptions, but just everyday details of domestic life. Travelling with her sister Elizabeth, and her husband, Sir Walter Synnot, she passes quickly through Spoleto, calling the town ‘picturesque’. And then to Foligno where she dines at an inn and recounts an improbable scene of a dog turning a spit in the kitchen. Too much wine Ms Martin!