In the footsteps of Goethe’s Grand Tour of Sicily
In the days before tourist agencies and package holidays, travel was an opportunity for a select few. The scions of high society (and not all of them) undertook what was known as the Grand Tour, a months-long journey accompanied by a guardian to explore and learn about the cultural riches of the continent.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was one of them. He fell in love with the land and called Sicily “the Queen of the Islands”.
“Italy without Sicily leaves no image on the soul; here is the key to all. […] “The purity of the contours, the softness of everything, the exchange of soft colors, the harmonious unity of the sky with the sea and the sea to the land […] who saw them once, shall possess them for a lifetime.” J. W. Goethe, “Goethe’s ‘Italian Journey.
An itinerary that promises to reveal Sicily in all its fascinating complexity, which we have sketched out for you, highlighting what is as unchanged today as it was then.
Things to see in Palermo: Goethe’s itinerary and its symbolic places
Goethe arrived in Palermo by sea, probably docking in the old port: the Cala. He must have inhaled the smell of salt and of the market, that of the Vucciria (not far away), in stark contrast to the splendour of Palermo’s aristocracy, which at the time was actively contributing to the city’s Baroque artistic and architectural development.
But it was the Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia on Monte Pellegrino that took the young Goethe’s breath away. He was so fascinated by the view that he called it ‘the most beautiful promontory in the world’. And when we imagine him standing in front of the Sanctuary and the statue of Santa Rosalia, the patron saint of the city, his words are particularly evocative:
“When we reached the summit of the mountain, where it forms a niche in the rock, we found ourselves facing a sheer wall from which the church and the convent seemed to be hanging (…) A beautiful young girl then appeared to me by the light of a few quiet lamps”.
Photo credits: Alfio Garozzo
Goethe in Agrigento: discovering ancient ruins and breathtaking landscapes
Goethe arrived in Agrigento with his eyes still on the sea of Palermo.
The city revealed itself to him from the top of a hill overlooking a vast panorama of fertile land until the strip of land kisses the sea. The landscape struck him with the force of a contrast: lush fields stretched as far as the eye could see, but the absence of houses gave the place an air of melancholy solitude. A characteristic that it still retains in part today.
“At the extremity of a long and wide valley, isolated on a hilltop and at the same time surrounded by cliffs, a wide expanse of land dominates far away, but only a short stretch of sea. The surrounding country is immersed in a melancholic fertility, all cultivated, yet almost devoid of human habitation”.
His path then led him to the majestic archaeological park of Selinunte.
Here, the Acropolis and the remains of Hellenic temples kept the memory of millennia alive. Goethe wandered among the ruins, touching the time-worn stones, and each column seemed to whisper to him stories of glory and decline, of gods and men now forgotten.
But it was the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento that finally captured his heart.
With the insatiable curiosity that characterised him, the poet did not limit himself to admiring the archaeological heritage: he studied the local agricultural practices and the ingenious method of soap production that exploited waste. But it was a particular type of Sicilian wheat that struck him: the “tumenia”, a summer cereal that, thanks to the heat of the sun, ripens in just three months.
Perhaps it was then that Goethe realised that the true essence of Sicily lay in this silent dialogue between past and present, between the work of man and the majesty of nature.
Photo credits: Alfio Garozzo
Goethe’s itinerary in Caltanissetta: between history and Sicilian nature
Leaving Agrigento behind, Goethe’s Grand Tour continued into the Sicilian hinterland, to those vast expanses of wheat that earned Sicily the title of ‘Granary of Rome’ back in the time of the Roman Empire.
Today, as then, the landscape is gradually transformed: golden fields stretch endlessly, interrupted only by a few villages in the distance.
Goethe arrived in Caltanissetta, located 650 metres above sea level, like a rough jewel. An enchantment that clashed with the reality of a Spartan city. And it took a little longer for Caltanissetta to reveal itself to the poet in all its beauty:
“A gentle succession of mountainous and hilly bumps, all cultivated with wheat… a mass of uninterrupted fecundity”.
Here, in addition to the golden fields that testify to Sicily’s fertility, Goethe was pleasantly surprised by some of the “hidden treasures” of the town of Nissetta, such as the Castle of Pietrarossa and the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Nova.
Despite the fact that Caltanissetta at the time had a reputation as a dangerous place, with bad roads and gangs of thieves ready to rob, the German writer discovered here the riches of Sicilian crops and the remains of a city that, in the History of Italy of 1849, was the scene of Sicily’s capitulation to the Bourbons.
Goethe in Enna: discover the highest city in Italy
After leaving Caltanissetta, Goethe reached the ancient Castrogiovanni, today known as Enna. The city, rising 931 metres above sea level, earned the title of Italy’s highest provincial capital.
As he drove along the hairpin bends, the crisp air of the high altitude filled his lungs, bringing with it millennia of history: the Sicans, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians and Aragonese had all left an indelible imprint on this rock.
Goethe noted in his diary:
“an isolated ridge that gives the landscape an unusual and severe character“.
His words capture the essence of Enna, a place between heaven and earth.
Enna turned out to be a veritable history book, its pages recounting the exploits of past civilisations and the resilience of a people who had used its strategic position not only for defence but also as a privileged vantage point overlooking the island.
Catania and Goethe’s Grand Tour: baroque, lava and historical wonders
Goethe arrived in Catania by land, after a long journey on horseback from Enna. The city greeted him with a whirlwind of emotions and contrasts, very different from the quiet Sicilian hinterland. Here, the Baroque is tinted with the black of lava, and the pulsating energy of city life pulsates to the rhythm of the Etna volcano.
The German poet observed how the lava had shaped not only the landscape but also the soul of the city of Etna. His words paint a vivid picture of this transformation:
“In the vicinity of Ibla Maggiore there are fragments of lava, which the waters bring from the north, and in crossing those you can see limestone, or fragments of lava, which were all subjected to the action of fire. The gravelly hills continue until near Catania, and in the vicinity of that, and beyond that, one can observe the torrents of lava coming from Etna”.
But it was Palazzo Biscari that took Goethe’s breath away. Guided by a local abbot, the writer immersed himself in the wonders kept inside:
“The abbot, who had come to greet us yesterday evening, showed up on time this morning and took us to the Biscari palace, a one-storey building on a high basement; and here we visited the museum, which contains marble and bronze statues, vases and similar antiquities of every kind“.
As he wandered through the rooms of the palace, Goethe could not help but think of the recent bereavement of the Catanese nobility: the death of Prince Ignazio Biscari, which had occurred only seven months earlier. The shadow of this loss seemed to hover over the precious artefacts, giving them an aura of melancholy beauty.
The journey continued to the “rocce di Jaci”, today’s Aci Castello. It was here, in front of the archaeological remains that time and natural disasters had left behind, that Goethe reflected on the fragility of human endeavour:
“We saw the remains of water reservoirs, a naumachia, and other similar ruins, which, however, given the city’s repeated destruction by lava, earthquakes, and wars, lie beneath the rubble and are so sunken that only an erudite connoisseur of architectural antiquities can take pleasure in them and learn from them”.
In these words resounds the echo of a city that, like a phoenix, continues to be reborn from its own ashes, in an eternal dialogue with the volcano that threatens and nurtures it. In Goethe’s eyes, Catania was a colourful environment where the black of the lava merged with the blue of the sea. An aspect that still characterises it today.
Photo credits: Alfio Garozzo
Taormina on Goethe’s journey: the timeless charm of Sicily
After his stay in Catania, Goethe arrived in Taormina: at 204 metres above sea level, it is a precious jewel set between the blue of the sky and the deep blue of the sea, with Mount Etna in the background. Passing through Porta Messina, the ancient northern entrance, the poet was greeted by the elegance of its cobbled streets, which lead the visitor to Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, the ancient Greek agora, still pulsating with life.
Climbing the steps of the Ancient Greek Theatre, the writer felt transported into an almost dreamlike dimension:
“Standing at the top of the highest steps of the amphitheatre, it is forceful to admit that there has never been an audience in a theatre who has enjoyed an equal view”.
And when we imagine him standing at the top of those millenary steps, lost between the sea, the volcano and the sky, we can almost feel the emotion of the beauty that surrounded him. The journey continued to the Roman Forum, where Goethe stood in front of the Palazzo Corvaja. This 15th century architectural jewel, with its fascinating blend of Gothic, Arabic and Norman styles, seemed to encapsulate the essence of Taormina: a place where cultures blend in perfect harmony to create timeless beauty.
Taormina remained imprinted on Goethe’s soul like a daydream, a place where nature and human art meet in an eternal embrace, creating a panorama that, as he himself admitted, no other theatre in the world could match.
Photo credits: Alfio Garozzo
Messina on Goethe’s Grand Tour: history and resilience after the earthquake
Goethe’s journey to Sicily ended in Messina. The writer was confronted with a scenario that took his breath away, but for very different reasons from those he had experienced in Palermo.
The air was thick with dust and memories, and Goethe inhaled the recent history of a tragedy.
The earthquake of 1783 had left deep scars, transforming Messina into what he called “the horrifying vision of a destroyed city”.
To the north of the city, in a vast open field, stood a temporary Messina, a mosaic of wooden huts that defied destruction with the strength of survival. His words paint a vivid picture:
“After the immense disaster that struck Messina, of the forty-two thousand inhabitants that it had, thirty thousand were left homeless; most of the houses had collapsed to the ground; the walls that threatened ruin, of many that remained standing, offered no security, and therefore, a temporary city was hastily built in a vast field to the north of Messina, consisting of wooden huts”.
Yet in the midst of so much desolation, Goethe admired the Cathedral of Messina, a Norman monument that, despite centuries of earthquakes and successive bombardments, still bears witness to Messina’s historical richness.
Walking through the streets of the provisional city and the ruins of the ancient one, Goethe felt the bitterness of a Messina that would never be the same. But he also sensed the same vitality that characterises the whole of Sicily.
Today, following Goethe’s itinerary is like travelling back in time, discovering places that continue to enchant and surprise, just as they did for the famous writer over two centuries ago.
The quotations are taken from “Italienische Reise” by J. W. Goethe.
Credits photo:
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Canva di Animaflora
Cathedral of Santa Maria La Nova in Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy, Europe, Canva di Simoncountry
Enna, Sicily, Canva di BGStock72
Messina, Sicily, Italy, Canva di Nancy Pauwels
Sources:
https://www.balarm.it/news/la-sicilia-del-grand-tour-da-goethe-a-houel-resoconti-illustri-di-veri-reporter-d-epoca-131128
https://www.travel365.it/sicilia-goethe-parte-l-approdo-palermo.htm
https://www.wimdu.it/blog/il-grand-tour-le-mete-turistiche-ai-tempi-di-goethe
https://www.maredolce.com/2021/04/03/wolfgang-von-goethe-ad-agrigento-la-sicilia-vista-dagli-stranieri/
https://lantennaonline.it/2018/12/19/ecco-cosa-disse-limmenso-goethe-al-suo-passaggio-per-la-pittoresca-e-ben-costruita-caltanissetta/
https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Ricordi_di_viaggio_in_Italia_nel_1786-87/Parte_II/Sicilia
