Italian Hours

Italian Hours

By

Henry James

Italian Hours is a book of travel writing by Henry James published in 1909. The book collected essays that James had written over nearly forty years about a country he knew and loved well. James extensively revised and sometimes expanded the essays to create a more consistent whole. He also added two new essays and an introduction.

Italian Hours ends with the phrase, "the luxury of loving Italy," and everything in the book indicates that James enjoyed this luxury to the fullest. But he was by no means a blind lover. His opening essay on Venice, for instance, doesn't gloss over the sad conditions of life for the city's people: "Their habitations are decayed; their taxes heavy; their pockets light; their opportunities few."

CONTENTSPREFACEVENICETHE GRAND CANALVENICE: AN EARLY IMPRESSIONTWO OLD HOUSES AND THREE YOUNG WOMENCASA ALVISIFROM CHAMBÉRY TO MILANTHE OLD SAINT-GOTHARD LEAVES FROM A NOTE-BOOKITALY REVISITEDA ROMAN HOLIDAYROMAN RIDESROMAN NEIGHBOURHOODSTHE AFTER-SEASON IN ROMEFROM A ROMAN NOTE-BOOKA FEW OTHER ROMAN NEIGHBOURHOODSA CHAIN OF CITIESSIENA EARLY AND LATETHE AUTUMN IN FLORENCEFLORENTINE NOTESTUSCAN CITIESOTHER TUSCAN CITIESRAVENNATHE SAINT'S AFTERNOON AND OTHERS