Etiquette for When in Rome, c.1882

“Everyone is ashamed not to seem to know French: no one is ashamed to confess his or her utter ignorance of Italian. Indeed such ignorance is considered rather something to boast of than otherwise. It is amusing to witness the indignation of English people when they discover that Italians, as a nation, do not understand French.” —circa 1882 

The “Grand Tour,”  popular from the 17th to early 19th-century, was a custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as one of the major destinations. Generally, these “Grand Tours” were  undertaken by the upper-class young European men of rank and wealth, when they came of age at around the age of 21

. Typically, the young man was chaperoned by a tutor or elder family member. Though the Grand Tour was primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, similar trips were also made by wealthy young men, and occasionally young women, of other Protestant Northern European nations.

Expectations of Englishmen Who Know French

Among the crowds of our fellow-country men that are to be met every Winter in Rome, and more or less in more out-of-the-way parts of Italy, it is surprising to find how few make even a pretense of speaking Italian. Everyone is ashamed not to seem to know French: no one is ashamed to confess his or her utter ignorance of Italian. Indeed such ignorance is considered rather something to boast of than otherwise. It is amusing to witness the indignation of English people when they discover that Italians as a nation do not understand French. 

They seem to think that, if they address the natives of any Continental country in some Continental tongue, no matter what it may be, those same natives are bound to know what they mean. Now, as a matter of fact, Italians are quite indifferent to all foreign languages, and have hitherto made no effort to acquire any knowledge either of French or English: so that a traveler in the country who knows no language but his own is quite cut off from holding any direct communication with the natives, dare not leave the beaten tourist-track, and even on it is totally at the mercy of commissioners and hotel-keepers.— The London Saturday Review, 1882

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