The Divine Museum of Architecture: Two French Authors in Sicily

presented by Susannah Fullerton, OAM, FRSN

In 1835 Alexandre Dumas visited Sicily under an assumed name. As a Republican agitator, he had been banned from visiting the island, but was determined to get there. He wrote about his experiences in travel memoirs, used Sicily as a setting for a novel, and immersed himself in the current political situation. He was especially taken with the Aeolian Islands. Fifty years later, another Frenchman arrived. Guy de Maupassant, a superb short story writer and travel writer, travelled all over Sicily in 1885. He was hugely impressed and called the place a “strange and divine museum of architecture”. He climbed Mt Etna, descended into the Capuchin catacombs, checked out ancient Greek sites and admired the Syracuse statue of Venus. Both Frenchmen were vivid travel writers.

Follow in their footsteps and see Sicily as it was in the 19th century, through the eyes of these great authors.

Susannah Fullerton, OAM, FRSN

Susannah Fullerton is President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. She has published several books on Jane Austen and has lectured extensively on famous authors, their lives and works both in Australia and overseas.

Find out more about Susannah here.