The Countess Blessington in Genoa

Margaret Gardiner Blessington, an Englishwoman who had acute sensibilities and a wonderful way of turning a phrase, produced a three-volume set of travel writing, The Idler in Italy (1839-1840), that remains one of the most delightful and insightful accounts of a visit to Italy. Because of her status and charm, she met anyone who was anyone during her tours (of Lord Byron, whom she met in Genoa on April 1, 1837, she wrote, “I have seen Lord Byron; and I am disappointed! But so it ever is, when we have heard exaggerated accounts of a person; or when, worse still, we have formed a bean idéal of him.”). She spent a great deal of time in Liguria, and her descriptions of places, local people, and their customs, are as relevant today as they were in her time. Her description of the mountains of Genoa brings to mind the words of John Ruskin: “Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.”