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The Use of History in Late Medieval Guidebooks to Rome

The Use of History in Late Medieval Guidebooks to Rome

By Timo Saastamoinen

XIV International Economic History Congress (2006)

Introduction: As people consider the relevance of the past to given tourism resort, they usually refer to the modern era. One only have to think about the cities like Florence and Rome, which draw millions of tourists every year, tourists whose main reason for coming are the history and old monuments. One easily understands the importance of the cultural heritage to these places, as big proportions of their incomes come from tourism industry. The technological inventions that had made large scale tourism possibly easily shade the fact that some modern tourism locations had profited from travellers for centuries. My aim, in my presentation today, is to analyze how some late medieval guidebooks to Rome described the history of Rome and how they used the past to manifest the importance of eternal city.

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