Brunialti Collection of the Bocconi Library
Tourism Between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
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Attilio Brunialti (1849–1920), born in Vicenza, was a jurist, geographer, and public intellectual. He studied law at the University of Padua, became professor of constitutional law in Rome, Pavia, and Turin, and served on the Council of State. He collaborated with the Italian Geographical Society as editor of its Bulletin, and between 1874 and 1879 held the post of librarian to the Chamber of Deputies, developing the classification system he would later apply to his own collection.
Brunialti's personal library was acquired by the Bocconi Library in 1922, when his daughters sold it to Rector Angelo Sraffa for 9,000 lire. The collection comprises approximately 1,800 monographs and 7,000 pamphlets, organised according to Brunialti's original classification. This exhibition traces a thematic path through the tourism-related materials, arranged across six sections of the collection.
1,800
Monographs
7,000
Pamphlets
6
Thematic Sections
Attilio Brunialti and His Library
A jurist, geographer, and versatile intellectual, Attilio Brunialti was born in Vicenza in 1849. After graduating in law at the University of Padua under Luigi Luzzatti, he embarked on an academic career as a professor of constitutional law, teaching in Rome, Pavia, and Turin. He later joined the Council of State and pursued an extensive editorial activity, overseeing the Biblioteca di scienze politiche and, together with Giulio Cesare Buzzati and Oreste Ranelletti, the Biblioteca di scienze politiche e amministrative. Elected to the Italian Parliament for nine legislatures, first representing Vicenza and later Thiene, he remained politically active—with only brief interruptions—until the final legislature preceding his death in 1920. Alongside his political and academic commitments, he distinguished himself as a scholar of political and economic geography and as an advocate of infrastructure development and territorial enhancement. Deeply interested in geography, exploration, and travel, Brunialti was among the first Italian intellectuals to recognize the significance of tourism at a time when it was beginning to take shape as an organized activity and an autonomous economic sector. He understood the value of tourism promotion as a driver of economic growth and as a means of fostering national identity. He edited the Italian translations of Élisée Reclus’s Nouvelle Géographie Universelle and Heinrich Barth’s Eastern Africa from the Limpopo to the Land of the Somalis. For many years he collaborated with the Italian Geographical Society, serving as editor and secretary of its Bulletin, and between 1877 and 1879 acted as secretary of its Commercial Geography Section, which explored the practical economic applications of geographical knowledge. He later distanced himself from the Society, disagreeing with what he saw as its increasingly theoretical orientation and limited practical relevance.
During the era of the “Scramble for Africa,” Brunialti became a strong supporter of Italian colonial expansion. He argued that colonial policy should rest on solid legal foundations and embraced the idea of “geographical predestination,” according to which European peoples were destined to oversee the development of non-European societies. To promote these views, he founded the Giornale delle Colonie and in 1885 published L’Italia e la questione coloniale, where he defined colonialism as the natural “economic and civil development of a people beyond its political borders.” He returned repeatedly to the subject in subsequent works, including Le colonie degli italiani (1895). Following Italy’s defeat at Adwa in 1896, he continued to advocate a “scientific” form of colonialism grounded in historical and geographical laws rather than contingent political decisions. At the same time, he showed a strong interest in the fate of Italian emigrants, whom he regarded—remarkably for his time—as a potential resource for the nation. In Italian communities abroad, particularly in Argentina, he perceived new economic and cultural opportunities. Brunialti’s personal library was acquired by Bocconi Library in 1922 through the initiative of his daughters, who sold it to the Rector Angelo Sraffa for 9,000 lire. The collection comprises approximately 1,800 monographs and 7,000 pamphlets, arranged by subject according to Brunialti’s own classification system. This reflected the expertise he had developed while serving as librarian to the Chamber of Deputies between 1874 and 1879. Particularly noteworthy is the extensive body of tourism-related material, including maps, railway timetables, brochures, guidebooks, and other ephemera that Brunialti collected throughout his life with a remarkably modern and inquisitive outlook. This exhibition is dedicated to presenting that collection.
1,800
Monographs
7,000
Pamphlets
6
Thematic Sections
Known since Roman times, thermal baths experienced remarkable growth throughout the nineteenth century, driven by new medical practices that promoted the healing properties of mineral waters. The discovery of the benefits of iodine, for example, led to the opening of new establishments such as Salice Terme, where its presence in the waters had been identified by the pharmacist Angelini in 1815. Hydrotherapy gained increasing prominence, and many springs, including those at Pejo and Rabbi, began marketing their waters commercially. This expansion showed no signs of slowing, as evidenced by the substantial guides to Italian mineral waters published in the early decades of unified Italy by hydrologists Giovanni Garelli and later Plinio Schivardi. At the same time, the growth of the urban middle classes encouraged the transformation of spa towns into destinations for increasingly frequent and extended stays, where medical treatment became intertwined with leisure and sociability. The rise of spa tourism thus formed part of a broader process of economic, social, and cultural change that marked the transition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The period between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century represented the height of development for spa resorts across Italy and Europe. These destinations evolved from places of medical treatment into fashionable social centres, embodying a refined and elegant lifestyle. During the Belle Époque in particular, and supported by capital generated through a new phase of economic expansion, many spa towns modernised and expanded in order to compete with the growing popularity of seaside resorts.
In Italy, destinations such as Acqui, Abano, San Pellegrino, Recoaro, Salsomaggiore, and Montecatini achieved increasing renown. Their facilities were enlarged and modernised through the construction of imposing spa complexes distinguished by eclectic architecture that blended Art Nouveau and Neoclassical influences. The presence of casinos, theatres, gardens, and luxury hotels transformed these towns into international centres of attraction. Montecatini, for instance, became a favoured destination of European aristocrats and royalty. From 1899 onward, San Pellegrino gained additional prominence through the bottling of its celebrated mineral water, while Salsomaggiore established itself as a preferred destination for Milan’s bourgeoisie, thanks in part to the investments of the Milanese entrepreneur Giuseppe Magnaghi. In 1895, Magnaghi founded the impressive Terme Magnaghi, featuring therapeutic baths and mud treatments supervised by a medical team, equipment for pulverising and inhaling salt, and advanced cleaning and disinfection machinery capable of washing, drying, and ironing 1,500 sheets, 800 hand towels, 1,000 bath towels, and 1,000 bathrobes every twelve hours. From 1901, the spa complex was directly connected to the Grand Hôtel des Thermes, a majestic seven-storey building equipped with every modern convenience, including a post office, a bank, and a travel agency. It was during these same years that Brunialti assembled an extensive collection of pamphlets documenting not only Italian spa destinations but also renowned European resorts such as Baden-Baden in Germany and Vichy in France, which would remain for many decades among the principal meeting places and leisure destinations of European high society.
In Italy and across the Alpine region, the construction of major railway lines and mountain tunnels reshaped the geography of European travel. The Fréjus Tunnel (1871) linked Turin and Lyon, the Gotthard Tunnel (1882) connected Ticino with the Lombard plain, while the Simplon Tunnel, inaugurated in 1906, established a direct rail connection between Milan and Paris. Celebrated as triumphs of modern engineering, these projects transformed the Alps from a natural barrier into a crossroads of cultures, commerce, and tourism.
At the same time, the Italian railway network expanded and became increasingly integrated. Following nationalisation in 1905 and the creation of the Ferrovie dello Stato (State Railways), railway management was unified and an ambitious programme of modernisation was launched. This included some of the earliest experiments in railway electrification, paving the way for faster and more comfortable journeys. During these years, the minister Maggiorino Ferraris even proposed assigning many national tourism responsibilities to the emerging railway administration and strongly supported the creation of a un’Associazione Nazionale Italiana per il Movimento dei Forestieri (National Italian Association for the Movement of Foreign Visitors) intended to coordinate a dense network of mainly railway agencies A rich publishing culture flourished around this new mobility. Railway companies and travel agencies produced guidebooks, illustrated timetables, and tourist brochures, often notable for the quality of their design and content. These publications offered scenic itineraries, practical advice, and detailed descriptions of railway journeys across Italy and Central Europe - subjects that also attracted Brunialti’s keen interest.
During the nineteenth century, seaside tourism underwent a profound transformation, evolving from an elite pursuit into a more widespread social phenomenon. Coastal settlements that had previously depended on fishing or trade gradually reinvented themselves as destinations for leisure and health, reshaping both the landscape and the economy of the Italian and European coastlines. In Italy, the first areas to develop as seaside resorts were those along the Ligurian Riviera. By the second half of the century, places such as Sanremo, Bordighera, Alassio, and Rapallo had become established destinations for an aristocratic and international clientele. Their success was fuelled by the region’s mild climate, popular literary works such as Giovanni Ruffini’s Doctor Antonio, and numerous medical studies on the beneficial effects of the climate, including those of the renowned British royal physician Sir James Clark. Large numbers of affluent British and European visitors spent the winter in these Italian resorts, while dozens of British doctors opened practices in Liguria and other coastal regions in order to care for their patients on site. The phenomenon became so successful that the area around Sanremo hosted as many as 30,000 visitors on the eve of the First World War.
The resorts of the Adriatic coast subsequently began to develop hotels and bathing establishments, following the recommendations of the physician and hygienist Paolo Mantegazza and laying the foundations of a tourism model that would endure for decades. Across the country, newspapers introduced regular columns devoted to the bathing season, while illustrated magazines such as L’Illustrazione Italiana, through their extensive coverage of new resort openings, helped shape the collective imagination of the seaside holiday. This development extended throughout the Mediterranean. Destinations such as Nice, Cannes, and Menton, with their luxury hotels, elegant promenades, and cosmopolitan atmosphere, became symbols of European resort culture. Italian seaside towns sought to compete with the allure of the French Riviera, often taking these celebrated destinations as their model. In the twentieth century, following the First World War and the collapse of Europe’s great empires, the social landscape of tourism changed significantly. Aristocratic visitors gradually disappeared, social customs evolved, and new travellers arrived, particularly from the United States. A vivid literary portrait of this world can be found in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night, set on the French Riviera. As the century progressed, seaside tourism underwent a gradual process of democratization: holidays by the sea became accessible to increasingly broad sections of society, while the coast shifted from being primarily a winter destination to a summer one, associated with bathing, sunshine, and leisure. The pamphlets collected by Brunialti bear witness to a period of profound cultural transformation, during which the coastline emerged as one of the most powerful symbols of the European tourist imagination and played a central role in the development of modern tourism.
In his 1875 book Italian Alps, the renowned British mountaineer Douglas Freshfield recalls an episode from one of his expeditions: as he prepared to depart, local villagers stared in bewilderment at the ropes and ice axes carried by his party. Unable to believe their explanation, they assumed instead that the group must be prospectors searching for gold. Such was the strangeness of mountaineering in the eyes of local communities. Much changed in the decades that followed. Between the late nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth, Europe’s mountain regions underwent a profound transformation. Once perceived as remote, inhospitable, and even threatening landscapes, they gradually became established tourist destinations, attracting an increasingly broad public thanks to improvements in transport, changing cultural attitudes, and the emergence of new forms of leisure. Mountain tourism soon developed along several distinct lines. Alongside sporting mountaineering, which appealed primarily to cultural and bourgeois elites, climatic and health tourism gained increasing importance. German physicians such as Karl Turban advocated mountain environments as ideal settings for the treatment of respiratory and nervous disorders through clean air and rest. Numerous climatic resorts emerged, complete with sanatoria, sun terraces lined with reclining chairs, and dedicated therapeutic facilities. Davos became the most famous example, immortalised by Thomas Mann in The Magic Mountain. Switzerland’s model of long-term accommodation for foreign visitors proved particularly successful. Similar institutions were also established in Italy: the country’s first sanatorium was built at Sondalo, in the province of Sondrio, in 1902 on the initiative of the physician Zubiani, while in the Austrian territories of Tyrol and Trentino traditional peasant baths were adapted into therapeutic resorts (Kurorte), as occurred in Torbole, Riva, and Arco.
The development of railways and transportation infrastructure was equally decisive. New railway lines crossing the Alps and Prealps made accessible destinations that had previously required long journeys on foot or by mule, fostering the emergence of major Alpine tourist centres from Courmayeur to Trentino. At the same time, the growth of the hotel industry—an area in which Switzerland excelled—helped transform small mountain villages into internationally renowned holiday resorts, equipped with modern hotels and extensive hospitality infrastructure. In the early twentieth century, Arnold Lunn refined skiing techniques and promoted the sport among the British aristocracy through a series of publications and initiatives. The new sport played a crucial role in the rise of winter tourism, fundamentally altering perceptions of the mountains during the colder months. Resorts such as St. Moritz and Pontresina in the Grisons, together with Chamonix in Savoy, were among the first to develop organised winter seasons and quickly became destinations for European high society. Italian Alpine resorts soon followed, aided by the construction of cableways and aerial lift systems during the first decades of the twentieth century. The hospitality sector also adapted rapidly to these changes. From the 1910s onwards, guidebooks such as the Baedeker identified hotels unsuitable for tuberculosis patients with the notation keine Lungenkranken (“no lung patients”). Many establishments that had once catered to invalids began instead to display a laurel wreath and the words “Sport Hotel,” clearly signalling their new clientele and purpose. It was during these years that the Alpine myth took shape. Images of snow-covered peaks, picturesque villages, and healthy outdoor recreation became recurring features of guidebooks and promotional pamphlets such as those collected by Brunialti. More than a century later, they remain an integral part of our collective imagination.
From the second half of the nineteenth century onward, urban tourism became an increasingly widespread social practice, reflecting a broader transformation in the perception of European cities. Supported by the expansion of infrastructure and the growth of the hotel industry, cities increasingly emerged as tourist destinations in the modern sense of the term. Following the example of the pioneering British firm Thomas Cook, Italy also saw the establishment of its first travel agencies, including the company founded by Massimiliano Chiari, later known as Chiari e Sommariva (1906), and the Società Nazionale Grandi Viaggi, established by Alessandro Perlo in 1912. Publishing initiatives likewise played an important role in promoting a culture of travel. Among these, Sonzogno’s Biblioteca illustrata dei viaggi intorno al mondo per terra e per mare (“Illustrated Library of Journeys Around the World by Land and Sea”), launched in 1899, contributed significantly to the growing popularity of tourism, including urban travel. In Italy, Florence, with its Renaissance heritage, Venice with its multifaceted charm, Rome for its imperial monuments, and Naples—also thanks to its proximity to the archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum—became essential destinations on the nineteenth-century tourist itinerary. Their popularity reflects the broader transition of travel from an aristocratic privilege to an experience increasingly accessible to wider sections of society. Milan, Siena, Verona, and the city and lake of Como likewise became highly sought-after destinations.
Beyond Italy, Paris consolidated its position as Europe’s cultural and aesthetic capital. Universal Expositions, Haussmann’s boulevards, literary cafés, and grand department stores all contributed to defining the city as the embodiment of modernity. Nice, Lyon, and Marseille followed a similar trajectory, gaining prominence through their mild climate, urban elegance, and vibrant artistic and cultural life. In Switzerland, urban tourism developed in close connection with the natural environment. Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, Neuchâtel, and Lucerne offered visitors a distinctive combination of Alpine scenery, urban order, and advanced services. Geneva in particular emerged as an international crossroads, while Lucerne became an icon of Romantic tourism thanks to its covered bridges and its proximity to lakes and mountains. A cultivated and curious traveller, Brunialti assembled an extensive collection of guidebooks, maps, and city plans from across Europe. His library also includes a remarkable group of prints depicting cities in the United States, a fascinating addition that further enriches the breadth and character of his collection.
Between the late nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth, European tourism underwent a profound transformation. Whereas travel had long remained the privilege of aristocratic and bourgeois elites, tourism increasingly assumed more organised and accessible forms, becoming widely recognised as a social and cultural practice. A key role in this process was played by the emergence and growth of tourist associations. Across Europe, numerous organisations were established to coordinate and promote tourism services. In Switzerland, the Sociétés de Développement and Syndicats d’Initiative were particularly active, while similar organisations operated in France. In the German Empire, Verschönerungsvereine (“Improvement Societies”) sought to enhance the attractiveness of towns and landscapes, while in the Austro-Hungarian Empire Kurkommissionen (“Spa Commissions”) oversaw the development and administration of health resorts. Alongside these institutions emerged associations of active travellers. Initially, these took the form of clubs centred on shared sporting interests such as mountaineering and yachting; later came the touring clubs, whose members worked to promote and disseminate a broader culture of travel and tourism. Italy provides a particularly significant example of this development. The first major Italian organisation in this field was the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), founded in Turin in 1863 by Quintino Sella. Established to encourage the exploration and appreciation of the mountains, the association soon became an important vehicle for civic and scientific education. Through the construction of mountain huts, the maintenance of trails, and the publication of guides, the CAI made the Alps more accessible and helped transform the mountains from remote and intimidating spaces into a national heritage to be explored and valued.
Alongside the CAI, the early twentieth century saw the emergence of a movement that connected tourism with the world of labour and the working classes: the Unione Operaia Escursionisti Italiani (UOEI). Founded in 1911, the organisation sought to promote hiking and outdoor recreation among workers. It achieved rapid success, and in the years immediately preceding the First World War its membership surpassed that of the CAI. Equally important was the work of the Touring Club Italiano (TCI), founded in Milan in 1894 by the industrialist Luigi Bertarelli and inspired by British cycling clubs. Originally established as the Touring Club Ciclistico Italiano with just fifty-seven members, it adopted its current name in 1900 and expanded rapidly, becoming the country’s leading tourism organisation, with more than eighty thousand members by 1910. Through publications such as the Guida-itinerario dell’Italia, the Guide regionali d’Italia, and the magazine Le Vie d’Italia, the TCI played a decisive role in promoting a modern culture of tourism. Taken together, Italian tourist associations performed a dual function. They democratized access to travel while also providing practical tools for organising and enhancing tourism practices. The guides, pamphlets, and printed materials preserved in Attilio Brunialti’s library offer eloquent testimony to this process. Brunialti himself was actively involved in these developments, serving as president of a CAI section between 1910 and 1913.
Tourism in Brunialti’s Time and Tourism Today. Concluding Remarks
Italy, already a favourite destination on the Grand Tour of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, offered an extraordinarily rich and multifaceted range of travel experiences between the late nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth. Historic cities renowned for their art, seaside resorts, health resorts, spa towns and mountain retreats formed a mosaic of destinations, itineraries and holiday experiences, vividly documented in the brochures preserved in the Brunialti Collection. Although profoundly transformed, this heritage of places and traditions continues to shape Italy’s tourism offering. Rediscovering tourism as it was more than a century ago can also offer food for thought in addressing some of the challenges facing tourism today. Much is now said about reducing seasonality: the need to spread visitor numbers more evenly throughout the year. Yet, leafing through the brochures in the Brunialti Collection, we discover that many seaside resorts now visited almost exclusively in summer were once also valued as winter destinations, sought out for their mild climate, healthy air and the benefits attributed to a stay by the sea. Similarly, as overtourism becomes an increasingly pressing issue, the tourism geography of the past can suggest alternative itineraries and new opportunities to promote destinations sustainably. Many places that were once renowned and well visited now lie outside the main tourist circuits, despite retaining their former charm. This is true, for example, of the many spa towns featured in a substantial proportion of the collection’s brochures: places that could once again play a leading role in new forms of cultural and wellness tourism, as well as initiatives and events that celebrate their distinctive identity. From this perspective, the brochures in the Brunialti Collection also become tools for seeing places in a different light, rediscovering forgotten destinations and imagining tourism that is more varied, more geographically dispersed and more attentive to local history. Taking a fresh look at the contexts and distinctive features that have shaped Italy’s appeal remains a valuable way to approach its tourism experiences and destinations constructively.
Annunziata Berrino, Storia del turismo in Italia. Bologna, Il Mulino, c2011 ASUB, Lettera Da Rina e Cina Brunialti a Sraffa, 16 marzo 1922 Giovanni Cazzetta, Predestinazione geografica e colonie degli europei. Il contributo di Attilio Brunialti, in Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, N. 1 (2004-2005). P. 121-127 Federico Ferretti, Traduire Reclus. L’Italie écrite par Attilio Brunialti, in Cybergeo : European Journal of Geography, 2009, https://doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.22544 Guido Melis, Per una biografia di Attilio Brunialti consigliere di Stato, in Studi in memoria di Cesare Mozzarelli, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2008, p. 1297-1322 Ilaria Porciani, Attilio Brunialti e la ‘Biblioteca di Scienze Politiche'. Per una ricerca su intellettuali e Stato dal trasformismo all'età giolittiana, in I giuristi e la crisi dello Stato liberale in Italia fra Otto e Novecento a cura di Aldo Mazzacane, Napoli, Liguori, 1986. We would like to thank Professor Magda Antonioli for her scholarly guidance in the development of this exhibition.