Since his youth, Italy had been an aim, which Hesse ardently longed for; so his first trip outside Germany and Switzerland brought him to his «Promised Land». The areas which Hermann Hesse visited during the two months of this journey correspond to many of the places he often revisited in the following years: Northern Italy, the  Padana plain, Tuscany and mainly Venice and Florence.

Between 1901 and 1914, mostly together with some friends, Hesse set out on seven journeys to Italy. Since the beginning, what determined his itinerary was the pleasure for a personal experience, away from the usual touristic tracks. While the first trips were characterized by a joyful feeling of freedom, curiosity and youthful enthusiasm, after a couple of years his travels were marked by a familiarity with the cou try and the local people. His trips became more and more an escape from everyday life and his family life North of the Alps.
Having become more mature and awakened by his unsatisfaction towards life and aware of a deeper recognition of his own ego, Hermann Hesse – in his last travels, 1913 and 1914 – felt he had changed towards his initial feeling for Italy. The country he had so much loved and admired had become, deep inside, extraneous to him. World War II and afterwards the rise to power of Mussolini put an end to his Italian journeys once and for all. Yet it was the attraction to the southern culture and way of life that affected his decision to settle in Ticino in 1919, with a «glance at Italy» and at the charm of its culture.

(Calw 25.3) – Milano, Certosa di Pavia 26–29.3 – Genova 29–31.3 – Firenze 31.3–29.4 (Trips to Pisa 19.4 and to Pistoia 22.4) – Bologna 29.4 – Ravenna 29–30.4 – Padova 30.4–1.5 – Venezia 1–17.5. – Milano 17–18.5 – (Calw 19.5)

(Basilea 1.4) – Milano, Certosa di Pavia 2–3.4 – Firenze 3–12.4 – Pisa 12.4 – Genova 12–14.4 – Venezia 14–23.4 (trip to Chioggia 20.4) – Milano 23–24.4 – (Basilea 24.4)  

Maloja – Chiavenna – Bellano – Menaggio – Porlezza - Lugano

Milano – Bologna – Firenze – Arezzo – Città di Castello – Gubbio (22.3) – Foligno (23.3) – Montefalco – Perugia – Cortona (26.3) – Firenze…

Milano – Bologna – Firenze – Arezzo – Castiglione – Orvieto (26.4) – Spoleto (28.4) – Assisi (30.4) – Montepulciano – Siena – Pisa (3.5) – Chiavari – Rapallo - Milano