The Grand Tour was essentially an urban-based endeavour. While the journey between England and the Italian peninsula necessitated lengthy travel across the French and Italian countryside, often with a return journey through the Low Countries, the cities and built environs of Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples dominated the itinerary of the early tourist.
From the mid-sixteenth century, printed images depicting classical architectural landmarks in cities and as ruins in the landscape became widespread. Varying in degree from exacting topographical descriptions to archetypes assembled from imaginative interpretations, the proliferation of images that foregrounded architecture indicated the level of fascination classical buildings held for artists, architects and tourists–many of whom were amateur historians and archaeologists.
The study of classical architecture in Italy led to the development of Neoclassicism, a style that came to dominate contemporary architecture globally from the mid-eighteenth century. Defined by monumentality, Neoclassicism championed pure geometric form, symmetry, proportion, solidity, and principles of reason. Conversely, images of ruins in the landscape became an artistic genre that influenced the development of Romanticism and supported the development of a pervasive narrative about the decadence and subsequent decline of the ancient Roman Empire.