Viajeros italianos a México: una larga historia

In the history of relationships between Italy and the American continent, the second half of the 19th century is undoubtedly characterized by the great migration that brought millions of Italian workers beyond the Atlantic. Their favorite destinations were the United States of America, Argentina and Brazil, but they also directed to some other places, such as Guatemala, Colombia or Chile; we have in mind some less numerous groups, but not in the least insignificant. In the context of this enormous human migration, Mexico seems to represent a separate case, almost an exception in the general panorama, given the fact that the number of Italian emigrants to that country was always small, not comparable with what happens in other places. However, this does not mean the lack of interest of the Italians towards Mexico; on the contrary, this is obvious in a significant number of travelers who went there during the 20th century, who upon returning wrote books, travel diaries, reports, in a word a vast production that will be presented in panoramic form in this study. Research in archives and libraries has allowed us to rescue and bring together almost forty authors, who can be organized into six periods, each with its peculiar characteristics. In my essay I want to trace the general coordinates of this corpus and indicate the evolution of travel writing about Mexico during the 20th century in Italy.