Johann Wolfgang Goethe was not only the foremost German writer, but also a European spirit, who invented the concept of universal literature, due to his interest in foreign writings. Goethe stayed in Italy for two years in his 30′ and was greatly influenced by his experience throughout the peninsula. He was especially conquered by the warm south, by Sicily, but spent a great deal of time in Venice and Rome. Here he used his stay also as a time travel, grasping the style of classical Greco-Roman architecture. Although he is appreciated as the father of the German Romantic literature, through writings like The Sorrows of Young Werther or Faust, Goethe remained a conservative his entire life, so the iconic buildings of Rome must have made him feel like home.
Goethe retold his memories from his first year in Italy in a book entitled Italian Jurney, in several letters sent to friends and in two books of love poems, Roman Elegies and Venetian Epigrams.