The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tutor or family member) when they had come of age (about 21 years old).

The Grand Tour gave concrete form to northern Europeans' ideas about the Greco-Roman world and helped foster Neoclassical ideals. The most ambitious tourists visited excavations at such sites as Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Tivoli, and purchased antiquities to decorate their homes.

For young English aristocrats, embarking on the Grand Tour was seen as an important rite of passage. Accompanied by a tutor, a Grand Tourist's route typically involved taking a ship across the English Channel before travelling in a carriage through France, stopping at Paris and other major cities.

A hallmark experience for young British noblemen was the Grand Tour, a great escapade across Europe's most renowned cities to study art and culture. Venice was a sought-after location for a variety of reasons.