Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio by Mary Jane Cryan is a collection of the 18th-century travel diaries of Henry Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York, written by his secretary Don Giovanni Land. The cardinal was born and raised in Rome, son of James III, the Jacobite pretender to the British throne. He was bishop of the Frascati diocese and became a cardinal in 1747. The book is essentially a translation of the diaries, but also contains the Italian transcriptions of the documents. There is a useful introduction and chronology contextualising the documents in their historical background.

As well as giving an insight into 18th-century travel, the diaries contain invaluable information about 18th-century dress, church ritual and a cardinals routine. Churches and towns visited are described with great detail. Of special note are those of Orvieto and Florence and the Uffizzi gallery. The author, who is an historian and journalist, gives informative annotations for example, as to whether churches and families mentioned still exist allowing the modern reader to link past with present.

Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio by Mary Jane Cryan. Davide Ghaleb Editore, Rome, 2004.