Rough notes.
Aesthetic experience may conventionally be associated with the so-called higher senses – sight and hearing – but it is intimately connected also with the lower senses – touch, taste and smell – as well as with features of experience that are difficult to decompose, which come in a larger, holistic form, involving not only the sensing of something external, but also active engagement, motion, duration, etc.
What is the European Grand Tour, for instance, if not a complex overall experience, in which the understanding and appreciation of classical culture is structured in terms of the contours and rich intricacies of a journey. I am particularly interested by the journey across the Alps that precedes almost every grand tourist’s experience of Italian culture. How does the experience of wild, mountainous nature provide a necessary precursor to journeying through Italy? How is the experience of the Alps positioned? How does it provide access to the aesthetic?