Italy

In the reign of Peter I the Great diplomats were not only representatives of Russian interests in the world but were also media of national cultural values dissemination. A vivid example of such experience is Prince B. I. Kurakin. Being in Rome he tried to understand the essence of political and economic arrangements of the society, peculiarities of social development. As the description of Rome was one of the first B. I. Kurakin’s impressions of the West, it was a bit naïve.

The article is devoted to the analysis of events concerning the Italian Tour undertaken by H. Walpole in 1739-1741. Young English aristocrats set off for a Grand Tour to the continent to complete their education. Horace Walpole was a representative of the mid-18^th century English culture. He was active in many fields, but the article focuses on the impact of the everyday Italian culture on the views of young Walpole

The article draws attention to the extraordinary, by African standards, respect in Eritrea for the soldiers of the Italian colonial troops, the Ascari, and even for some of their Italian officers, such as Amedeo Guillet. The author reveals the reason for this respect, which was not present in another former Italian colony Libya.