Italian Hours - A Book of Travel Writing by Henry James. First Published in 1909. Italian Hours is a book of travel writing by Henry James published in 1909. The book collected essays that James had written over nearly forty years about a country he knew and loved well. James extensively revised and sometimes expanded the essays to create a more consistent whole. He also added two new essays and an introduction. Italian Hours ends with the phrase, the luxury of loving Italy, and everything in the book indicates that James enjoyed this luxury to the fullest. But he was by means a blind lover. His opening essay on Venice, for instance, doesn't gloss over the sad conditions of life for the city's people: Their habitations are decayed; their taxes heavy; their pockets light; their opportunities few. Still, James goes on to sketch eugh of the beauty of Venice to make it seem a fair compensation. Throughout the book he constantly comes back to the beauty and amenity of Italian life, despite the all too frequent material shortcomings. Venice and Rome get the most extended treatment, but James doesn't neglect the rest of the country. His Roman essays, though, show the strongest touch of his own experiences, especially his long rides on horseback through the Campagna and his many walks through various neighborhoods in the city. 'Venice has been painted and described many thousands of times, and of all the cities of the world is the easiest to visit without going there. Open the first book and you will find a rhapsody about it; step into the first picture-dealer's and you will find three or four high-coloured views of it. There is toriously thing more to be said on the subject.'