Goethe, having just turned thirty-seven at the beginning of September 1786, had "slipped away", in his words, from his duties as Privy Councillor in the Duchy of Weimar, from a long platonic affair with a court lady, and from his immense fame as the author of the novel Werther and the stormy play Götz von Berlichingen, and took what became a licensed leave of absence.

By May 1788 he has traveled to Italy via Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass and visited Lake Garda, Verona, Vicenza, Venice, Bologna, Rome and Alban Hills, Naples and Sicily.

He has written many letters to a number of friends in Germany, which he will later use as the basis for Italian Journey.