Associated object

Etruscan tombs at Orvieto

Photographic print

LFRD 5075

Freud toured Northern Italy in 1897 with his brother Alexander. During his visit to Orvieto he was struck by the Signorelli frescos in the Duomo, an encounter which provided the material for the opening chapter of The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. His trip also included a visit to the Etruscan tombs just outside of the city. It is on this trip, in a postcard to Martha, that Freud first mentions purchasing antiquities.