Mariana Starke (1761/2-1838) was an English author. She wrote plays and poetry, mainly early in her career, and while her plays had decent runs the reviews were mixed. Her later travel writing brought her considerably more success. Her father was Richard Starke, governor of Fort St. George in Madras (now known as Chennai). It was here she spent her childhood, background that she used in her plays The Sword of Peace; or, A Voyage of Love (1788) and The Widow of Malabar (1790). She then lived in Italy for an extended period, between 1792 and 1798, in order to attend a sick relation, and this experience formed the basis for her later writing. Her other works include: The Poor Soldier (1789), The Tournament (1800), The Beauties of Carlo Maria Maggi (1811) and Information and Directions for Travellers on the Continent (1824).
Mariana Starke (c.1762-1838) published this work in 1802, launching her career as a travel writer. Volume 2 contains nine beautifully written letters which evaluate the cultural attractions of the cities of Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Florence, Bologna, and Venice and the cities' surrounding countryside. The guide gives detailed information on the climate, dialects, population, geography and medical facilities of each city. A supplement offers advice on visiting the major cities of France and using the main transport links between them. The work quickly became popular as it took into account the increasing trend for less affluent families to travel abroad. Starke offers a wealth of advice on affordable food, accommodation, transport and entertainment; her famous rating system, employing exclamation marks to signify the quality of a cultural site, was the precursor of the modern-day system of star-rating. It is a classic of nineteenth-century travel writing.
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