Fearnley spent three years in Italy from 1832 to 1835. During this time he toured the country extensively, drawing inspiration from the landscape, classical architecture and the powerful Mediterranean sunlight, which led to a new harmony in his work. He continued to make open air oil studies, in which he focused primarily on the effects of light. His main aim was to balance architecture and landscape - the man-made and the natural - as in this sketch, in which the buildings do not detract from the panorama of the distant bay. He was also interested in individual features of the landscape and vegetation, seen here, for example, in the tall Agave plant on the right of the composition.

Fearnley greatly enjoyed his stay in Italy and was eager to return. Although he was flattered by Dahl’s belief that he would succeed him as the leading painter of the Norwegian landscape, he made no plans to settle in Norway. When Dahl warned him against prolonging his stay in Italy, Fearnley wrote back, ‘I have been very satisfied with my stay in Italy, and … will do my utmost to return there. I consider my trip [to Norway] only as a study tour, to collect subjects from the landscape of our native country, to which I am after all attached by a bond of love, though the gentler Italian sky and freer life-style there draw me like magnets. I can see myself living in body in Italy, while my imagination continues to be occupied with the proud and earnest features of the North; painting our inclement, stormy autumn days without being remotely inconvenienced by them.’