SECTION II. From Milan, through Brescia, Verona, Padua, Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, to Florence-an excursion to Lucca, Pisa, and Leghorn-the journey from Florence to Rome, and some sketches of the antiquities, etc., of that city, terminating in the Baths of Titus. 1824. 9th mo., 29th. After a tedious and vexatious delay occasioned by the remissness of the police of Milan in not duly issuing the passports, we left that city about twelve o'clock, and after a pleasant ride through the rich and fertile, but somewhat flat plains of Lombardy, reached Vaprio, where we baited, and arrived to dinner at Bergamo, a fine city of about 32,000 inhabitants; and we found comfortable quarters at "The Couronne," situated in the faubourg of St. Leonard. The town itself is principally built on an eminence commanding delightful views of the surrounding country, and in whatever direction seen is very interesting, and we were on the whole pleased with it, as exhibiting a clean, respectable, and business-like appearance. Before retiring to rest, took an agreeable walk by moonlight, along the public promenade of the upper town. But to make each day's progress more intelligible, I ought here to describe the order of our travelling arrangements. At six o'clock in the morning, a single cup of coffee, and a little bread and butter; then eighteen or twenty miles to a dejeuné a la fourchette (coffee, tea, eggs, butter and bread, cutlets or fish), and conclude with delicious fruits (grapes, peaches, figs), and sometimes wine; after which we take the afternoon's drive, and sup or dine at five, six, or seven, as the length of the journey requires, and about eight or nine retire to rest. The apartments are generally handsome in the large towns, and comfortable in the middle-sized ones; and it is only in the small places, that you need fear being incommoded. So that the principal art of travelling by vetturino in Italy, is so to arrange the journey as to arrive at respectable lodging places every night. Our voiturier pays all, even including the servants, and we have only, when the carriage is ready, to step into it. As to fleas, we have found in some places such vermin abundant, when the floors are either of brick or covered with matting, which evidently harbours them. The best preservatives are those of smooth scagliola, which are common here, and which being easily swept, do not so readily harbour insects. It requires management in going to bed, as well as getting up; and with care in the former case, it does not always follow that they will be found in the beds, though the floors may abound with them. On the whole, this evil is much exaggerated, as an equal degree of inconvenience is experienced from it in some parts of France and Switzerland; and it may truly be said that the formidable apprehensions which we sit at home and foster relative to Italian travelling, take wing soon after you enter Italy, as we had been assured by ingenious and experienced Friends they would. 30th. Proceeded to Brescia, through a country of much the same character as the day before, adorned with fields of Indian wheat and millet, and thousands of mulberry trees, with the vines elegantly suspended between them, loaded with tempting and delicious fruit, which the peasants were busily employed in gathering, while almost every waggon we met contained its load of the same commodity. At Brescia we had time to see the Cathedral and several other churches, decorated with pictures by Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese, artists of whom this district is justly proud; some fine Roman ruins of the Temple of Hercules; the ramparts; and ascending the castle hill, had a fine panoramic view of the town and its environs. The population of Brescia is estimated at upwards of 35,000; the people approximate in character to the Swiss, and are a lively, hardy, and industrious race. The streets are fine, and rather regular. 10th mo., 1st. Left Brescia, and arrived to breakfast at Desengano,— a village delightfully situated on the Lago di Garda, known to the ancients as the Lacus Benacus; and on the banks of which the poet Catullus had a villa, some remains of which are still to be seen at Sermio. We determined to bathe in this pure and classic water, after which, and our very comfortable repast, taken in an apartment with an open corridor overlooking the lovely lake and its surrounding mountains, we set off again for Verona. Skirting the margin of the Benacus. we passed the "presque isle" of Sermio, and soon afterwards the strong and formidable citadel of Peschiera, where the river Mincius flows out of the lake on its way to Mantua. While traversing these spots, where fresh interest is excited at every step, one can hardly fail to call to mind the lively apostrophe of Rogers, in his little poem on Italy, the scene of which is evidently laid here :— "Am I in Italy? Is this the Mincius? Are those the distant turrets of Verona ? Surprise and doubt and self-congratulation.” 66 We reached Verona in time that evening to visit the far-famed Roman Amphitheatre before it grew dark, the interior of which, with some modern reparations, is quite perfect, and appears as it did to the admiring gaze of that wonderful people sixteen or seventeen centuries ago; and it serves, as Matthews properly observes, as a key to the Coliseum at Rome." It is calculated to contain twenty-three thousand persons. Of the exterior wall only four arches remain, which are deficient in one entire tier; yet a tolerable idea may still be formed of the original plan. The Arch of Gallienus, rather a mean structure, stands across the public street, and may properly be termed "a double gate, raised in the demi-Gothic style of enrichment." The Arch of Gavi, supposed to be by Vetruvius, though the accurate Forsyth has doubts on the subject, was taken down by Eugene Beauharnais, in order to its re-erection on his great road to Mantua: since the "Evenemens" the materials have been preserved, with a view to their being replaced on the old spot. A third Roman arch, of no great note, forms the gate of the town on the side of Vicenza. San Micheli has contributed largely to decorate the modern palaces of Verona, and the fortifications also which still surround the city are the works of this celebrated artist. Lodged at "The Torre di Londra:" a good inn. 2nd. Rose early, and went to see the tombs of the Scaliger Princes, which stand in the open street, and after near five hundred years are very perfect. "They are models," says Forsyth, "of the most elegant. Gothic light, open, spiry; full of statues, caged up in their slender fretted niches." An old bridge over the Adige, two arches of which are said to have been constructed by Vitruvius: and amongst other Churches those of St. Anastasius and St. Georgio; in the latter of which, besides some fine paintings, is a model of the Arch of Gavi. In many other churches fine specimens of the old masters, relics, and marbles abound; and in one of them a rich arch and four finely ornamented columns, supposed to be Roman, of white marble, as sharp and fresh as if recently carved. A similar one attracted our attention in the street, incorporated in the walls of a modern house. We concluded by visiting the curious antique gardens and terraces of Count Giuste, when we saw sundry Roman urns, columns, reliefs, etc.; some of which are inserted in the walls of the villa, and have all been found amongst the ruins of the ancient city. From an old summer-house at the top of the terrace we commanded a fine view over the city and surrounding plain. Verona is a cheerful and respectable city, and contains about forty-two thousand inhabitants: the environs are beautiful, and we found the roads on both sides superlatively good.. Come on at eleven o'clock to Vicenza, which we reached at about six in the evening, in so heavy a rain as made us glad to take shelter in the comfortable inn of "The Chapeau Rouge," where we experienced fair charges. The rain continuing with unabated violence all the evening and night, we were compelled to forego the gratification of inspecting the palaces and other public buildings erected by the celebrated Palladio, of which this city is full. Vicenza has about twenty-four thousand inhabitants. 3rd. Rose with the intention of spending our morning in our chamber, agreeably to our custom of devoting a portion of our Sabbath to religious retirement, and afterwards to inspect the city; when our good Henri informed us we must start as soon as we had despatched breakfast, or the waters, accumulated from the heavy rains of the night, would prevent our proceeding. We therefore determined to move without delay; and it was well we did, as the carriage passed with difficulty through the lower town, while we were towed in boats the length of a long street, subject to the noisy clamours of an Italian populace, anxious to avail themselves of temporary obstructions to levy contributions on the pockets of passengers. The day however proved fine, and we reached Padua by about a quarter-past three, and were well received at "The Acquila D'Oro," opposite the Church of St. Antonio, which, rising before us with its domes and turrets, had much the appearance of a Turkish mosque. The master speaks English, having been seven years in service in our country. In the evening we saw the Cathedral, with a bust of Petrach by Canova. The Church of St. Antonio, finished in 1307, before alluded to, is rich in tombs of the Pavian nobility, and the relievos around the shrine of the patron saint are particularly splendid. A young priest led us through crowds of kneeling worshippers to inspect it, which at first appeared indecent to me; but I afterwards learned to feel less delicacy at an interruption, which evidently gave neither umbrage nor disturbance to either priest or people. The Church of St. Justina, erected by Andrea Ricci, a Padovan artist, from the designs of Palladio, is a structure of noble simplicity. The columns that decorate the aisles are Ionic, and the general effect of the whole interior partakes both of the elegant and the sublime. "This Church," says Forsyth, "is rich in the spiritual and the temporal, in sculpture and painting, in the bones of three thousand saints, and the disputed bodies of two Apostles;" it is also adorned with splendid altars, costly marbles, alabasters, and Mosaics. Many of the altar-pieces are by eminent artists, and the Maitre d'Autel is decorated. with a fine picture by Paul Veronese, representing the matrydom of the patron saint. Another by Filippo Periodi, representing, in magnificent sculpture, a dead Christ, the Virgin weeping, St. John and Magdalene, must, I think, be deemed a grand composition, though some able critics consider it deficient in the true sublime. The façade of this fine edifice has never been finished, and its rusticated appearance, and the holes left in the walls by the scaffolding poles give it a forlorn look, corresponding but ill with the elegance of the interior. We also saw at Signor Papafava's a curious sculpture by Fosolata, representing the fallen angels, in sixty figures cut out of one block of marble,--all attached and exquisitely wrought; also a splendid salon, and another with two modern paintings from subjects of the "Iliad of Homer." The grand place is surrounded by a circle of statues mostly in plaster; but having a striking effect. The Palais de Justice, begun in 1172 and finished in 1306, has one apartment esteemed the largest in Europe, being three hundred feet in length, one hundred in width, and the same in height, containing some pictures by Giotto, and a monument erected to the memory of Titus Livius, to whom this town had the honour to give birth. This is a large city, and surrounded by fortifications; but its population of thirty-two thousand inhabitants is scarcely equal to its dimensions. The best parts of the city are airy and well built; but the more ancient streets are narrow and ill constructed, and the cumbrous porticos under which the foot |