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CITIES OF NORTHERN ITALY

VOL. I.

CITIES

NORTHERN ITALY

AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE

AUTHOR OF "WALKS IN ROME," "DAYS NEAR ROME," ETC.

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I.

THE RIVIERA Dl PONENTE, AND IN
PIEDMONT AND LOMBARDY

LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD

TO H.R.H.

LEOPOLD, DUKE OF ALBANY

THESE VOLUMES ARE

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

PREFACE.

OINCE the first publication of these volumes,
almost all the places they describe have been
frequently revisited, in order to make the information
they contain, especially the accounts of the Italian pic-
ture-galleries, as correct as possible up to the present
time. But in giving to others what has been at once
the companion and employment of many years, I am
only too conscious of the imperfections of my work
— of how much better descriptions might be given,
of the endless amount which remains unsaid. Bear-
ing Italy ever in my heart, I can only hope that
others, better fitted, will be led to drink at the great
fountain which it is impossible to exhaust, though
those who have once been refreshed by it, will always
long to return.

The volumes are called ' Cities ' of Italy because
the chief interest of the country, especially in the
northern and central provinces, centres in the towns
and their surroundings. The present edition includes

viii PREFACE.

brief accounts of the places in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the capital, which are more fully described
in ' Days near Rome.'

The Illustrations, with very few exceptions, are
from my own sketches taken on the spot, and trans-
ferred to wood by the kindness and skill of Mr. T.
Sulman.

AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE.

HOLM HURST : April 1883.

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

PACE
INTRODUCTORY ........ I

CHAPTER I.

THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE .... . . 2?

CHAPTER II.

GENOA ........... 53

CHAPTER III.

TURIN ......... , . 88

CHAPTER IV.

THE WALDENSES ........ Iog

CHAPTER V.

THE VAL D'AOSTA

CHAPTER VI.

VERCELLI AND NOVARA ....

CHAPTER VII.

MILAN

x CONSENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER VIII.

PAGE

PAVIA 174

CHAPTER IX.

MONZA AND COMO . . . . . . . . . l86

CHAPTER X.

THE ITALIAN LAKES ........ 195

CHAPTER XL

KERGAMO AND THE LAGO D' ISEO ...... 2l8

CHAPTER XII.

CREMONA . . . . . . . . . .231

CHAPTER XIII.

BRESCIA . . . . ..... . . . 241

CHAPTER XIV.

THE LAGO DI GARDA 252

CHAPTER XV.

VERONA 258

CHAPTER XVI.

MANTUA . . • • • 292

CHAPTER' XVI I. ,

VICENZA . 309

CHAPTER XVIII.

PADUA AND THE EUGANEAN HILIS . . . . j2I

CHAPTER -XIX.

BASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS ... . . . 350

INDEX . . . ......... 361

INTRODUCTORY.

THE old days of Italian travel are already beginning to
pass out of recollection — the happy old days, when
with slow-trotting horses and jangling bells, we lived for
weeks in our vetturino carriage as in a house, and made our-
selves thoroughly comfortable there, halting at midday for
luncheon, with pleasant hours for wandering over unknown
towns, and gathering flowers, and making discoveries in the
churches and convents near our resting-place. All that we
saw then remains impressed upon our recollection as a
series of beautiful pictures set in a framework of the home-
like associations of a quiet life, which was gilded by all that
Italian loveliness alone can bestow of its own tender beauty.
The arrangements of vetturino travel warded off the little
rubs and collisions and discomforts which are inevitable
now, and the mind was left perfectly free to drink in the
surrounding enjoyment. The slow approach to each long-
heard of but unseen city, gradually leading up, as the sur-
roundings of all cities do, to its own peculiar characteristics,
gave a very different feeling towards it to that which is
produced by rushing into a railway station — with an im-
pending struggle for luggage and places in an omnibus —
which, in fact, is probably no feeling at all. While, in the
many hours spent in plodding over the weary surface of a
featureless country, we had time for so studying the marvel-
lous story of the place we were about to visit, that when we
saw it, it was engraved for ever on the brain, with its past
associations and its present beauties combined.

Still, there is much to be grateful for in the convenience
of modern travel, and indeed many who could not otherwise

VOL. I. B

2 I NT ROD UCTOR Y.

explore Italy at all, are now, by its network of railways,
enabled to do so. Almost every Italian town is now con-
nected by rail with its neighbours, and therefore, in these
volumes, the traveller will be supposed to follow the principal
railways from one city to another, and to make excursions
from each. The interest of Northern and Central Italy is
almost entirely confined to its towns. The only parts of the
country which are beautiful, are just those lake and moun-
tain districts near the Alps and Apennines where railways
cannot easily penetrate, and so, in point of scenery, nothing
need be lost, though the chief disadvantage of Italian
railways for foreigners lies in the temptation they offer for
hurrying straight through from one of the larger towns to
another, and for passing over the smaller cities, and, still
more, places like Spezia and Massa-Ducale, while the re-
splendent loveliness of that especial neighbourhood should
call for a halt.

The journey to Italy is now absolutely without difficul-
ties, and most travellers take the way by the railways of the
S. Gothard or Mont Cenis as the nearest. But the most
desirable approach is that by the Cornice road along the
Riviera di Ponente. Then, after the dreary wind-stricken
plains of Central France, and the stony arid hills of Provence,
one enters Italy at Mentone by a portal like the gates of
Paradise, and is plunged at once into the land of the citron
and myrtle, of palms and aloes and cyclamen. Of course
one must not expect that all Italy will be like these Riviera
roads, and one is, as far as scenery goes, receiving the best
first, but it is charming to feel the whole of one's ideal
realised at the very outset. Except in the country along the
skirts of the Alps, at Spezia and Massa, and in the great
valleys of Tuscany and Umbria, there is not much beauty
of scenery to be found afterwards. It is through the above-
mentioned valleys, however, that the old line of railway from
Florence to Rome passes, and if one were to select a single
day's journey as the most interesting in the world, this must
be chosen. There is scarcely a minute in the day in which

INTROD UCTOR V. 3

one can afford to leave the window of the railway carriage,
scarcely a place one passes through in which one does not
long to linger, and which would not amply repay a careful
examination. First, we have the rich Arno valley, with its
visions of old convents, and castles with serrated towers,
standing on the crests of hillsides covered with a wealth of
olives and peach-trees, and themselves shut in by ravines of
hoary snow-tipped mountains ; — of villages and towns of
quaint houses, all arches and balconies, with projecting tiled
roofs stained golden with lichen, and with masses of still
more golden Indian corn hanging from the railings of their
outside staircases. Then, we have a strange volcanic dis-
trict of umber-coloured uplands, tossed and rent into every
possible contortion by some forgotten eruption. Then
Arezzo and Cortona rise on their embattled heights, and
Thrasymene stretches out its waste of reedy apple-green
waters, melting into the softest of blue distances : Perugia
watches the valley from its hillside ; the convent of Assisi
on its mighty tiers of arches strides forward towards the
plain ; Trevi clambers up a hill so steep, that every house
rises just above the roof of its neighbour, with a clear view
towards the sky ; the tiny temple of the Clitumnus looks
down upon its limpid rivulet ; the huge castle and cathe-
dral of beautiful Spoleto are backed by the ilex-clothed
mountain of San Luca ; a fissure in the brown hill behind
Terni marks the site of the famous waterfall ; and all this
beauty comes to a climax at Narni, where the river Nar
forces itself through a cleft in the huge rocks beneath the
mediaeval city, and is spanned by the mighty arches of the
bridge of Augustus. Beyond this we enter the Campagna,
grim and desolate, with buffaloes feeding amid its withered
vegetation, and, as the malaria-bearing vapours of evening
rise, and daylight dies out in a red streak behind an awful
solemn dome, the very sight of which must send a thrill
through the hearts of all who recognise it, the train passes
through a rift in a gigantic wall, hisses under the shadow of
a dim temple which we are told is Minerva Medica, and, on

4 IN TROD UCTOR Y.

the platform of an immense modern station, the porters call
out ROME.

This is, perhaps, the most interesting day, but it is a
type of many days of Italian travel, and all these places
should be, not passed through, but sojourned in, and after
being introduced to the places themselves, one should make
acquaintance with their surroundings, which are almost as
important.

Not to be disappointed in Italy as in everything else, it
is necessary not to expect too much, and hurried travellers
generally will be disappointed, for it is in the beauty of her
details that Italy surpasses all other countries, and details
take time to find out and appreciate. Compare most of
her buildings in their entirety with similar buildings in Eng-
land, much more in France and Germany, and they will be
found very inferior. There is no castle in Italy of the im-
portance of Raby or Alnwick ; and, with the sole exception
of Caprarola, there is no private palace so fine as Hatfield,
Burleigh, or Longleat. There is no ruin half so beautiful
as Tintern or Rievaux. There is no cathedral so stately as
Durham, Lincoln, or Salisbury ; for Milan, with its con-
temptible exterior, cannot enter the lists at all ; S. Mark's
is more a mosque than a church ; Siena is but a glorious
fragment ; and Orvieto, with all its celestial external beauty,
is only redeemed by its frescoes from mediocrity within.
But when we once leave general forms to consider details,
what a labyrinth of glory is opened to us, where, instead of
the rugged outlines and expressionless features of our
mediaeval architects and painters, we have the delicate
workmanship of Nino or Giovanni Pisano, or the inspiration
of a Fra Angelico or an Orcagna. In almost every alley of
every quiet country town, the past lives still in some lovely
statuette, some exquisite wreath of sculptured foliage, or
some slight but delicate fresco, a variety of beauty which
no English architect or sculptor has ever dreamed of, and
which to English art in all ages would have been simply
unattainable. Most beautiful of all, perhaps, are the tombs,

INTRO D UCTOR Y. 5

for the Italians of the Middle Ages never failed to enshrine
their dead in all that was loveliest and best. There are no
monuments in the world more touching than those of
Gaston de Foix at Milan, Medea Colleoni at Bergamo,
Barbara Ordelaffi at Forli, and Guidarello Guidarelli at
Ravenna.

Those who would carry away the pleasantest recollections
of Italy should also certainly not sight-see every day. The
motto of dough —

« Each day has got its sight to see,
Each day should put to profit be,'

— is very moral and edifying, but most unpleasant to carry
out. At least certainly the sight-seeing days will become all
the more profitable from having interludes, when it is not
necessary to give oneself a stiff neck over staring at frescoed
ceilings, and to addle one's brain by walking through miles
of pictures and hundreds of churches, without giving oneself
time to enjoy them. Oh, no ! by all means let us digest what
we have seen ; take a fresh breath, think a little of what it
has all been about, and then begin again.

Another thing which is necessary— most necessary — to
the pleasure of Italian travel, is not to go forth in a spirit
of antagonism to the inhabitants, and with the impression
that life in Italy is to be a prolonged struggle against extor-
tion and incivility. Except in the old kingdom of Naples
(where the characteristics are entirely different) there is no
country where it is so little necessary even to look forward
to such things as possible. A traveller will be cheated
oftener in a week's tour in England than in a year's residence
in Italy. During eight whole winters spent at Rome, and
years of travel in all the other parts of Italy, the author
cannot recall a single act or word of an Italian — not
Neapolitan — of which he can justly complain ; but, on the
contrary, has an overflowing recollection of the disinterested
courtesy, and the unselfish and often most undeserved kind-
ness, with which he has universally been treated. There is

6 INTRODUCTORY.

scarcely an Italian nobleman, whose house, with all it
contains, would not be placed at the disposition of a
wayfarer who found himself in an out-of-the-way place where
there was no inn or where the inn was unbearable ; there
is scarcely a shopkeeper, who would not send his boy to show
you the way to a church, one, two, or even three streets
distant ; there is scarcely a carriage which would not be
stopped to offer you a lift, if they saw you looked tired by
the wayside ; scarcely a woman who would not give you a
chair (expecting nothing) if you were standing drawing near
her house ; not a beggar who would not receive ' Cara mia,
scusatemi' as an all-sufficient negative, and who, • if a kindly
smile were added, would not send you away with a
benediction in her heart as well as on her lips. Nothing
can be obtained from an Italian by compulsion. A friendly
look and cheery word will win almost anything, but Italians
will not be driven, and the browbeating manner, which is so
common with English and Americans, even the commonest
facchino regards and speaks of as mere vulgar insolence,
and treats accordingly. Travellers, however, are beginning,
though only beginning, to learn that difference of caste in
Italy does not give an opening for the discourtesies in which
they are wont to indulge to those they consider their inferiors
in the north, and they are beginning to see that Italian
dukes and marquises are quite as courteous and thoughtful
for their vigneroli, or their pecorai, as for their equals ; and
that the Italian character is so constituted that a certain
amount of friendly familiarity on the part of the superior
never leads to disrespect in the inferior. Unfortunately
they do not always stay long enough to find this out, and
the bad impression one set of travellers leaves, another pays
the penalty of. The horrible ill-breeding of our countrymen
never struck me more than one day at Porlezza. A clean,
pleasing Italian woman had arranged a pretty little caffe
near the landing-place. The Venetian blinds kept out the
burning sun ; the deal tables were laid with snowy linen ;
the brick floor was scoured till not a speck of dust remained.

INTRO D UCTOR Y. 7

The diligences arrived, and a crowd of English and American
women rushed in while waiting for the boat, thought they
would have some lemonade, then thought they would not,
shook out the dust from their clothes, brushed themselves
with the padrona's brushes, laid down their dirty travelling
bags on all the clean table-cloths, chattered and scolded
for half an hour, declaimed upon the miseries of Italian
travel, ordered nothing, and paid for nothing ; and, when
the steamer arrived, flounced out without even a syllable of
thanks or recognition. No wonder that the woman said her
own pigs would have behaved better. It was quite true.
Yet it was by no means a singular incident.

With every year which an Englishman passes in Italy, a
new veil of the suspicion with which he entered it will be
swept away, only it is a pity that his enjoyment should be
marred at the beginning. Foreigners will find that Italian
men are generally as courteous, brave, and high-minded, as
they are almost universally handsome ; that the women are
as kind and modest as they are utterly without affectation ;
and that, though the bugbears of Protestant story-books
have certainly existed, the parish priests, and even the
monks, as a general rule, are most devoted single-minded
Christians, living amongst and for the people under their
care. Cases of ecclesiastical immorality are exceedingly
rare, quite as rare, if we may judge by our newspapers, as in
Protestant countries ; and, if carefully inquired into, it will
be found that most of the sensational stories told are taken
out of — Boccaccio ! Of course, much must naturally remain
which one of a different faith may deeply regret ; but Eng-
lishmen are apt, and chiefly on religious subjects, to accept
old prejudices as facts, and to judge without knowledge.
Especially is it impossible for l Protestants ' to assert, as
they so often do, the point where simple reverence for a
Cross and Him who hung upon it becomes * Idolatry,'
while there are few indeed who inherit the spirit with which
Sir Thomas Browne wrote, ' I can dispense with my hat at
the sight of a cross, but not with a thought of my Redeemer.'

8 INTRODUCTORY.

1 Brigands,' which north of Rome is only a fine name for
robbers, are much rarer in Italy than in England, so rare
indeed, that any case of a stranger being attacked never
fails to make a sensation which would be highly gratifying to
the feelings of any injured foreigner if it were accorded to
him in London. The few cases of murder in Italy are
almost always the result of jealousy in love, and it has often
been comical to see how, at Leghorn, where the galley
slaves bear the cause of their condemnation inscribed upon
their vest, the assassins per amore is tolerably sure of a good
deal of interest and sympathy, which is often very substan-
tially shown — indeed, such crimes never inspire much
horror, and the place where 'questo poveretto ha ammaz-
zato quella poveretta' is very touchingly pointed out to
strangers.

In regard to hotel life, it cannot be too much urged, for
the real comfort of travellers as well as for their credit with
the natives, that the vulgar habits of bargaining, inculcated
by several English handbooks, are greatly to be depre-
cated, and only lead to suspicion and resentment. Italians
are not a nation of cheats, and cases of overcharge at inns
are most unusual, except at great Anglicised hotels, where
they have been gradually brought about through the perqui-
site money demanded by couriers. When a large party are
travelling together, an arrangement may be asked for on
entering a large hotel, by which a considerable reduction
may be obtained upon the rooms. Three francs for a
good room in a good hotel is a fair price ; in the northern
towns, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, &c., it is seldom more
than two francs or two francs and a half. In the
smaller hotels, or for a single person, it is wiser never
to bargain ; but, if a charge appears top high on seeing the
bill, civilly to mention it, when, if there is no especial
reason for it, it is almost certain to be cheerfully with-
drawn. But the difference of prices in bills cannot always
fairly be laid to the charge of the hotel-keepers ; they
are rather owing to the different prices in the towns, or to

INTRO D UCTOR Y. 9

the local taxes on comestibles, which would be equally
felt if the traveller was residing in the place in his own
house. For instance, at Piacenza, where everything is most
cheap and abundant, prices are exceedingly low, whereas
at Genoa (only a few hours distant by rail) they are
naturally much higher, as the local taxes are very high, and
milk, butter, &c., have to be brought from Milan, and other
things from a great distance.

Travellers, who are at all particular, may fancy them-
selves cut off from much of interest in the smaller places by
want of comfortable accommodation. Such persons will do
well, where there are many excursions to be made, to select
centres like the Grand Hotel at Turin ; the Universe at
Lucca ; or the Hotel Brufani at Perugia, and to make them
from thence. In the very small towns, however, such as
Volterra, Borgo S. Sepolcro, and Assisi, the accommoda-
tion is often far better than in many of the large cities — for
instance, in Ravenna, where a good hotel is greatly needed.
In the Lombard towns, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, &c., the
best inns are good and very equal, and those who stay at
any of these places as much as four days will do well to
conform to the universal Italian custom, and pay fensione
(all included) of six francs a day.

Those who have travelled in Italy many years ago will
observe how greatly the character of the country has changed
since its small Courts have been swept away. With the
differences of costume and of feeling, the old proverbs and
stories and customs are gradually dying out. Travellers will
view these changes with different eyes. That Venice and
Milan should have thrown off the hated yoke of Austria, and
united themselves to the country to which they always
wished to belong, no one can fail to rejoice, and the cursory
observer may be induced by the English press, or by the
statements of the native mezzo ceto, who are almost entirely
in its favour, to believe that the wish for a united Italy was
universal. Those who stay longer, and who make a real
acquaintance with the people, will find that in most of the

io INTRODUCTORY.

central states the feeling of the aristocracy and of the con-
tadini is almost universally against the present state of
things. Not only are they ground down by taxes, which in
some of the states, especially in Tuscany, were almost
unknown before, but the so-called liberal rule is really one
of tyranny and force. The people of Ravenna were forced
to the polling-booth at the point of the bayonet. When it
was suspected (falsely suspected) that Count Saffi and
various other illustrious Italians would influence the elec-
tions at Forli, they were arrested and imprisoned, with all
the hardships and privations of malefactors, first in the
castle of Spoleto, and then in that of Perugia, for several
months, and eventually were released without any compen-
sation except the avowal that it had been all a mistake, after
the elections had taken place. Pisa and Lucca, which were
perhaps especially favoured under the grand-ducal rule, are
probably the cities which are most discontented under the
present state of things. Houses there which were taxed 50
francs under the old government are now taxed 560 francs.

The abolition of the religious institutions has also been
grievously felt throughout the country, and there are few
even of the friends of Italian unity who have not had
personal reason to experience its injustice. When ' Days
near Rome ' appeared, one of the Reviews regretted that its
author should not rejoice that Italians were no longer called
upon ' to support swarms of idlers in vestments, and hordes
of sturdy beggars in rags.' This is exactly what Italians,
with regard to the old ecclesiastical institutions, were not
called upon to do. The convents and monasteries were
richly endowed ; they had no need of being supported. It
was, on the contrary, rather they who supported the needy,
the sick, the helpless, and the blind amongst the people,
who received their daily dole of bread and soup from the
convent charities. When the marriage portions of the nuns
were stolen by the Government, there was scarcely any
family of the upper classes throughout Central Italy which
did not suffer ; for almost all had a sister, aunt, or cousin

INTRO D UCTOR Y. i r

'in religion,' upon whom a portion of i,ooo/., 5, coo/., or
io,ooo/., had been bestowed, and who was thrown back
helpless upon their hands, her fortune confiscated, and with
an irregularly paid pension of a few pence a day, quite in-
sufficient for the most miserable subsistence.

Those who declaim so loudly upon the advantages of
Italian unity are often unaware of the extreme difference
which exists between the people and the language in the
North and South of Italy — that a Venetian would not in the
least be able to understand a Neapolitan, and vice versa.
This difference often comes out when the absurd red-tapeism
of the Government is put into action. For instance, when
the heat makes it impossible for the troops in Naples and
Palermo to support their winter clothing, the soldiers shiver-
ing in the icy streets of Parma and Piacenza are put into
brown holland, because throughout ' United Italy ' the same
order must take effect !

Where the natives have suffered, foreigners have reaped
many advantages from the union in the absence of weari-
some custom-houses and requests for passports, and even
more in the ease afforded by the universal coinage, though
it has made things more expensive, as a franc (io*/.) is now
received as an equivalent in all questions of fees to a paul
(5^.). Specimens of the ancient coinage are now scarcely
even to be obtained as curiosities. Only one town in Italy
retains its especial coinage — the Republic of San Marino.

The characteristics of the great Italian cities are well
summed up in the proverb : ' Milano la grande, Venezia la
ricca, Geneva la superba, Bologna la grassa, Firenze la
bella, Padova la dotta, Ravenna 1'antica, Roma la santa ; '
or in the old song : —

' Bela di santiti ti sei Romana ;
E di bellezza ti sei Veneziana ;
E di la pumpa ti sei Milanese ;
E di ricchezza ti sei Genovese.'

They are wonderfully different, these great cities, quite
as if they belonged to different countries, and so indeed they

12 INTRODUCTORY.

have, for there has been no national history common to all,
but each has its own individual sovereignty ; its own chro-
nicle ; its own politics, domestic and foreign ; its own saints,
peculiarly to be revered — patrons in peace, and protectors
in war ; its own phase of architecture ; its own passion in
architectural material, brick or stone, marble or terra-cotta ;
often its own language ; always its own proverbs, its own
superstitions, and its own ballads.

The smaller towns repeat in extreme miniature the larger
cities to which they have been annexed by rule or alliance.
Thus the characteristics of Udine and Vicenza repeat Venice,
and Pistoia and Prato repeat Florence.

The history of Italy, owing to the complete individuality
of its different states, which never have been nominally
united till a few years ago, and never have been sympatheti-
cally united at all, is chiefly interesting when it treats of
internal questions. The different invasions of foreign nations
serve only as great historic landmarks amid all that has to
be told and learnt of the dealings of the various Italian
States and their rulers with each other. Of these, in the
fifteenth century, there were twenty petty states, most of
them with tyrants of their own, in Romagna and Le Marche
alone, viz. : —

Ferrara, held as a marquisate by the Este.

Bologna, seigneury .... Bentivogli.

Ravenna Polentani.

Imola Alidosi and Sforza.

Faenza Manfred i.

Forli ^ Ordelaffi and Riarii.

Rimini and Cesena . . . . Malatesta.

Sinigaglia Delia Rovere.

Pesaro Malatesta and Sforza.

Camerino Varana.

S. Angelo, &c Brancaleoni.

Citta di Castello .... Vitelli.

Perugia . . . ... Baglioni.

Fermo Fogliani.

Urbino, dukedom . . . . Montefeltro.

Spoleto. Id. .... not hereditary.

INTRO D UCTOR Y. 1 3

Ancona Republic.

Assisi ...... Id.

Foligno . . . . . Id.

Mercatello, countship . . . Brancaleoni.

And all these fought with each other — as Giovanni Sanzio
says in his chronicle : —

' Con qual costum che Italia devora
Dal sempre stare in gran confusione,
Disjuncta e separata, e disiare,
L'un stato al altro sua destructione.'

In some of the quaint national ditties the memory of the
old historic feuds still lingers : —

* Viva di Lucca il nobil Panthera,

E viva di Firenza il gran Leone,
Viva la Lupa ch' e 1' arme di Siena,

E viva di Livorno il Gonfalone ;
Viva di Pisa la Croce di Legno
Che quella d'oro c' hanno i Lucchesi in pegno. '

All the life of the nineteenth century seems to be confined
to the greater cities. The smaller cities live upon their past
As Forsyth says : ' In their present decline they have the
air of sullen, negligent stateliness, which often succeeds to
departed power ; a ceremonious gravity in the men, a
sympathetic gloominess in the houses, and the worst sym-
ptom that any town can have — silence.' Every house which
boasts of a portico is called a palace, though it is often as
comfortless as the hovel by its side. Yet in these old cities,
where the grass often grows in the streets, as at Ferrara,
and where half the space inclosed by the walls is now laid
out in gardens, as at Forli, the past is tenderly cherished.
Each house where a great man lived, each famous event
which occurred there, is marked by an inscription, so that
the chronicle of the city is written on its own stones ; and
in the buildings, and the habits and feelings of the people,
one seems to be living still in the fifteenth century, lighted
by the sunshine of to-day.

The pictures and buildings of these otherwise forgotten
places will always keep them in the recollection of the world,

i4 INTROD UCTOR K

and it is only these which attract strangers to them now ; but
the traveller who will throw himself into the subject will
find unfailing interest and pleasure in seeing how the natural
features and opportunities of the place are always repeated
in the works of all its eminent artists.

' It is a fact more universally acknowledged than enforced or acted
upon, that all great painters, of whatever school, have been great only
in their rendering of what they had seen or felt from early childhood ;
and that the greatest among them have been the most frank in acknow-
ledging this their inability to treat anything successfully but that with
which they had been familiar. The Madonna of Raffaelle was born
on the Urbino mountains, Ghirlandajo's is a Florentine, Bellini's a
Venetian ; there is not the slightest effort on the part of any one of
these great men to paint her as a Jewess.' — fiuskin, ' Modern Painters.''

' In quiet places, such as Arezzo and Volterra, and Modena and
Urbino, and Cortona and Perugia, there would grow up a gentle lad
who from infancy most loved to stand and gaze at the missal paintings
in his mother's house, and the cena in the monk's refectory, and when
he had fulfilled some twelve or fifteen years, his parents would give in
to his wish and send him to some bottega to learn the management of
colours.

* Then he would grow to be a man, and his town would be proud
of him, and find him the choicest of all work in its churches and its
convents, so that all his days were filled without his ever wandering out
of reach of his native vesper bells.

' He would make his dwelling in the heart of his birth-place, close
under its cathedral, with the tender sadness of the olive hills stretching
above and around ; his daily labour would lie in the basilicas or monas-
teries ; he would have a docile band of hopeful pupils with innocent
eyes of wonder for all he said or did ; he would paint his wife's face for
the Madonna's, and his little son as a child angel ; he would go out into
the fields and gather the olive bough, and the corn, and the fruits, and
paint them tenderly on grounds of gold or blue.

4 It must have been a good life— good to its close in the cathedral
crypt— and so common too ; there were scores such lived out in these
little towns of Italy, half monastery and half fortress, that were
scattered over hill and plain, by sea and river, on marsh and mountain,
from the day-dawn of Cimabue to the afterglow of the Carracci. And
their work lives after them ; the little towns are all grey and still and
half-peopled now ; the iris grows on the ramparts, the canes wave in
the moats, the shadows sleep in the silent market-place, the great con-
vents shelter half-a-dozen monks, the dim majestic churches are damp
and desolate, and have the scent of the sepulchre.

* But there, above the altars, the wife lives in the Madonna, and the

INTRODUCTORY. 15

child smiles in the angel, and the olive and the wheat are fadeless on
their ground of gold and blue ; and by the tomb in the crypt the
sacristan will shade his lantern, and murmur with a sacred tenderness,
" Here he sleeps ! "'—Pascarel.

The quantity of pictures in the Italian churches and gal-
leries is so enormous that as a rule only the best works are
mentioned in these volumes, except when they especially
illustrate some period of local art, or represent a contem-
porary event in any of the places where they occur. There
are scarcely any good modern works of art in Italy (the
pictures of Benvenuti in the cathedral of Arezzo are an ex-
ception), but the way in which art is followed up in Italy is
at least continuous and regular, and recalls the remark of
Scipione Maffei,1 that ' if men paint ill in Italy, at least they
paint always.'

Those who cannot admire any architecture which is not
Gothic will be disappointed with what they find in Italy, and,
regardless of style, the exterior of most Italian churches is
very ugly. The purest large Gothic churches are those of
Verona. In Siena and Orvieto there is a great admixture
of other styles. Gothic architecture was introduced into
Italy from Germany, and Tedesco is the name it bore and
bears. But it was soon ' adapted ' to the Italian taste,
Arnolfo (1294) being the first great operator, and after the
dome, which is to be found in no real Gothic cathedral (and
of which the Pantheon is the only pagan example in Italy)
was added, with Syrian minarets, such as one sees in S.
Antonio of Padua, all the rude severity of the northern
minster began to disappear under a delicate display of
sculpture, and the vagaries of fantastic art, which seemed
more suited to the soft skies and pellucid atmosphere.

The traveller will do well to remember that almost every
parish church (parrocchia) is closed from 12 to 2 or 3 P.M.,
while the other churches, which belong to individuals or
religious bodies (confraternita) are seldom open after the
early hours of the morning.

1 Verona Ilhistrata.

1 6 INTRODUCTORY.

The real glory of the Italian towns consists not in their
churches but in their palaces, in which they are unrivalled
by any other country. The most magnificent of these are
to be found in Florence, Venice, and Genoa. The greatest
palace-architects, amongst many, have perhaps been Vignola,
Baldassare Peruzzi, Bramante, Leon-Battista Alberti, San-,
michele, and Palladio.

Turning from towns to the country districts, the vine-
growing valleys of Tuscany are perhaps the richest and the
happiest, as well as the most beautiful : —

* No northern landscape can ever have such interchange of colour as
these fields and hills in summer. Here the fresh vine foliage, hanging,
curling, climbing, in all intricacies and graces that ever entered the
fancies of green leaves. There the tall millet, towering like the plumes
of warriors, whilst amongst their stalks the golden lizard glitters.
Here broad swathes of new- mown hay, strewed over with butterflies of
every hue. There a thread of water runs thick with waving canes. Here
the shadowy amber of ripe wheat, rustled by wind and darkened by
passing clouds. There the gnarled olives silver in the sun, and every-
where along the edges of the corn and underneath the maples, little
grassy paths running, and wild rose growing, and acacia thickets
tossing, and white convolvulus glistening like snow, and across all this
confusion of foliage, and herbage, always the tender dreamy swell of
the far mountains.' — Pascarel.

The Contadini of Tuscany are a most independent and
prosperous race, who have their own laws for home govern-
ment, which answer perfectly. The land is all let out by
the padrone to the contadino, who is hereditary on the
estate, upon the Mezzaria system (from mefd, mezzo] by
which half the produce of all kinds is given to the padrone,
the contadino meanwhile paying no rent, being liable to no
taxes, and the padrone supplying everything except the
labour. The contadino receives no wages from his padrone,
but, according to the rules of the different fattorie, is in
addition compelled to supply so many days' labour for him
personally, either with oxen or without. From every con-
tadino when a pig is killed, one ham is given to the padrone.
Every contadino also pays a tribute of three or four fat
capons at Easter ; and, on large fattorie, the number of

INTRODUCTORY. 17

these capons, which are sold, is so large as to produce 300
francs. Sometimes also a tribute of eggs is demanded.
The ' Droit de Seigneur,' which actually existed in Tuscany
till late years, is now abandoned, but no contadino can
marry without the consent of his padrone, and a padrone
can insist and often does so, upon his contadino marrying
— ' there is another woman wanted ' — but he occasionally
finds himself in difficulties in this respect, as, after he
has ordered his contadino to marry, it sometimes happens,
that no woman can be found to accept him. The usual
way 'far 1' amore,' however, is that the contadino goes,
even for four or five years, to sit by the fire of his love
during the winter, and to walk with her in the summer,
though never alone, and that then the consent of the
padrone is asked. In the valleys around Signa no girl can
be married except in black. A widow is always married
after dusk (i.e. after the venti quattro), and any girl who
has previously made a false step is compelled to the same
seclusion.

The ' families ' of the contadini are by no means neces-
sarily related to one another, though they live in the same
house, and dwell perfectly harmoniously together. Each
house has a male and female head who are absolutely
despotic, and from whose judgment and decision there is no'
appeal. All that the men earn is at once carried to the
Cappoccio ; all that the women earn to the Massaja. If a
man wants two of the soldi, which he has earned himself, tx>
buy some tobacco with, he invariably has to go and ask the
cappoccio for it. In the morning the cappoccio and mas-
saja issue their orders : ' You, Tonino, Maso, and Pietro-
will do this to-day, and you, Teresa, Nina, and Maria will
do that,' and the orders are obeyed implicitly. Neither
idleness nor disobedience is ever allowed for a moment.
That this despotic rule is felt perfectly to answer is proved
by the fact that when a new cappoccio or massaja is re-
quired, the most severe and inflexible peasant is invariably
chosen. I have known a massaja who was stone blind, and

VOL. i. c

1 8 INTROD UCTOR Y.

who yet ruled with absolute sovereignty. Six or seven
families often live together under the same heads with the
most perfect unanimity. If one of the number is ill, he is
always looked after by the rest before they go out to work,
and if one becomes maimed or helpless, he is never deserted
by his ' family,' even if they are in no way really related.
Besides the consent of the padrone, the consent of the cap-
poccio and massaja must also be obtained to a marriage,
and if a contadino marries without their consent, he is turned
out of the nest and forced to become a mamialc, i.e. a day-
labourer at from 80 c. to i fr. 20 c. a-day, which is very different
to the exalted and honourable position of a contadino. The
women are chiefly occupied about their home duties, but
they also have/^r /' erba, i.e. to cut the grass for the beasts.
In a vintage, also, everyone works ; in the olives only the
men. The household linen, which is a great subject of
pride, is purchased by the massaja out of the money brought
in by the poultry or the bachi. These bachi, or silkworms,
are a subject of the most vital importance. The eggs are
never preserved from a past year, as it does not answer, but
are always purchased from a distance. Many things date
from the time when 'i bachi son nati? As the tiny worms
grow bigger, every hand, from that of an Italian country-
loving marchesa to that of the smallest contadino, is employed
in their behalf. The men are busied on ladders in gathering
into great sacks the leaves of the gelsi, or white mulberries,
which, with the exception of the sweet chestnuts, are the
only trees Italians care to cultivate. The whole time of the
women is taken up in feeding the creatures, and the amount
they eat is simply stupendous. The upper story of a con-
tadino's house, or of one wing of a palazzo, is usually given
up to them. To those who stay long enough in Italy to
care for the life of its people, it will be interesting to know
the following bachicultori rules : —

' According to the most accredited system, the eggs should be placed
in a room whose temperature stands at 12° (Reaumur) and covered with
a blanket for four days : then the temperature should be increased one

INTRODUCTORY. 19

degree per day for other six days. On the tenth day the eggs are
hatched, and again an extra degree of heat should be secured. The
tenderest leaves, cut fine, are then given fresh every two hours. For an
ounce of eggs, 10 Ibs. of leaves suffice for the first stage. On the
sixth day the worms sleep their first sleep. On their awakening, sheets
of perforated paper or gauze are laid over them, covered with leaves,
whose freshness entices them through the holes, and thus the necessity
of touching them with the hands is avoided ; and, moreover, the
laggards are left on their beds, to be changed separately and kept apart,
as tardiness in awakening is one of the symptoms of disease, or at least
of delicacy. The perforated paper, with the leaves and worms, is then
placed on matting made of coarse reeds, and tiers of these mats are
placed on frames, and supported by poles and pegs. For the next six
days about 30 Ibs. of leaves suffice. On the sixth day the worms sleep
their second sleep, then eat 100 Ibs. of leaves; and on the seventh day
sleep for the third time. After eating 300 Ibs. of leaves they sleep once
more ; then great care must be taken to change their beds, and increase
the number of mats, so that sufficient space be allotted to each worm.
After devouring 800 Ibs. of leaves, they are supposed to be ready to
spin, or, as the phrase runs, "to go to the wood." The methods of
preparing the wood are various. The old-fashioned system is to prepare
separate frames of mats, the tiers about two feet apart, and on these to
place small bundles of straw or faggots, with shavings plentifully strewn,
and as each worm is mature, to place it separately in the wood. This
method is tedious in the extreme, necessitates a number of assistants,
and exposes the delicate little creatures to be hurt by rough handling.
The popular system just now is that of sheds, resembling the double
tent carried by the French soldiers. These sheds are erected in the
centre of the room, and covered with matting. When the worms
awaken from their last sleep, long branches of mulberry leaves are
placed over them, instead of the stripped leaves ; as they crawl up, the
branches are removed, placed on the ground, leaning against the tents,
fresh branches are supplied throughout the week ; then, when they
begin to spin, branches of dry oppio are placed outside, and the worms
are left to their own devices. Probably neither system of preparing the
wood has much influence on the result. The absolute indispensables
are regular temperature, yet plenty of air, perfect cleanliness in the
attendants, the absence of all smells or scents, save that of rose-leaves,
which may be strewn daily on the beds, and that the mulberry-leaves be
always fresh and dry. Better leave the worms without food for ten or
twenty hours, than give them leaves wet with dew or rain.' — The Silk-
worm Campaign, Corn. Mag. 1869.

When the bachi are done with, it is time to think about
the vintage, and then come the olives. It is no wonder

c 2

20 INTRODUCTORY.

that Italian contadini have no time to care for the cultivation
of flowers such as one sees in English cottage gardens— a
bush of roses and another of rosemary generally suffices
them; indeed, for all flowers which have no scent, they have
the utmost contempt — ' fiore di campagna.' Every spare
moment is given by a Tuscan woman to straw-plaiting, and
the girls are allowed to put by the money earned in this way
for their dowries ; indeed they are entirely made thus. In
the winter the men are employed in pruning the gelsi and in
cutting the vines down to the ground, in accordance with
the Tuscan proverb — 'Fammi povero, e ti faro ricco.'

Among the curious customs universally observed in the
aristocratic Tuscan families, is that of sending live capons to
their doctors and lawyers at the two Pasquas — Christmas
and Easter. At Easter, too, a lamb is given to the Maestro
di Casa, the surgeon, and doctor. Every country house has
its appointed days for the distribution of its charities. On
those days (Mondays and Thursdays, generally) everyone
who comes to the house has a right to a cup of wine, a
hunch of bread, and two centimes. Fifty or sixty persons
frequently avail themselves of it. At Christmas everyone
has a flask of mezzo-vino and a pound of meat.

Attached to all the principal villas is a church or chapel
with the priest's house adjoining it. The contadini almost
always go to pray before beginning their work. When the
crops are beginning to mature, the priest followed by the
fattore and the whole body of the contadini, male and female,
walk for several days at 6 A.M. round all the boundaries of
the parrocchia, singing a litany. It is the same litany which
is represented in the eleventh canto of Tasso as being sung
before the walls of Jerusalem.

In no other country are there the extraordinary changes
of dialect which exist in Italy. A Venetian book is utterly
incomprehensible to a native of Tuscany, or even nearer
parts of the peninsula. It is always said that the best
Italian is ' Lingua Toscana in bocca Romana,' meaning the
purity of Tuscan phraseology with the accent of a well-

INTROD UCTOR Y. 2 1

educated Roman. Each dialect also has its peculiar deli-
cacies of meaning.

'As the Piedmontese, Grassi, was travelling from Florence to
Siena, the coach stopped at the village of Barberino, and, on alight-
ing, he was met by a countrywoman with her child in her arms. The
child, being alarmed at the appearance of a stranger, hicl its face in its
mother's bosom ; Grassi said he was sorry to have caused the child
pa^lra^ "fright'" ; but the mother replied immediately, " Non e paura,
ma timore " ; the difference between the two being this, that paztra is
caused by something frightful, and is a feeling of the senses, whilst
timore is the offspring of the mind, and may be produced by noble
causes, such as timore di Dio, " the fear of God." Now these distinctions,
and a thousand more, such as fronda and foglia, liscio and porta>
superbia and alterezza, &c., are felt in Tuscany by everyone, from the
universal habit of speaking with propriety, but, in the rest of Italy,
are only understood by men of reading and philological research. No
one can fully appreciate the elegance, the precision, of which the
Italian language is susceptible, who has never conversed with Tuscans. '
— Quarterly Journal of Education, IX.

There are very few good books of general Italian travel.
Valery in French, and Forsyth in English, continue to be
the best. The latter, which struck Napoleon so much by
its perfection of style, that its author obtained his release
from captivity, is incomparable as far as it goes, but it is
terribly short. Little, except classical quotations, can be
gained from the ponderous volumes and stilted language of
Eustace. Goethe wrote a volume of travels in Italy ; but
then, as Niebuhr says, 'he beheld without love.'1 Lately
Taine, Gautier, and others have given to the world some
pleasant Italian gleanings : many delightful descriptive pas-
sages may be found in the novels of ' George Sand,' and no
traveller should leave unread Mr. J. A. Symonds' enchanting
' Sketches in Italy and Greece.' But for Italy in general
there is wonderfully little to read.

It is not so with the separate places. Maffei's ' Verona
Illustrata,' and Mariano Guardabassi's ' Monument! nella
Provincia dell' Umbria,' may be cited as two admirable
specimens of the local art-histories which abound for almost

1 Letter to Savigny, Feb. 16, 1817.

22 INTRODUCTORY.

all Italian towns and districts, published as a mere labour of
love, generally without hope or chance of sale, and which
are invaluable for reference or research. In English, too,
especial places in Italy have been well attended to ; Dennis
has given us his ' Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,' Lord
Lindsay's delightful volumes are perhaps especially full on the
art of Pisa and Siena, and Ruskin has positively illuminated
Venice for us, and has taught us to observe there a thousand
things unobserved before, and to feel very differently about
many things we had observed. Florentine travellers will
have found their 'walks' somewhat elucidated by the volumes
of Miss Homer, and may have been able to pick something
out of Trollope's ' History of the Commonwealth of Florence,'
even if they are unable to read the Marchese Gino Capponi's
two most useful and intensely interesting volumes on ' La
Storia della Repubblica di Firenae.' The incomparable
novel of ' Romola,' and the vividly picturesque though ver-
bose * Pascarel ' should be read at Florence. Dumas'
* Annee a Florence ' will also be found very amusing. Other
pleasant books to be read in Italy are ' L'ltalie ' and ' Les
Monasteres Benedictins ' of Alphonse Dantier. The
1 Corinne ' of Madame de Stae'l should not be forgotten, or
' I Promessi Sposi ' of Manzoni, while ' I Miei Ricordi ' of
Massimo Azeglio, not only contains many charming pictures
of Italian existence, but is interesting as being the first work
of any importance written in Italian, not stilted and heroic,
but as it is spoken in daily life.

Far the best Guide-books are those of Dr. Th. Gsell-fels,
both as regards their style, their information, and, above all,
their accuracy. The small Guide-books of Baedeker are
however excellent, full of practical knowledge, and most
useful for the hurried traveller.

For the sculpture of Italy, the admirable works of C. C.
Perkins, ' Italian Sculptors ' and « Tuscan Sculptors,' should
be carefully studied, and are most interesting. The ' History
of Sculpture ' and the ' History of Art,' by Wilhelm Liibke,
translated by F. E. Bunnett, are also useful, though perhaps

INTRO D UCTOR Y. 23

more so from their many engravings than from their letter-
press. The art-student will read Kugler's ' Handbook of
Painting,7 edited by Sir Charles Eastlake, and will, of course,
be familiar with Vasari's ' Lives of the Painters ' — indis-
pensable, though often incorrect — and with Lanzi's ' History
of Painting.' He will also find the ponderous ' Histories of
Painting,' by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, very useful for refer-
ence, and will refresh himself with M. F. A. Rio's ' Poetry
of Christian Art.'

It is unnecessary to give any ' Tours ' here. Those
which are best worth making are sufficiently indicated after-
wards. The author would only again advise those who are
hurried not to seek to see too much ; and if they have not
time for more, to see rather those places which are related
to one another, and illustrate one course of history and one
school of art, than to seek to see many great towns in scat-
tered directions, with a confused recollection of many his-
tories and many schools. Thus the traveller, whose great
point is Venice, should also study Verona, Vicenza, Bassano,
Padua, Treviso, Udine, and Aquileja; the traveller who
makes Florence his centre should see at least Prato, Pistoia,
Lucca, Pisa, Volterra, S. Girnignano, and Siena, and, if he
is healthy and strong, should endeavour to visit the monas-
teries of the Casentino, especially La Vernia. But perhaps
the most delightful tour of all, because there the country also
is so beautiful, is that of the Umbrian towns, making Perugia
the principal halting place.

Artists have such different feelings and desires to other
travellers, that they may be glad to be directed to a few of
the subjects which may especially interest them. Such are : —

Riviera di Poncnte. Albenga, Finale, Loiano, Port at Savona.

Genoa. Ramparts. Ruined church at Albaro.

Riviera di Levante. Sestri. Porto Venere. Lerici.

Massa Ducale and Pietra Santa.

Turin. Sagro di S. Michele.

The Vald'Aosta.

Italian Lakes. Bellaggio, Baveno, Orta, Varallo.

Bergamo. The old city.

24 INTRO D UCTOR Y.

The Lago cflseo. Lovere.

Lago di Carda. Sermione. Riva. Malcesine.

Verona. The River Banks. Tomb of Count of Castelbarco. S.

Fermo (porch and pulpit). S. Zeno. Giusti Gardens.
Mantua. Views beyond the bridges looking back.
Vicenza. Passeggiate, and View from Monte Berico.
Padua. S. Antonio (interior and cloisters).
Venice. Endless canals and courts. View of Grand Canal from

platform near the Accademia. Island of S. Elena.

Views near S. Pietro in Castello, &c.
Ferrara. The Castle.

Piacenza. The Piazza, and bits upon the walls.
Bologna. Piazzas of S. Petronio and S. Domenico.
Ravenna. The Pineta.
Rimini. S. Marino. S. Leo.
Ancona. General views on shore.
Gubbio. General view.

Pisa. The flat reaches of the Arno and the pine wood.
Lucca. Ponte alia Maddalena.
Frato. The outside Pulpit.
Florence. View from the Amphitheatre in the Boboli Gardens, from

S. Miniato, from Careggi. Many street bits.
Siena. The Gorges. Many architectural subjects.
Oruieto. The Cathedral. Views outside the Porta Romana.
Bolsena. The Lake. Endless minor subjects.
Montefiascone. S. Flaviano.

Civita Castcllana. The Gorge. S. Maria di Faleri. Soracte.
Cortona. Views near S. Margherita and on the shores of

Thrasymene.

Perugia and Assist. An inexhaustible mine for artists.
Spoleto. General views. Monte Luco.
Narni. The Bridges and Cathedral.

Viterbo. Cathedral. Fountains. Bagnaja. Cloister of La
Quercia. Bieda. Caprarola. Sutri. Castle of Nepi.
Bracciano. The Castle and Lake.
Ostia. The Castle. Castel Fusano.
Frascati. In the Villas.

Tivoli. The Cascatelle. Villa d'Este. The ruined Aqueducts.
Gabii. The wild Campagna.

The following scheme, occupying about three months
and a half, arranges the Italian towns so as to indicate to the
traveller how he may pass over the same ground twice as
little as possible. It also mentions the least amount of time
in which it is possible to see the places.

INTRO D UCTOR Y. 2 5

Days

Riviera ......

• 3

Genoa . ....

. . 2

for Porto Venere

. . I

Carrara ......

Massa Ducale .....

.. • 4

Pietra Santa .....

Lucca .... . .

. . I

Excursion to Bagni di Lucca .

Pistoia and Prato ....

Florence .....

• 7

The Casentino .....

• • 3

(Return) Pisa ....

Leghorn ......

. • i

Volterra .....

S. Gimignano .....

. . i

Siena ......

. 2

Montepulciano, Pienza

. . I

Chiusi

Orvieto ......

. . i

Narni ......

. I

Terni

Spoleto and the Clitumnus

Foligno . . ...

. . 4-

Spello . . . . ' .

• 1

Assisi ......

. . I

Perugia ......

. 2

Cortona

i
•2

Arezzo ......

Borgo S. Sepolcro ....

. . i

Citta di Castello ....

. I

Gubbio ......

. . I

Pass of Furlo .....

Urbino ......

. . I

Pesaro ......

Ancona ......

. . I

Loreto ......

. I

Fano ......

• • i

Rimini ......

. I

Excursion to S. Marino and S. Leo .

. . I

Forli

Ravenna .....

. 2

Bologna ......

. . 2

INTRODUCTORY.

Modena ....

Parma .....
Excursion to Canossa
Return by Bologna to Ferrara
Este to Arqua

Padua

Venice .....

Excursion to Udine and Aquileja

Tour in the Italian Tyrol

Bassano .

Vicenza .....

Verona .....

Mantua .....

Lago di Garda .

Brescia .....

Lago d' Iseo . . .

Bergamo ....

Cremona .....

Piacenza . . .

Excursion to Bobbio .

Pavia and Certosa .

Milan .

Monza and Como .

Tour of the Italian Lakes .

Orta and Varallo .

Novara and Vercelli . . .

Turin .....

Excursion to the Waldenses

Excursion to the Sagro .

Susa and Mont Cenis

Days

If the traveller sets out in the Spring, this order of travel
is the best ; if he sets out in the Autumn, it should be re-
versed. But the time here given merely allows of a glance
at things. The author would again urge that it is always
better to omit than condense — to see something thoroughly.

' Salve, cura Deum, mundi felicior ora,
Formosae Veneris dulces salvete recessus ;
Ut vos post tantos animi mentisque labores
Aspicio lustroque libens, ut munere vestro
Sollicitas toto depello e pectore curas ! '

Navagero. Ode. to his Country. I53O'

CHAPTER I.
THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

THE Railway now takes travellers from Nice to Genoa
in eight hours, and even when seen in this way, the
Riviera forms the most beautiful of the many approaches to
Italy. But those who are not hurried will do well to keep to
the old coast road, and either to engage a vetturino carriage
at Nice or Mentone for the journey to Genoa, or, if they are
content to travel in a far more humble and inexpensive, but
much pleasanter fashion, to send on their luggage by rail
from S. Remo (when it will have passed the custom-house)
and travel thence — artist-fashion — from place to place, pick-
ing up one of the carriages which may always be found in
the streets of the country towns, and which may be engaged
for eight or ten francs, to hold three people for the half-day's
journey, after which it should be exchanged for another, to
prevent any final question of return fare.

Where time is not an object, such an excursion as this
will prove truly delightful. It is not in rattling through the
narrow streets of the little fishing towns that a true idea of
this characteristic coast can be obtained ; one must be able
to wander in the secluded valleys, in the deep orange groves,
along the banks of the torrents, or amidst the heights of
the wild mountains which form their background. The
geological and botanical resources offer an inexhaustible
field for research, while the artist will find endless employ-
ment, whether he prefer the pines and palms and orange
groves of the sunny shore, the dark sculptured streets and
marble balconies of the old Riviera towns, or the wild

28 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

position of the ruined strongholds, in the heart of the neigh-
bouring mountains.

In the larger towns the hotels are now provided with
every English comfort. In the smaller towns, the entrance
to the inn might often be mistaken for that of a stable, and
the staircase, which is frequently of marble, looks as if it
had not been swept for centuries. The ground-floor is
generally occupied by the stable and coach-house, the first-
floor by the host and his family, while the second-floor is
destined for strangers. But when you reach it, the rooms
are usually clean, airy, and well-furnished, and the food and
attendance are very tolerable.

Twice a day, at least during the first part of his journey,
a fairy vision salutes the traveller ; first, when, in the sunrise,
Corsica reveals itself across the sapphire water, appearing so
distinctly that you can count every ravine and indentation of
its jagged mountains, and feel as if a small boat would easily
carry you over to it in an hour ; and again, in the evening,
when as a white ghost, scarcely distinguishable from the
clouds around it, and looking inconceivably distant, it looms
forth dimly in the yellow sunset.

The different varieties of patois spoken along the coast
will bewilder even one who is perfectly conversant with
French and Italian, for in the language of many of the villages
there is still a great admixture of Spanish words remaining
from the time of the Spanish protection at Monaco, and
in the more remote villages — even in the names of moun-
tains, as ' Al Rasel ' — Arabic words still linger from the Sara-
cenic invasions and inter-marriages.

Compared with the state of the English poor, there is
very little real poverty here. In the coast villages the men
gain a good subsistence as fishermen or boat-builders, the
women by making lace or plaiting straw. In the country
almost everyone has a little olive ground or orange garden
which they can call their own. A young couple seldom
marry till they have hoarded up 400 or 500 francs, for which
sum a house may be bought in one of the sea-board towns or

PEASANT LIFE ON THE RIVIERA. 29

villages, and they then save till they can purchase a piece of
rock, which by perseverance and hard labour may, in this
climate, soon be transformed into a fruitful garden. Here
they often labour all night long, and lights are to be seen
glimmering and songs heard from the orange gardens of the
poor all through the dark hours. The first year they carry
up earth, prepare the ground, and plant wild orange and
lemon trees ; the second year they graft them, and the third
year they begin to reap the fruits. The oranges and lemons
require watering all through the summer, but the olives re-
quire more than this. They have to be constantly trenched
round to give air to the roots, without which they do not
flourish, and once a year (in March and April) they require
to be manured with rags, which are very expensive. During
the rag season the smell from the olive groves is most un-
pleasant, and the effluvia from the ships which convey the
rags to the ports is so offensive, that unloading them be-
comes a service of the greatest danger.

The oranges and lemons are the wealth of the Riviera.
At certain seasons the whole air is fragrant with their blos-
soms, which are more valuable than the fruit itself, from the
price they fetch at the perfume manufactories. The oranges
are much hardier than the lemons, which are said to perish
with four degrees of frost. Local tradition says, that as Eve
was turned out of Paradise she snatched a single lemon from
a tree which grew near the gate, and hid it in her apron in
her flight. Afterwards, when she was wandering about on
the earth, she threw it down at Mentone, where it grew and
multiplied, and ' so it is that on the Riviera there is the one
thing which really came out of Paradise.'

To many travellers, especially those to whom custom
has not made it familiar, the very fact that the whole jour-
ney is along the edge — the Cornice — of the Mediterranean,
will give it a charm —

* There shrinks no ebb in that tideless sea,
Which changeless rolls eternally ;
So that wildest of waves, in their angriest mood,
Scarce break on the bounds of the land for a rood ;

30 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

And the powerless moon beholds them flow,

Heedless if she come or go ;

Calm or high, in main or bay,

On their course she hath no sway.

The rock unworn its base doth bare,

And looks o'er the surf, but it comes not there ;

And the fringe of the foam may be seen below,

On the line that it left long ages ago :

A smooth short space of yellow sand

Between it and the greener land.' — Byron.

' This shore would stand for Shelley's " Island of Epipsychidion," or
the golden age which Empedocles describes, when the mild nations
worshipped Aphrodite with incense and the images of beasts and yellow
honey, and no blood was spilt upon her altars— when " the trees flour-
ished with perennial leaves and fruit, and ample crops adorned their
boughs through all the year." This even now is literally true of the
lemon-groves, which do not cease to flower and ripen. Everything fits
in to complete the reproduction of Greek pastoral life. The goats eat
cytisus and myrtle on the shore : a whole flock gathered round me as I
sate beneath a tuft of golden green euphorbia the other day, and nibbled
bread from my hands. The frog still croaks by tank and fountain,
"whom the Muses have ordained to sing for aye," in spite of Bion's
death. The narcissus, anemone, and hyacinth still tell their tales
of love and death. Hesper still gazes on the shepherd from the
mountain-head. The slender cypresses still vibrate, the pines murmur.
Pan sleeps in noon-tide heat, and goats and wayfaring men lie down to
slumber by the road-side, under olive-boughs in which cicadas sing.
The little villages high up are just as white, the mountains just as grey
and shadowy when evening falls. Nothing is changed — except our-
selves. I expect to find a statue of Priapus or pastoral Pan, hung with
wreaths of flowers — the meal-cake, honey, and spilt wine upon his
altar, and young boys and maidens dancing round. Surely, in some
far-off glade, by the side of lemon grove or garden, near the village,
there must be some such a pagan remnant of glad Nature-worship.
Surely I shall chance upon some Thyrsis piping in the pine-tree shade,
or Daphne flying from the arms of Phoebus. So I dream until I come
upon the Calvary set on a solitary hillock, with its prayer-steps lending
a wide prospect across the olives and the orange-trees, and the broad
valleys to immeasurable skies and purple seas. There is the iron cross,
the wounded heart, the spear, the reed, the nails, the crown of thorns,
the cup of sacrificial blood, the title, with its superscription royal and
divine. The other day we crossed a brook and entered a lemon field,
rich with blossom and carpeted with red anemones. Everything
basked in sunlight and glittered with exceeding brilliancy of hue. A
tiny white chapel stood in a corner of the enclosure. Two iron-grated

MORTOLA, LATTE. 31

windows let me see inside : it was a bare place, containing nothing but
a wooden praying-desk, black and worm-eaten, an altar with its
candles and no flowers, and above the altar a square picture brown
with age. On the floor were scattered several pence, and in a vase
above the holy-water vessel stood some withered hyacinths. As my
sight became accustomed to the gloom, I could see from the darkness of
the picture a pale Christ nailed to the cross, with agonizing upward
eyes and ashy aureole above the bleeding thorns. Thus I stepped
suddenly away from the outward pomp and bravery of nature to the
inward aspirations, agonies, and martyrdoms of man — from Greek
legends of the past to the real Christian present — and I remembered
that an illimitable prospect has been opened to the world, that in spite
of ourselves we must turn our eyes heavenward, inward, to the infinite
unseen beyond us and within our souls. Nothing can take us back to
Priapus or Pan. Nothing can again identify us with the simple natural
earth. " Une immense esperance a traverse la terre," and these chapels,
with their deep significances, lurk in the fair landscape like the cares of
real life amid our dreams of art. . . Even the olives here tell more to
us of Olivet and the Garden than of the oil-press and the wrestling
ground. The lilies carry us to the Sermon on the Mount and teach
humility, instead of summoning up some legend of a god's love for a
mortal. The hill-side tanks and waving streams and water-brooks
swollen by sudden rain, speak of Palestine. We call the white flowers
stars of Bethlehem. The large sceptre-reed ; the fig-tree, lingering in
barrenness when other trees are full of fruit ; the locust-beans of the
Carouba :— for one suggestion of Greek idylls there is yet another of far
deeper, dearer power.' — J. A. Symonds.

About three miles from Mentone, the Italian custom-
house stops the way at Mortola beneath the village of S.
Mauro. Looking back from the heights above, we have just
had the most glorious view of Mentone, with the white walls
of Monaco gleaming beyond upon their isolated rock, while
above it is Turbia with its Trophaea Augusti, throned high
amongst the mountains, and the great purple promontory
known as the Testa del Can. Just below, nearer the shore,
is the old Palazzo Orenga (lately restored) on a rocky slope,
perfumed in January by thickets of wild lavender.

A little beyond S. Mauro is the tiny gaily-painted Church
of S. Agostino in a wooded glen, where snowy mountains are
seen gleaming through the trees. The village near this is
called Latte (the Land of Milk) from the richness of its

32 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

soil. The largest of the houses in the orange groves is the
summer palace of the Bishop of Ventimiglia.

From Latte we ascend to Ventimiglia — once Albium In-
termelium, the capital of the Intermelii, and still the chief
fortress between Nice and Genoa — which crowns the steep
brown precipice with its white walls. It is entered by gates
and a drawbridge, closing the narrow pass of the rock.
Within, the town runs along a ledge in a picturesque outline
of brightly-coloured towers, old houses, and deserted con-
vents, while deep below lies a little port with fishing vessels
and some curious isolated rocks.

La Strada Grande is narrow and quaint, lined with old
houses, some of which are painted on the outside with
figures of animals, while others retain in marble balconies
relics of their former grandeur. Here the traveller coming
from France will first hear all the people talking Italian,
and women shouting, as at Naples, before stalls of macaroni
and polenta, in the dark archways. The Cathedral^ of
which S. Barnabas is said to have been the first bishop,
stands on a terrace with a grand background of snowy
mountains, and beside it is the palace of the Lascari — who
ruled Ventimiglia in the Middle Ages — with an open loggia
and staircase. On a further crest of the hill is the yellow-
brown Romanesque Church of S. Michele^ occupying the site
of a temple of Castor and Pollux. The interior is unaltered,
the crypt a very fine one, and the view most striking. On
the mountain beyond the town is a ruined castle of Roman
origin.

From S. Michele, a narrow path along the walls over-
hangs the orange gardens at a great height. No one should
try it who is not tolerably steady of head and sure of foot.
It leads to a postern gate close to the long bridge over the
half-dry bed of the Roya, the Rituba of Pliny and Lucan,
appropriately termed by the latter ' cavus ' from the deep
bed which it has frequently hollowed out for itself, between
precipitous banks.

From the dry bed of the river, the town is seen rising

VENTIMIGLIA, CAMPO ROSSO.

grandly in tier above tier of old houses, churches, and con-
vents, with purple mountains and snow peaks beyond,
while in the foreground of the long bridge of irregular
arches (alas, lately ' restored ! ') are groups of gaily-dressed
washerwomen, at work upon the little pools between the
sand-banks. The church tower and village which rise in
the olive groves beyond the bridge, belong to the Borgo di
Ventimiglia, where there is a humble little inn — Albergo della
Scatola. Here luncheon may be obtained, and eaten on the
flat roof, whence there is a lovely view of the town, with its

Ventimiglia.

old houses, and its castle cresting the opposite hill. It is
intended to connect Ventimiglia by railway with Cuneo and
the Col di Tenda.

(An excursion should be made without fail to Dolceacqua —
easily managed by those who sleep at Bordighera— perhaps
the most beautiful place in the whole district.

It is about 3! miles from the bridge over the Nervia,
half-way between Ventimiglia and Bordighera. The road
ascends the bank of the Nervia to Campo Rosso, which
nestles in the valley, with a chain of snow peaks beyond it..
At the entrance of the town is a brown conventual church,
VOL. i. D

THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

with a painted campanile relieved against the purple dis-
tance ; and then you enter a piazza, lined with the quaintest
old houses, with open painted loggias, and ending in a
church, whose staircase of white marble is flanked by mar-
ble mermaids, throwing water into the small fountains. A
little further, backed by the Chapel of Santa Croce on its
hill, is a very curious Romanesque church, with an old
burial-ground, overgrown with periwinkles, on the banks of
the Nervia. An inscription entreats 'elemosina' for the
' Anime Purganti,' and the former possessors of the ' Anime '

Dolceacqua.

are represented by a pile of skulls and skeletons mouldering
in an open charnel-house.

After two miles more, winding through woods of olives,
carpeted in spring by young corn and bright green flax,
Dolceacqua suddenly bursts upon the view, stretching across
a valley, whose sides are covered with forests of olives and
chestnuts, and which is backed by fine snow mountains.
Through the town winds the deep-blue stream of the
Nervia, flowing under a tall bridge of one wide arch, and
above frowns the huge palatial castle, perched upon a per-
pendicular cliff, with sunlight streaming through its long

BORDIGHERA.

lines of glassless windows. The streets are almost closed in
with archways, which give them the look of gloomy crypts,
only opening here and there to let in a ray of sunlight and
a strip of blue sky. They lead up the steep ascent to the
castle where the Doria once reigned as sovereign princes, as
the Grimaldi at Monaco.)

Ventimiglia is separated from Bordighera by three miles
of flat and dusty level. Groups of palms (Phoenix dacty-

At Bordighera.

lifera) gradually appear by the roadside and increase on
approaching Bordighera.

Inns. Hotel d'Angleterre, very good ; Grand Hotel de Bordighera ;
Hotel Windsor ; Hotel Beaurivage ; Hotel Continental; Hotel Bellevue ;
Pension Palombi, very good and reasonable, with English comforts.

Bordighera, which has been surnamed ' the Jericho of
Italy,' was almost unknown in England a few years ago, but
is now familiar through Signor Ruffini's beautiful story of
Doctor Antonio, of which the principal scene is laid here.
The town contains nothing worth visiting, so that it is best
to leave the carriage in the street, and wander up the hill,

D 2

36 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

first to the garden of the French consul, where are some of
the finest palm trees ; then up some of the narrow alleys,
where artists will find charming subjects of the older palms
feathering over little shrines or bridges ; and then to the
common on the hill-top, with its grand view to Mentone,
Roccabruna, and Monaco, and, in the vaporous distance, to
Antibes and the faint blue mountains of Provence.

' The palm-glory of Bordighera is not to be seen without going up
into the town, and beyond the town. These noble trees almost gird
it round on the western and northern sides, and grow in profusion — in
coppices and woods — of all sizes, from gnarled giants of 1,000 years'
reputed age, to little suckers which may be pulled up by hand, and
carried to England. And there is no end to the picturesque groupings
of these lovely trees, and their graceful effects in the sunlight.

' In the sunlight. For of all trees the palm is the child of the sun,
and the best purveyor of flecked and dancing shade. Under the palm-
thickets every darkest spot of shadow is a grand medley of exquisitely-
traced lines ; and on the verge of the bare sunlight outside, leap and
twinkle a thousand sharply-marked parallel bars of graceful leafage.
And there is something peculiarly of the sun, and of the east, in the
many depths of the moon-lighted palm wood — the yellow, and the pale
green, and the rich burnt sienna of the various foliage ; the rough deep
markings of the rich brown stems ; and now and then the burning
chrome of the fruit-stalks hanging in profuse clusters out from the
depths of central shade.

' Nor is the least charm of the palm the silvery whisper of reeded
fronds which dwells everywhere about and under it. With the palm
romance reaches its highest. That soft sound soothed the old-world
griefs of patriarchs, and murmured over the bivouacs of Eastern
armies. When the longers for Zion sate down and wept by the
waters of Babylon, was it not the rough burr of the palm on which
they hung their harps, rather than the commonly but gratuitously
imagined branch of the willow ? And when Judaea was again captive,
it was under the palm the conqueror, on his triumphant medals, placed
the daughter of Zion.

' I have been told that there are probably now more palms at
Bordighera alone, than in the whole of the Holy Land.' — Dean Alford.

A winding path descends from the heights to the shore
at the point of the rocky bay, which is the scene of one of
the word-pictures of Rufrini.

' It is indeed a beauteous scene. In front lies the immensity of sea,

BORDIGHERA. 37

smooth as glass, and rich with all the hues of a dove's neck, the bright
green, the dark purple, the soft ultra-marine, the deep blue of a blade of
burnished steel, — there glancing in the sun like diamonds, and rippling
into a lace-like net of snowy foam. In strong relief against this bright
background, stands a group of red-capped, red-belted fishermen, draw-
ing their nets to the shore, and accompanying each pull with a plaintive
burthen, that the echo of the mountains sends softened back. On the
right, to the westward, the silvery track of the road undulating amid
thinly-scattered houses, or clusters of orange and palm-trees, leads the
eye to the promontory of Bordighera, a huge emerald mount which shuts
out the horizon, much in the shape of a leviathan couchant, his broad
muzzle buried in the waters. Here you have in a small compass, re-
freshing to behold, every shade of green that can gladden the eye, from
the pa'e-grey olive to the dark-foliaged cypress, of which one, ever and
anon, an isolated sentinel, shoots forth high above the rest. Tufts of
feathery palms, their heads tipped by the sun, the lower part in shade,
spread their broad branches, like warriors' crests on the top, where the
slender si'houe'.te of the towering church spire cuts sharply against the
spotless sky.

' The coast to the east recedes inland with a graceful curve, then, with
a gentle bend to the south, is lost by degrees in the far, far sea. Three
headlands arise from this crescent, which so lovingly receives to its
embrace a wide expanse of the weary waters : three headlands, of differ-
ing aspect and colour, lying one behind the other. The nearest is a
bare red rock, so fiery in the sun the eye dare scarcely fix on it ; the
second, richly wooded, wears on its loftiest ridge a long hamlet, like
to a mural crown ; the third looks a mere blue mist in the distance,
save one white speck. Two bright sails are rounding this last cape.
The whole flooded as it is with light, except where some projecting
crag casts its transparent grey shadow, is seen again reversed, and in
more faint loveliness, in the watery mirror below. Earth, sea, and
sky mingle with their different tones, and from their varieties, as from
the notes of a rich, full chord, rises one great harmony. Golden atoms
are floating in the translucent air, and a halo of mother-of-pearl colour
hangs over the sharp outlines of the mountains.

' The small village at the foot of the craggy mountain is called Speda-
letti, and gives its name to the gulf. It means little hospitals, and is
supposed to have originated in a ship belonging to the knights of Rhodes,
having landed some men sick of the plague here, where barracks were
erected for their reception ; and these same buildings served as the
nucleus of the present village, which has naturally retained the name of
their first destination. At a little distance are the ruins of a chapel
called the "Ruota," which may or may not be a corruption of Rodi
(Rhodes). Spedaletti in the present day is exclusively inhabited by the
wealthy families of very industrious fishermen, who never need be in
want of occupation. Nature, which made this bay so lovely, made it

38 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

equally safe and trustworthy. Sheltered on the west by the Cape of
Bordighera, and on the east by those three headlands, let the sea be ever
so high without, within it is comparatively calm, and the fishermen of
Spedaletti are out in all weathers.' — Doctor Antonio.

At Colle, near Bordighera, is a pretty little gallery of
pictures, bequeathed by a priest.

Beyond Bordighera, the great rifted brown mountains
are monotonous in their outline as compared with those
near Mentone, but still are beautiful as they stand round
about S. Remo, which rises from the sea in tiers of white
houses, with a fine church crowning the hill against which
they are built. There are palm trees here as at Bordighera,
but not such fine ones, although this is the place whence,
in 1588, came Bresca, the trading sea-captain, who gave
instructions to throw water upon the ropes which held up
the famous obelisk in front of S. Peter's in defiance of the
order of Pope Sixtus V., that any one who spoke should pay
the penalty with his life, and who thus saved the obelisk,
and obtained as reward that his native place of S. Remo
should furnish the Easter palms to S. Peter for ever. Early
every spring, the palm branches are tied up to their stems,
in order to bleach them for this purpose, and from that time
till the autumn their chief beauty is lost ; but here and there
a graceful stem, crowned with umbrella-like foliage, rears
itself still untouched in the little square gardens, among the
tall houses.

S. Remo is greatly changed within the last few years, and
from a quiet fishing port has become a town of more than
18,000 inhabitants and one of the great southern centres for
sun-seeking invalids ; but in beauty it is greatly inferior to
Mentone, and there are very few drives and walks.

Hotels abound at S. Remo. The following is considered to be
their order of merit :- Hotel West End, the largest in the Riviera, good
and comfortable ; Hotel de Londres, very good, the first established in
the place ; Hotel Royal, pension, without rooms, 8 to 10 frs. ; Hotel
Vittoria ; Hotel Medit err ante ; Hotel Bellevue or Paradis, small but
good ; Hotel Palmieri ; Hotel de Nice ; Pension Anglaise, about I fr.
cheaper than Hotel Royal ; Hotel d'Angleterre. Smaller hotels and

REMO.

pensions are the Continental, Tatlock, Villa Flora, Pension Suisse,
A nglo-A mericaine, A llemagne.

Carriages : One horse — the course, I fr. ; the hour, 2 frs. Two
horses— the course, I fr. 50. ; the hour, 3 frs. To Poggio, Armi, or
Madonna della Guardia, 7 frs I., 10 frs.. ; to Ospedaletti, 6 frs., 8 frs. ;
to Bordighera, Colle, Taggia, 8 frs., 12 frs. ; to Ceriana or Venti-
miglia, 1 4 frs., 20 frs.

At S. Remo.

* To the quiet of charms and sunshine S. Remo adds that of a pecu-
liar beauty. The Apennines rise like a screen behind the amphitheatre
of soft hills that enclose it— hills soft with olive woods, and dipping
down with gardens of lemon and orange, and vineyards, dotted with
palms. An isolated space juts out from the centre of the semicircle,
and from summit to base of it tumbles the oddest of Italian towns, a
strange mass of arches and churches and steep lanes, rushing down like
a stone cataract to the sea. On either side of the town lie deep ravines,
with lemon gardens along their bottoms, and olives thick along their

40 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

sides. The olive is the characteristic tree of San Remo.'— Sahirday
JReview, Jan. 1871.

Facing the high-road through the town is the splendid
old palace of the Borea family (which dates from the
eighth century), possessing a fine courtyard and stair-
case. Pius VII. stayed herein 1814. Someway behind it, in
a piazza, are the two principal churches of the lower town,
and an audacious statue, not often met with even in Italy,
of God the Father. Hence, steep, narrow, and filthy little
streets, constantly arched overhead to strengthen the houses
in case of earthquakes, and crowded below with children,
cats, dogs, and chickens, lead to the top of the hill, where
there is a fine open terrace lined with cypresses, and com-
manding a lovely view of the mountains and sea.

At a very early period S. Remo was ruined by the Sara-
cens, who desecrated its principal church of S. Siro, and
burnt the town. On the desolated site which they aban-
doned, and which was the property of his see, a little agri-
cultural colony was settled by Theodulf, bishop of Genoa.
Never losing sight of its connection with Genoa throughout
its whole existence, S. Remo continued, as it increased in
importance, to follow the lead of the greater city, and the
civil authority of the bishop was transferred to the communal
parliament, whose assembly met in the church of S. Stefano.
The Crusader's Palm upon the arms of the town is a mark
left by this revolution, itself produced by the Crusaders.
But in its alliance with Genoa, S. Remo always remained a
perfectly free State. It was bound to contribute ships and
men for the Genoese war service, but in return shared all
the privileges of the Genoese republic in all parts of the
world. It was in S. Remo that the Genoese troubadour,
Lanfranco Cicala, sang his verses before a Court of Love.

S. Siro^ originally of the twelfth century, is so injured by
so-called restorations as to be of little value. Near it is a
Hospital for leprosy, which terrible disease still lingers
around S. Remo. It is hopelessly incurable, the limbs and
the faces of the lepers being gradually eaten away, so that

5. ROMOLO, TAGGIA. 41

with several, while you look upon one side of the face, and
see it apparently in the bloom of health and youth, the
other has already fallen away and ceased to exist. The
disease is hereditary, having remained in certain families of
this district almost from time immemorial. The members
of these families are prohibited from intermarrying with
those of others, or indeed from marrying at all, unless it is
believed that they are free from any seeds of the fatal
inheritance. Sometimes the marriages, when sanctioned by
magistrates and clergy, are contracted in safety, but 'often,
after a year or two of wedded life, the terrible enemy appears
again, and existence becomes a curse ; thus the fearful legacy
is handed down.

A stony walk over dull hills leads from the hospital to the
mountain sanctuary of S. Romolo, who gave his name to the
town, invariably called S. Romolo till the fifteenth century ;
and it is probable that the present name is due, not to a pun
on Romulus and Remus, but to a contraction of its full
ecclesiastical title — ' Sancti Romoli in Eremo.' The her-
mitage stands in a wood of old chestnut trees, enamelled
with blue gentians. A chapel contains a mitred statue of
the saint with a sword through his breast, on the spot where
he suffered martyrdom, and is attached to and encloses the
cave where he lived in retirement.

The excursion most worth making from S. Remo is that
to Taggia (about six miles drive) and Lampedusa, about an
hour's walk from thence. The road thither passes beneath
the sanctuary of La Madonna della Guardia, and by Armi,
with its rock-chapel facing the sea, and turns off from the
coast-road at the village of La Riva. Hence it is a lovely
drive through luxuriant olives surrounded by high moun-
tains, on the steep sides of which the town of Castellaro
soon appears upon the right, and beyond it, the famous
shrine of Lampedusa, jammed into a narrow ledge of the
precipice.

Taggia itself is deep down in the valley by the side of
the rushing river of the same name. Its streets are curious ;

42 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

several of its houses have been handsome palazzi, and there
is still a native aristocracy resident in the place. Many of
the old buildings are painted on the outside with fading
frescoes ; of others the stone fronts are cut into diamond
facets, others are richly carved. Most of them rest upon
open arches, in which are shops where umbrella- vendors set
out their bright wares, and crimson berrette hang out for sale,
enlivening the grey walls by their brilliant colouring. All
the spots described in the novel of Doctor Antonio really
exist, and the crowd which collects around the carriage of
strangers when it stops, invites them to visit the house of

Lumped lisa from Taggia.

* Signora Eleanora,' * II Baronetto Inglese,' &c. The long
bridge across the valley is adorned with a shrine com-
memorating the adventure of two children who were thrown
down by an earthquake with two of its arches in 1831, and
escaped uninjured.

From hence a path, turning to the right, mounts by a
steep ascent to Castellaro, where the church (engraved here,
as a good specimen of the graceful Riviera churches) stands
out finely upon the spur of the hill, its gaily-painted tower
relieved against the blue background of sea. Beyond this is
Lampedusa.

' A broad, smooth road, opening from Castellaro northwards, and

LAMPEDUSA. 43

stretching over the side of the steep mountains in capricious zig-zags,
now conceals, now gives to view, the front of the sanctuary, shaded by
two oaks of enormous dimensions. The Castellini, who made this
road "in the sweat of their brows," point it out with pride, and well
they may. They tell you, with infinite complacency, how every one
of the pebbles with which it is paved was brought from the sea-shore,
those who had mules using them for that purpose, those who had none
bringing up loads on their own backs ; how every one, gentleman and
peasant, young and old, women and boys, worked day and night, with
no other inducement than the love of the Madonna. The Madonna of
Lampedusa is their creed, their occupation, their pride, their carroccio,
their fixed idea.

' All that relates to the miraculous image, and the date and mode of

Castellaro.

its translation to Castellaro, is given at full length in two inscriptions,
one in Latin, the other in bad Italian verses, which are to be seen in the
interior of the little chapel of the sanctuary. Andrea Anfosso, a native
of Castellaro, being the captain of a privateer, was one day attacked
and defeated by the Turks, and carried to the Isle of Lampedusa.
Here he succeeded in making his escape, and hiding himself .until the
Turkish vessel which had captured his left the island. Anfosso, being a
man of expedients, set about building a boat, and finding himself in a
great dilemma what to do for a sail, ventured on the bold and original
step of taking from the altar of some church or chapel of the island a
picture of the Madonna to serve as one ; and so well did it answer his
purpose, that he made a most prosperous voyage back to his native
shores, and, in a fit of generosity, offered his holy sail to the worship

44 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

of his fellow-townsmen. The wonder of the affair does not stop here.
A place was chosen by universal acclamation, two gun-shots in advance
of the present sanctuary, and a chapel erected, in which the gift was
deposited with all due honour. But the Madonna, as it would seem,
had an insurmountable objection to the spot selected, for, every morning
that God made, the picture was found at the exact spot where the actual
church now stands. Sentinels were posted at the door of the chapel,
the entire village remained on foot for nights, mounting guard at the
entrance ; no precaution, however, availed. In spite of the strictest
watch, the picture, now undeniably a miraculous one, found means to
make its way to the spot preferred. At length, the Castellini came
to understand that it was the Madonna's express wish that her head-
quarters should be shifted to where her resemblance betook itself every
night ; and though it had pleased her to make choice of the most abrupt
and the steepest spot on the whole mountain, just where it was requisite
to raise arches in order to lay a sure foundation for her sanctuary, the
Castellini set themselves con amore to the task so clearly revealed to
them, and this widely-renowned chapel was completed. This fook
place in 1619. In the course of time some rooms were annexed, for
the accommodation of visitors and pilgrims, and a terrace built ; for
though the Castellini have but a small purse, theirs is the great lever
which can remove all impediments — the faith that brought about the
Crusades.

' To the north a long, long vista of deep, dark, frowning gorges,
closes in the distance by a gigantic screen of snow-clad Alps — the glorious
expanse of the Mediterranean to the south-east and west, range upon
range of gently undulating hills, softly inclining towards the sea — in the
plain below, the fresh, cozy valley of Taggia, with its sparkling track
of waters, and rich belt of gardens, looking like a perfect mosaic of
every gradation of green, chequered with winding silver arabesques.
Ever and anon a tardy pomegranate in full blossom spreads out its ori-
flamme of tulip-shaped dazzling red flowers. From the rising ground
opposite frowns mediaeval Taggia, like a discontented guest at a splendid
banquet. A little further off westward, the eye takes in the campanile
of the Dominican church, emerging from a group of cypresses, and
further still, on the extreme verge of the western cliff, the sanctuary of
our lady of the Guardia shows its white silhouette against the dark blue
sky. ' — Ruffini.

After leaving La Riva, the post-road to Genoa passes
through the villages of S. Stefano al Mare, and S. Lorenzo
al Mare, and then Porto Maurizio comes in sight, covering
the steep sides of a promontory.1 The church here is

1 Places in the diligence from S. Remo to Porto Maurizio cost 2 frs., a carriage
from Porto Maurizio to Albenga 15 frs., and 15 frs. more from Albenga to Savona.

ONEGLIA, ALBENGA. 45

white, and the town cold in colour compared with its
neighbours.

Oneglia (Inn. Vittoria, tolerable) is an ugly town, with
modern arcaded streets, but a good place for the study of
fishing-boats and fishermen. It was the birthplace of Andrea
Doria, the great Genoese admiral, in 1466. There is a road
from hence to join the railway from Turin to Cuneo (at
Fossano) by the ravine of the Tanaro, and the pass of the
Col di Nava.

Through Diano Marina we reach Cervi, where a church
was built on the Bauso, or level surface on the top of the
rock above the town, by the coral-fishers of the eighteenth
century, of whom 250 — the whole male population — were
lost in a final expedition for coral to complete its faQade.

We pass the Castle of Andora, near which the Merula
of Pliny flows into the sea, to Alassio (Inns. Hotel di
Roma, Grand Hotel, both very good), which has recently
become a favourite winter resort, and is a better sleeping-
place than Albenga. There is English Church service here
in winter. We see the Island of Gallinara, with the remains
of a Benedictine convent, before reaching —

Albenga (Inn. Grand Hotel, new and good), the ancient
Albium Ingaunum and birthplace of the Emperor Proculus.
Its thirteen mediaeval towers remind the Italian traveller of
S. Gimignano, rising out of the plain like a number of tali
nine-pins set close together. Albenga affords many artistic
subjects, possessing a very ancient Gothic Cathedral, an
early Baptistery — green with mould and damp, and three
equally grim and green Lombardic lions at the foot of the
tower called Torre del Marchese Malespina. A little way
beyond the to'vn is a Roman bridge, Ponte Lungo. The
place is so unhealthy that — * Hai faccia di Albenga ' — is a
proverbial expression in the country for one who looks ill.

(There is a lovely drive (8 frs.) up the vale of Albenga1
to Garlanda. This valley is radiantly beautiful in spring.
Overhead are tall peach-trees with their luxuriance of pink
blossom. Beneath these the vines cling in Bacchanalian

THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

festoons, leaping from tree to tree, and below all, large
melons, young corn, and bright green flax, waving here and
there into sheets of blue flower, form the carpet of Nature.
Sometimes gaily-painted towers, and ancient palazzi, with
carved armorial gateways and arched porticoes, break in
upon the solitude of the valley. In one of these, the palace
of Lustgnano, which is girt about on two sides by the steep
escarpment of the mountains, and backed by a noble pine-

Cathedral of Albenga.

tree, Madame de Genlis lived for some time, considering
her abode an Arcadia, and here she wrote her story of the
Duchess of Cerifalco, shut up for nine years in a vault by
her husband, of which Alberiga is the scene.

Beyond this, the mountains form rugged precipices,
only leaving space for the road to pass by the side of the
clear rushing river Ceuta. Its stream divides to embrace
the mediaeval walls and towers of Villa Nuova, a curious
and tiny city. Near the road is a round church, built of

FINALE MARINA, SAVON A. 47

deep yellow stone, with a Gothic tower. Hence, across the
marshy plain of the Lerone^ one sheet of flowers in spring,
we reach the old castle of Garlanda, with Scotch-looking
pepper-box tourelles, which guards the narrowing fastness
of the valley. Beyond is the church, where the whole
peasantry of the valley rose against the French in defence
of their picture by Domenichino — of S. Mauro kneeling at
the feet of the Virgin and Child — and succeeded in pre-
venting its being carried off. In the same church is a hor-
rible Martyrdom of S. Erasmus, attributed to Pousstn.)

After leaving Albenga, the high-road passes through
Loano (Inn. Europa). There is a very picturesque view of
an aqueduct, and the fine church of Monte Carmelo, built
by the Doria in 1609, just outside the further gate. The
next village is Pietra. There is a tunnel through the rocks
before reaching —

Finale Marina (Inn. Hotel de Venise, very indifferent),
one of the most picturesque villages on the shore. The
views of the Apennine ranges beyond Spezia and Carrara
are most beautiful on clear evenings from all this part of the
coast ; and the descent to the sea-shore at this point, flanked
by gigantic precipices, on one of which is a tall mediaeval
tower, is the finest scene at this end of the Riviera.

Hence the road follows the coast, sometimes above,
sometimes on a level with the sea. The first village is
Varigotti. We pass through a tunnel in the rocks before
reaching Noli. Then come Spotorno, Bergeggi, and Vado.
The stately buildings of Genoa shine in the clear light long
before reaching Savona.

Savona (Inn. Hotel Suisse, excellent) is the largest town
on the coast after Nice and Genoa, and has a small but safe
harbour. The handsome Cathedral of 1604 contains, in the
Cappella Sistina, the tomb of the parents of Pope Sixtus IV.,
by Michele and Giovanni de Andria. Among the pictures
are a Madonna, by Aurelio Robertelli, 1449 ; an Assumption,
by Brea, 1495 > an<^ an Annunciation and Presentation, by
Albani. The Church of S. Giovanni Battista contains a

THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

Nativity, by Girolamo da Brescia, 1519, and a picture
falsely attributed to Albert Diirer. In S. Maria di Castello
is a very remarkable altar-piece by Vincenzo Fappa, 1489, the
illustrious pupil of Mantegna. In S. Giacomo is the tomb

At Savona.

of the lyric poet Chiabrera, who was born here, inscribed by
his own desire : —

' Amico, io, vivendo, cercava conforto

Nel Monte Parnasso ;
Tu, meglio consigliato, cercalo
Nel Calvario.'

The house in which Chiabrera lived in the town is inscribed
with the motto he chose — ' Nihil ex omni parte beatum.'
The Theatre is dedicated to Chiabrera. Pius VII. was long
detained at Savona as a prisoner. Artists will not fail to
sketch the lovely view from the port with its old tower.
The statue of the Virgin here has an inscription which can
be read either in Latin or Italian :

' In mare irato, in subita procella,
Invoco te, nostra benigna Stella. '

(It is about an hour's drive — carriage 6 frs. — from Savona

THE SANTUARIO. 49

to its famous Santuario. Through a winding valley you
enter a courtyard, shaded by great elm trees. In the centre
is a fountain, and on the further side a fine 16th-century
church, containing a few tolerable pictures. The first
appearance of the miraculous Virgin, in whose honour all
this was built, is said to have taken place at the little round
chapel on the hill above the present sanctuary, where she
showed herself to a poor countryman, and desired him to
go into Savona, and declare what he had seen. This he
did boldly, and was put into prison for his pains, but an
unknown lady came to open his prison-door and release
him. Again, at the scene of his daily labours, the Virgin
revealed herself to him, and again desired him to go and
tell what he had seen in Savona, but he remonstrated, saying
that the last time she had told him to do this he had obeyed
her and had been imprisoned in consequence. 'Yes,'
answered the Virgin, ' and it was I who released you ; go
then again boldly, and I will protect you.' So he obeyed,
and went to tell what he had seen in Savona, but the people
mocked, and no one believed him, and he returned home
sorrowful. On his way, as he was pondering sadly over
these things, he met a great multitude of people. ' Whence
do you come,' he said, ' and what are you going to do ? '
' Oh,' they said, ' we are the inhabitants of the Albergo dei
Poveri, and we are going to Savona, that we may obtain
food and continue to live, for we have no corn left in our
granaries.' Then he bade them return, for their granaries
should be filled. And they were unbelieving, yet still they
returned, and when they reached the granaries, they were
unable to open the doors on account of the quantity of grain
that was in them. All the people of Savona, when they saw
the miracle, gave praise to the Virgin who had delivered
them ; and now, convinced of the truth of the countryman's
story, they built the church and hospital in her honour,
which are still to be seen in the valley of S. Bernardo.

Within, the church is magnificent, its walls being entirely
covered with precious marbles, which in their turn are

VOL. I. E

50 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

encrusted with votive offerings of gold and silver. The
under church is even more splendid than the upper. Here
is the famous image of the Virgin, hideously radiant in the
jewelled crown of Pope Pius VII., and the diamond collar
of King Charles Albert. Beside her kneels a little marble
figure of the countryman to whom the discovery was due.
Beneath her feet issues a stream of water, served to visitors
from a massive silver jug upon a silver tray ; 'holy water,'
says the Sacristan, 'and competent to cure all manner of
diseases,' but, as a matter of fact, it is so icily cold that it
has quite the contrary effect upon those who drink it after
a hot walk from Savona. In the afternoon a Litany is
most sweetly sung at the Santuario by the inmates of the
neighbouring poor-house and orphanage, all looking most
picturesque — the younger women in while veils (pezzottos),
the elder wearing over their heads scarfs with brightly-
coloured flowers stamped upon them (mezzaras). When
their service is over, they emerge from the church in pro-
cession, with crosses and banners.

On leaving Savona, the road passes through Albizzola
Marina. One mile inland is Albizzola Superiore^ where
there is a fine palace of the Delia Rovere family. The Delia
Rovere Popes, Sixtus IV. and Julius II., were both natives
of Albizzola. The family was then so much reduced, that
Sixtus IV., though of noble descent, was the son of a poor
fisherman, and his nephew, Julius II., was occupied in his
youth in daily carrying the products of his father's farm to
Savona, either by boat or mule, whatever the rudeness of the
season, and was often received with great severity on his
return, if his provisions had not sold well.

In the church of S. Michele is a picture by Pierino del
Vaga^ which he vowed during a storm. Vorazze, a great
ship-building place on the sea-shore, was the birthplace
(1230) of Jacopo de Voragine, author of 'The Golden
Legend,' afterwards an excellent Archbishop of Genoa. In
the hills above this is the monastery of // Deserto, founded
by a lady of the Pallavicini family, who is represented there
as the Madonna in an altar-piece by Fiasella.

COGOLETTO, PEGU. 51

Cogoletto l is the reputed birthplace of ^Columbus, in
1447, and the house of his father Domenico (doubtful2) is
pointed out by the inscription —

' Hospes, siste gradum. Fuit hie lux prima Colombo :

Orbe viro major! heu nimis arcta domus !
Unas erat mundus. " Duo sunt," ait ille. Fuere.'3

Voltri is a large town with paper-manufactories. The
neighbouring valley of the Leira contains baths for cutaneous
disorders. In the Villa Brignole Sale is preserved the fine
tomb of Margherita, wife of Henry VII. of Luxemburg,
brought from the church of S. Francesco di Castelletto at
Genoa. Two monks are represented laying the princess in
her tomb, a fine work of Giovanni Pisano in 1313.

Pegli (Hotel d* Angleterre, facing the station — with a re-
staurant, dejeuner 3 frs. — very good. Hotel Gargini, in a
large garden, pension 8 to 9 frs., excellent. Grand Hotel}.
The entrance to the Villa Pallavicini is through a house
adjoining the pretty railway station on the left. A visit to
this famous villa occupies quite two hours, and no one who
is unequal to a long walk should attempt it. It should also
be remembered, where time is an object, that there is nothing
especially to be seen in the villa. The grounds were entirely
laid out in 1836-1846, during which time 100 men were
constantly at work. The pleasant, shady walks are bordered
by immense heaths, and other flowering shrubs. There is a
great deal that is very foolish, and has been very expensive,
in the way of fifth-rate triumphal arches, marble summer-
houses, artificial cascades, &c. What is really pretty is a
grotto, where you step into a boat, and are rowed in and
out amongst stalactite pillars, emerging on a miniature
lake fringed with azaleas and camellias. The villa now
belongs to the Marchesa Pallavicini Durazzo. The Palla-
vicini, ' neighbour robbers,' were a Lombard family, who

1 Tennyson's lines on young Columbus in ' The Daisy ' commemorate a visit of the
Laureate to Cogoletto.

- In his will Columbus says—' Que siendo yo nacido en Geneva, como natural d'alla
porque d' ella sali y en ella naci.'

3 Gagliuffi.

E 2

52 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE.

settled at Ge/ioa in 1353. To them belonged Cardinal
Pallavicini, historian of the Council of Trent, and Orazio,
collector of taxes in England under Mary, who, pocketing
his collections on the accession of Elizabeth, commanded a
ship against the Armada, was knighted, and, dying in great
honour, was buried at Babraham in Cambridgeshire. His
widow married Sir Oliver Cromwell, grandfather of the Pro-
tector, whose son and two daughters, uncle and aunts of the
Protector, married the three Pallavicini children of their
stepmother.

The Villa Doria at Pegli has pleasant grounds.

Hence the approach to Genoa is through a continuous
suburb, till, after passing the light-house, we come upon
one of the grandest city views in the world.

CHAPTER II.

GENOA.

GENOA stands at the north-western point of Italy, and
is, as it were, its key-note. No place is more entirely
embued with the characteristics, the beauty, the colour of
Italy. Its ranges of marble palaces and churches rise above
the blue waters of its bay, interspersed with the brilliant
green of orange and lemon groves, and backed by swelling
mountains ; and it well deserves its title of Geneva La
Superba. The best view is that as you approach by the
railway from Savona : hence you see : —

* The queenly city, with its streets of palaces rising tier above tier
from the water, girdling with the long lines of its bright white houses,
the vast sweep of its harbour, the mouth of which is marked by a huge
natural mole of rock, crowned by its magnificent light-house tower. Its
white houses rise out of a mass of fig, and olive, and orange-trees, the
glory of its old patrician luxury ; the mountains behind the town are
spotted at intervals by small circular low towers, one of which is dis-
tinctly conspicuous where the ridge of hills rises to its summit, and hides
from view all the country behind it. These towers are the forts of the
famous lines, which, curiously resembling in shape the later Syracusan
walls enclosing Epipolae, converge inland from the eastern and western
extremities of the city, looking down, the western line on the valley of
the Polcevera, the eastern on that of the Bisagno, till they meet on the
summit of the mountains, where the hills cease to rise from the sea, and
become more or less of a table-land running off towards the interior, at
a distance of between two and three miles from the outside of the city. '
— Arnold, Lecttires on Modem History.

' Ecco ! vediam la maestosa immensa
Citta, che al mar le sponde, il dorso ai monti
Occupa tutta, e tutta a cerchio adorna.

Qui volanti barchette, ivi anchorate

54 GENOA.

Navi contemplo, e a poco a poco in alto

Infra i lucidi tetti, infra 1' eccelse

Cupole e torri, il guardo ergenclo all' ampie

Girevol mura triplicate, i chiusi

Monti da loro, e le minute rocche

A luogo a luogo, e i ben posti ripari

Ammiro intorno : inusitata intanto

Vaghezza all' occhio, e bell' intreccio fanno

Col tremolar delle frondose cime,

Col torreggiar dell' appuntate moli,

Lo sventokr delle velate antenne. ' — BcttincllL

Genoa, anciently Genua (probably from Januu, the gate of Northern
Italy), was the chief maritime city of Liguria, and afterwards a
Roman municipium. Under the Lombards the constant invasions of
the Saracens united the professions of trade and war, and its greatest
merchants became also its greatest generals, while its naval captains
were also merchants.

The Crusades were of great advantage to Genoa in enabling it to
establish trading settlements as far as the Black Sea, but the power ot
Pisa in the East, as well as its possession of Corsica and Sardinia, led
to wars between it and Genoa, in which the Genoese took Corsica, and
drove the Pisans out of Sardinia. By land, the Genoese territory was
•extended to Nice on one side and to Spezia on the other. After the
•defeat of Pisa in the battle of Molara, 1284, and the destruction of its
harbour, Genoa became complete mistress of the western sea. In the
east its power was only surpassed by that of Venice, but constant com-
petition with the rival city excited its energies to the utmost, and the
services which it was able to render to the Byzantine emperor led to its
gradually supplanting Venice in Greece and the Black Sea.

The most formidable enemy which Genoa had to deal with was
its want of the internal unity which was conspicuous at Venice. The
bishops were its first rulers, then consuls, then doges. In the I2th
•century the people were already divided into eight political parties,
which in the time of the Hohenstaufens resolved themselves into the
Ghibellines under the Dorias and Spinolas, and the Guelfs under the
Fieschi. At the end of the I2th century the plan of government by a
foreign Podesta was introduced, assisted by a council of eight, but by
the I4th century the rivalries of the different noble families had led to
civil war in almost all the possessions of the State, though trade and
navigation only seemed to flourish the more ; and the speculations,
ventures, and spirit of enterprise of Genoa only increased.

In 1339 the Genoese elected their first Doge, Simone Boccanera,
who abdicated, was recalled, and eventually poisoned ; and as the chief
power was afterwards always the subject of contention between the
families of Adorno, Fregosi, Marchi, and Montaldi, the possession of a

HISTORY OF GENOA. 55

Doge failed utterly in establishing internal peace. Still trade flourished
and increased, and, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, the
chief power really rested with the managers of the famous Banco di
San Giorgio, which maintained an army and naval force of its own.

Genoa fell several times into the hands of France. The famous
Andrea Doria was at first Admiral of the French fleet, but, disgusted
at the breach of faith shown by Francis I., and his inattention to the
freedom granted to Genoa, he went over to the Emperor Charles V. , and
having obtained a promise that his native city should be an indepen-
dent Republic, drove the French out of the city, and introduced a con-
stitution in which all family interests were made subordinate to the real
welfare of the State. It was thus ordained that all the old families
possessing landed property were to be counted as equal ; and every
noble family which possessed six inhabited houses in the town was
to form an 'Albergo,' to which poorer families were to associate
themselves, an arrangement which gave an opportunity of uniting
those families who had hitherto favoured the Guelfs to Ghibelline
Alberghi, and those who were Ghibellines to Guelfic Alberghi, and
in this way gradually extinguishing their party-spirit by their interests.
Out of the 28 Alberghi thus formed, a senate of 400 members was
chosen, which was to fill up all the offices of state, the Doge being only
elected for two years.

Having no children, Andrea Doria had chosen as his heir his great-
nephew Gianettino, a vain young man, who was suspected of wishing
to aspire to the sovereignty when his uncle should be dead. The
offence which he gave to one of the great Genoese nobles, Giovanni
Luigi di Fieschi, Count of Lavagna, led to the famous conspiracy of
the Fieschi, by which it was resolved to overthrow the new constitu-
tion of Genoa and the influence of the Dorias. For the moment the
insurgents were successful. Gianettino was killed at the Porta S.
Tommaso, and Andrea, on hearing of his death, fled to Savona ; but
the conspiracy was brought to nothing by the death of Fieschi, who fell
into the water as he was stepping into a galley, and was drowned by
the weight of his armour ; after which, Andrea Doria was brought back
to Genoa with honour, and the whole property of the Fieschi was con-
fiscated and their palace razed to the ground.

From this time Genoa enjoyed tranquillity, till the reign of Louis
XIV., who sent a fleet to besiege the town in 1684, when the Palace of
the Doge and many other fine buildings were destroyed by bombard-
ment, and the city was forced to submit.

In 1800 Genoa again underwent a siege, when it was attacked by
sea by an English and Neapolitan fleet, and by land by the Austrians.
The blockade caused a terrible famine, in which 20,000 persons
perished, and Massena, with his French garrison, was obliged to capitu-
late on June 4, but re-entered the town on the i6th. The last Doge
chosen was Girolamo Durazzo. In 1805 Genoa was incorporated with

GEXOA.

and its trade was, Stopped. In 1814 it was stormed by die

it over as a Duchy to the King
s followed the fortanes of the honse of Savoy.

_. ". "."_.--: ."..I!"-:.' ~: ..-.. . '.

number of
at its port is considered to be 7,000 saffing-

. : :o

.-.-.:.:.:..'.:•.' .:~;.. '.-.'.'..: -.-. .: j :'..--.::.:.:•'.'.'•

with striped fecades of Mack and white marble, and, secondly, its
tteenth-centarr palaces. The residence of Habeas and

Vandyke in the town has greatly enriched it with their paintings,
which for the most part rrmjin in the hands of those famihes for whom
they were origmalry exeorted. The Genoese painters— Lodovico Brea,
c. 1483 ; Loca Camboso, 1527-1585 ; CasteUo fl Bergamasco, 1500-
1570; Bernardo Strozzi (called • II Cappoccino ' or ' II Prete*), 1581-
1644; Carloni, 1593-1630— were of inferior importance.

Petrarch, whilst reproaching Genoa with her disorders,
ghres a brilliant picture of her happier days : —

Dost thoa remember the time when the Genoese were the happiest
people upon earth, when their country appeared a celestial residence
snch as the Elysan fields are painted ? What an aspect it presented
from the sea ! Towers which seemed to threaten the heavens, hflls
dothed with ofires and oranges. Marble palaces perched on die top
of the rocks, with defickws retreats beneath them, where art conquered
natnre, and at the side of which the rery sailors paased upon their oars,
intent upon gazing. Whilst the travellers who arrived by land beheld
with astonishment men and women right royally adorned, and mxories
abaiidjiH in mountain and wood, unknown elsewhere in royal courts.
When the foot touched the threshold of the city it seemed as if it had
readied the temple of happiness, of which it was said, as of Rome of
old, ' This is the city of kings,'

The principal hotels are all ranged along the edge of the
port, but are separated from the sea by a tramway and a
high terrace of white marble, which hide the view from the
lower windows, so that rooms ' al terzo piano ' are generally
to be preferred From these one can watch the glorious
sunsets behind the grandly-proportioned light-house, called
1-a Fanale (buflt 1547), ^47 feet high, which closes the port
at its western extremity, and occupies the site of the port
La Briglia, which Louis XIL of France erected to keep the

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58 GENOA.

balancent sous les yeux, ne pent pas s'en arracher. Le mouvement et
"la vie qui se jouent et se deploient sous milles formes diverses, ces
legers bateaux qui se glissent entre les vaisseaux immobiles, ces voix
confuses qui se melent au bruit sourd des vagues, les cris cles matelots
adoucis par 1'espace, leurs costumes si pittoresques, leurs physionomies
si expressives, cette mer si bleue, ce ciel si pur, cette vive lumiere, ces
brises si fraiches et pourtant si douces, ce cintre qui resserre le tableau
afin de n'en faire perdre aucun detail, et tout cela un seul coup d'ceil
1'embrasse ! Ici vraiment tout ce qui respire jouit, tout ce qui regarde
est heureux ! II est sans doute un grand nombre de ports de mer qui
offrent une vue etendue et variee, mais en outre d'une magnificence que
1'on chercherait vainement ailleurs, les differents plans sur lesquels la
ville de Genes est bade, semblent comme autant de gradins disposes
pour faire jouir les habitans de 1'eternelle naiunachie qui se deploie a
leurs regards.' — Madame Swetchine.

' Looking out from my bed-room, I saw beneath me rows of lengthy,
-oddly-constructed waggons, laden, some with sacks of corn, some with
barrels of (I know not what), some with pigs of lead and iron, some
with cocoa-nut matting, others with logs of timber, others, again, with
dried fish ; and, what with the ceaseless din of human voices, pitched
in every key, the clang of iron rails as they were flung from the carts
to the ground, the blasting of the neighbouring rocks for the fortifica-
tions, the braying of mules and donkeys, the tinkling of the bells
affixed to their harness, and the cracking of vetturinos' whips as they
whirled their crazy vehicles through the streets, the hammering of iron
pots and copper pans, the chanting monotone of the sailors, with their
yo-ho, yo-ho ! as they raised anchor before leaving harbour, the creak-
ing of cordage, the cries of hucksters as they advertised their wares for
sale, and the vibration of all the church bells as they chimed the
quarters, — I thought my tympanum must have burst. I say nothing
of the fragrant odours drawn forth by the heat of the sun from Parmesan
and Gruyere cheese and Bologna sausages ; nor will I dwell on the
filthy habits of women spitting and men smoking at every turn. In
spite of all these drawbacks, the eye enjoys a perpetual feast in strange
dramas acting every minute, and the picturesque groups standing at
every corner. The superfluous energy of gesticulation about the veriest
trifle, in which almost all classes indulge, would be amusing were it not
fatiguing. It was but now I saw two men, with naked, nervous arms
and legs, and swarthy breasts, with no article of clothing on them but
cotton drawers, flinging their arms about so wildly, and gabbling at
each other with such frantic vehemence, that I expected bloodshed
every instant. The ringing laugh which succeeded this redundancy
of gesture taught me that I did not yet understand the national tempera-
ment.'— Julian C. Voting.

Emerging from the hotels on the side towards the sea,

LOGGIA DEI BANCHI. 59

the traveller finds himself in a heavy white-washed arcade
beneath the old houses, a place sufficiently repulsive in its
first appearance, but always full of life and * movimento,' and
where the character of the Genoese people may well be
studied. Women pass in the veils of Genoa, the graceful
thin muslin veils of the unmarried women, called pezzottos,
and the picturesque mezzaras, a kind of gaily-flowered
chintz, of the married women. It will be observed what
numbers of priests and monks of every kind still abound
in the city which is especially dedicated to the Madonna.
The Italian proverb about Genoa,

Mare senza pesce,1 monti senza legno, uomini senza fede, donne
senza vergogna,

has no truth, and is probably of hostile Pisan origin : cer-
tainly the Genoese would not be likely to say it of them-
selves. Boccaccio also defends the virtue of the Genoese
ladies in the second day of his Decameron, when Barnabo
Lomellini, at a party of Italian merchants in Paris, refuses
to believe in the possibility of infidelity on the part of his
Genoese wife. However, two of the greatest of Italian
poets condemn the faults of Genoa :

' Ahi Genovesi, uomini diversi
D' ogni costume, e pien d' ogni magagna :
Perche non siete voi del mondo spersi ? '

Dante, Inf. xxxiii. 151.

' Tue ricchezze non spese, eppur corrotte,
Fan d'ignoranza un denso velo agli uni,
Superstizion tien gli altri ; a tutti e notte.'

Alficri, Sonn. 76.

Following the arcades to the left (from the hotels), the
Via della Ponte Reale leads to the busy little Piazza Banchi,
containing the gaily-painted sixteenth-century Exchange —
Loggia dei Banchi—\&\<$z& aloft on a balustraded platform.
In the fifteenth century one Lucca Pinelli was dragged
hither and crucified in the night, because he dared in the
senate to oppose the sale of Leghorn to the Florentines,

1 There are 180 different kinds.

60 GENOA.

which had been thought necessary by the Doge Tommaso
Campofregoso, to pay for the fortification of the city walls and
improvement of the dockyard. ' When men rose next morn-
ing, they found his dead body hanging to the cross, with
these words written beneath — " Because he has uttered
words which men may not utter." In this way did the
rulers of Genoa remove from their path all opposition,' *
From this square opens the Strada degli Orefiri, the jewel-
lers' street, bright with shops of the Genoese coral described
by Dante as ' of pallid hue, 'twixt white and yellow,' and of
silver and gold filigree-work, chiefly in the form of butter-
flies, flowers, or feathers. On the left of the street, near the
end, is a shrine, much esteemed by the Genoese, containing
a beautiful picture of the Virgin and Child with S. Loo (the
patron of smiths), by Pellegrino Piola. It was set up
on November 25, 1641, and that very night the artist was
murdered in a quarrel in the Piazza Sarzana, being only in
his twenty-second year. When Napoleon wished to remove
this picture, the gold and silversmiths effectually defended
it, and it was never taken to France.

Returning to the .arcades, we have, facing us, the black
walls and rugged arches of the old Dogana, enclosing the
Banco di San Giorgio, used for the Bank, which was founded
to meet the expenses of resisting the Grimaldi of Monaco.
The building itself is a memorial of Genoese hatred and
vengeance against Venice, its stones having been brought
from Constantinople in 1260, when Michael Palaeologus
gave the Genoese the Venetian fortress of Pancratone.
The three Venetian lions' heads which adorn the principal
portal are a proof of this. Against the outer arches, hung,
for nearly 600 years, a similar memorial of the remorseless
hatred of Genoa against Pisa — the chains of the Porto
Pisano, carried off, in 1290, by Conrad Dcria, with forty
galleys : these have lately been restored to Pisa. Over the
door are the remains of the device adopted by Genoa after
the visit of its native Pope Innocent IV. (Fieschi)— the

1 Theodore Bent's Genoa.

BANCO DI S. GIORGIO. 61

Griffin of Genoa strangling the imperial Eagle, and the Fox
of Pisa in its claws, with the motto —

' Griphus ut has angit
Sic hostes Genua frangit. '

On the fagade towards the sea Lazzaro Tavarone has
represented St. George on the front of his own palace. The
building was erected by the first doge, Guglielmo Bocca-
negra, and is attested by the inscription—

' Guglielmo Boccanegra, whilst he was captain of this city, ordered,
in the year 1260, that I should be built. After this was decreed, Ivo
Oliviero, a man divine for the acuteness of his mind, adapted me with
great care to whatever use should then or ever after be applied to me
by the captain.'

The upper hall, a striking picture of neglected and
decaying magnificence, is surrounded by two ranges of
grand life-size statues of Genoese heroes — Spinola, Doria,
Fieschi, &c., the upper row standing, the lower seated.

* On every side the visitor is greeted by the statues of worthy men,
some well executed in white marble by eminent Genoese artists. They
line the walls of the entrance hall, they line the walls of the council
hall, each one a testimony to some magnanimous citizen, who gave a
portion of his patrimony towards relieving some pressing distress.
" We loved that hall, tho' white and cold,
Those niched shapes of noble mould ;
A princely people's awful princes,
The grave, severe Genoese of old."

Tennyson, The Daisy.

One of these worthies had founded a hospital, another had bought off a
tax on provisions which pressed heavily on the poor, another had left
shares in the bank to provide a dower for poor maidens, another had left
his whole fortune to improve the port or strengthen the fortifications.
There they stand in this noble hall, thirty-five benefactors of their
country, all robed in the loose flowing dress of mediaeval Italy, each
with his quaint " berretta" on his head, a stone slab underneath each,
relating to their many virtues and their liberality. In fact, this old
building contains a perfect museum of Genoa's worthies.

« The statues are all arranged in an order peculiar to themselves, suited
to their various grades of liberality. For those who only bequeathed
twenty-five thousand francs to the State, a simple commemorative stone
was thought sufficient, whilst their more liberal brethren, whose
donation amounted to fifty thousand francs, were honoured with a half-

62 GENOA.

figure bust. All those who gave up to one hundred thousand francs
were represented standing in a row over the heads of the most generous-
of all who exceeded this sum, and who were placed in a sitting posture
close to public gaze and admiration.' — Theodore Bent's ' Genoa.'

To the student of Genoese history the neglected halls of
the Banco di S. Giorgio are full of interest. An inscription
marks the room where criminal cases were tried. In an
upper chamber is the ballot-box which decided elections.
The pigeon-holes remain where the letters for the different
magistrates were placed 400 years ago. In the archives are
boundless materials for the history of Genoa and her colo-
nies, Caffa, Scio, Famagosta, &c, and a copy of the Gazzaria,
the laws by which she governed her possessions in the Black
Sea,

' For .St. George ' was the Genoese war-cry, and it is
interesting here to remember that the choice of St. George
as the patron saint of England came from his selection by
Richard Coeur de Lion as his ensign in compliment to the
port of Genoa, which fitted out the eighty galleys on which
he and Philip II. embarked for the Crusades.

In this neighbourhood, closing the eastern side of the
harbour, is the Porto Franco, which grew up through the
desire to evade the tithes claimed on all cargoes of ships
by the archbishop. We may still see the 355 bonded
warehouses, surrounded by lofty walls, and with gates
towards the sea and the city. That all merchandise from
abroad could be freely admitted here and sent from here by
sea and land without any kind of duty was the secret of
Genoa's later prosperity. Attached to the Porto Franco is
the curious population of porters called the 'Company
of the Caravans,' which had their distinctive dress, their
own consuls, and a jurisdiction of their own. They were
founded in 1340 by the Banco di S. Giorgio, which im-
ported twelve porters hither from the valley of Brembana,
of which the inhabitants were famous for their industry and
honesty. In order to succeed to his father's employment it
was indispensable that a son should be born, either within

CATHEDRAL OF S. LORENZO. 63

the precincts of the Porto Franco, or in the villages of Piazza
and Lugno, and such was the morality of the colony that in
the annals of the police no complaint has ever been brought
against its people. Niccolb Paganini, ' the pale musician of
the bow,' as Leigh Hunt calls him, was the son of a porter
of the Porto Franco. The Caravanas, so called from the
Arab fashion of their arrival, had the privilege of selling
their posts to their compatriots, and these were often valued
at as much as 10,000 francs. Now they have lost their privi-
leges, and the Pace/tint may be simple Genoese.

We now turn to the left, by the Via S. Lorenzo, to the
Cathedral, which was chiefly built in the twelfth century,,
and restored in the fourteenth. From its steps the podesta
announced the capture of Damietta, which closed the fifth
crusade, when ' amid rabid and unearthly yells of joy
women fainted and wept aloud, and old men tottering with
years cast away their crutches and with outstretched arms
thanked the Almighty for the mercies received.' The
Cathedral is striped in alternate courses of black and white
marble, like most of the great Genoese buildings.

* In scanning the fa9ade of this cathedral, the traveller's eye rests on<
a perfect museum of architecture. The portals are built in pure Italian
Gothic surrounded by a blaze of figure working, in which are seen
Moorish designs and Moorish images, whilst the Byzantine element is
present in the figure of Christ over the central portal, and in the
genealogical tree which climbs up towards it. As the eye travels up-
wards it rests on some of the best work of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries — restorations made after a fire which nearly deprived Genoa
of her sanctuary— until at length the campanile crowns the motley
group, finished in 1520, in the stiflest style of the Renaissance. If each
of those figures inserted in the walls could give its own history, what
a curious network of facts would they produce about Genoa's enter-
prises, and Genoa's world-wide commerce. Report tells us that those
spiral pillars on either side of the central portal, representing palm-trees,
came from a Moorish mosque at Almeria, in Spain ; the pillars of a
loggia, where, according to the original plan, another tower was' to
have been built, belonged to an ancient church which stood here before
the cathedral ; and a grotesque figure of S. Lorenzo on the gridiron,
with impish dwarfs blowing vigorously with bellows, came from the
same old building ; whilst a legend is attached to a tall thin figure

64 GENOA.

under a canopy on the south corner of the fa9ade, which is commonly
supposed to represent the blacksmith who did all the iron work for the
cathedral, and refused to be paid on condition that a statue of himself
should be inserted on the walls. And here he stands, with his anvil
in his hands, puzzling the heads of antiquaries, who declare him to be
a saint, and reject the popular story with scorn.'— Theodore Benfs
* Genoa.'1

In the outer wall we may observe the handsome Gothic
tomb of Antonio Grimaldi, the unsuccessful general of the
Republic in the fourteenth century, unwisely chosen in the
place of Pagano Doria, after the terrible naval battle of
the Bosphorus.

The church is approached through a kind of vestibule
or inner porch, and the effect of its interlacing arches is
very striking. The nave, which is far the finest part of the
building, is separated from the aisles by dark marble pillars,
supporting striped arcades of black and white marble.
Here and there a crimson curtain gives a bright patch of
colour, which is repeated in the figures kneeling below.
On the right is the tomb of Duke Isaac, a Greek exile who
remained at Genoa when the rest of his compatriots returned
to Constantinople with the Emperor Michael Palaeologus,
raised to the throne by Genoese interference.

The chapel of the Doges at the end of the right aisle has
a great Crucifixion, by Vandyke : the arrangement is rather
stiff ; S. Sebastian is represented with the Virgin and S. John
at the foot of the Cross. The choir is renaissance, with
stalls of intarsta-vjork. Before a chapel on the left of the
altar kneels the marble figure of Cardinal Pallavicini : the
Genoese say that he has confessed and long sought absolu-
tion, but still waits for it. From the centre of the left aisle
opens the rich and grotesque Chapel of S. John the Baptist,
built 1496. It is decorated with statues by Guglielmo della
Porta and Matteo Civitali di S. Giovanni (the great sculptor
of Lucca), 1490.

* The finest among the statues is that of Zacharias, a noble figure,
clad in the official robes of a Jewish high priest, standing with arms
raised to heaven as if "executing the priest's office before God in the

CATHEDRAL OF S. LORENZO. 65

order of his course." The Elizabeth is remarkable for its fine drapery
and grandiose style ; the Habakkuk is a striking figure ; but the Adam
wants dignity, and the Eve is coarse and without expression.' — Perkins's
* Tuscan Sculptors.*

The shrine is adorned with hanging lamps, always kept
burning. The relics of the saint are preserved in a silver
shrine by Daniele di Terramo (1437). In consequence of
the crime of Herodias and her daughter, an edict of
Innocent VIII. forbids females to enter the chapel except
on one day in the year : the ladies of the Sauli family were
alone exempted, on account of the piety and charity of their
house, and they are usually married in this chapel. In the
treasury of the cathedral (only shown by a special order from
the Municipality) is the Sacro Catino, long exhibited to the
people as the vessel used by Our Saviour at the Last Supper
—the Holy Graval or Grail • another tradition tells that it
was originally given to King Solomon by the Queen of
Sheba. When Cesarea was taken by the Genoese and Pisan
Crusaders in noi, the Genoese gave up to the Pisans all
the rest of the booty, on condition that the Sacro Catino
was left to them. Nothing could exceed the veneration with
which it was afterwards regarded at Genoa. Twelve knights
called * Clavigeri ' were appointed as its special guard, each
being responsible during one month of the year for the
safety of the tabernacle in which it was contained.
Petrarch * speaks of having seen it — ' a priceless and
wonderful vase ' and ' a right glorious relic.' It was believed
to be formed from a single emerald, and as there were
heretics to this faith, in 1476 a law appeared, punishing with
death any one who made experiments upon the Sacro
•Catino, 'by touching it, with gold, stones, coral, or any
other substance.' Unfortunately it was carried to Paris in
1809, and, when sent back in 1815, it was broken between
Turin and Genoa.

' II resulte que Genes ne croit plus que le Sacro Catino soit une
e'meraude.

' Genes ne croit plus que cette emeraude ait etc donnee par la reine de

1 Itineratio^
VOL. I. F

66 GENOA.

Saba a Salomon ;— Genes ne croit plus que dans cette emeraude Jesus-
Christ ait mange 1'agneau pascal. Si aujourcl'hui Genes reprenait
Cesaree, Genes demanclerait sa part du butin, et laisserait aux Pisans le
Sacro Catino, qui n'est que de verre.' — Dumas.

' In Genoa 'tis said that a jewel of yore,

Clear, large, and resplendent, ennobled the shrine,
Where the faithful in multitudes flocked to adore,
And the emerald was pure, and the saint was divine.

But the priest who attended the altar was base,

And the faithful, who worshipped, besotted and blind ;

He put a green glass in the emerald's place,

And the multitude still in mute worship inclined.'

Lord J. R^lsscll to Thomas Moore.

On the walls of the Archbishop's Palace are curious
frescoes illustrative of gifts to the metropolitan church — of
property in Sardinia after the Genoese conquests in the
island in the twelfth century ; of Gibiletto from Beltram,
son of Baldwin, and of various benefits from its native Pope
Innocent IV.

In a small piazza to the right of the cathedral square is
the Palazzo Giustiniani, on which we may remark a lion
with an open Bible. This and another Venetian lion on the
sailors' church of S. Marco are memorials of the many
victories of the Genoese over the Venetians.

To the left of the cathedral square by the Via and
Salita del Arcivescovado, we reach the Church of S. Matteo.
The story of the Doria family circles around this little building.
It is supposed to have had its romantic origin in Arduin,
Vicomte de Narbonne, who fell ill at Genoa when he came •
thither to embark for the Crusades, and was kindly nursed
l>y a noble Genoese lady of the Delia Volta family, and her
daughter Oria. This kindness Arduin never forgot, and, when
he returned from the Holy Land, he married Oria, and merg-
ing his nationality into hers, and calling his property Port
d'Oria, became the ancestor of the most illustrious family
in Genoa. On the raised loggia before the church, the
Doria merchants met their clients, and hence Andrea Doria
harangued the people in 1528, urging them to resist the

S. 'MATTEO. 67

French, who were then besieging the town. The little piazza
is surrounded by the family palaces. That on the right, with
an inscription, was given to Lamba Doria in 1298, after the
victory of Curzola. The first of those bearing a relief above
the entrance, of St. George and the Dragon in the black
slate-marble of Lavagna, was given to Pagano Doria in 1355,
after the Battle of Sapienza. The palace in the right-hand
corner, striped with black and white marble, and with a
door richly adorned with arabesques, was the gift of the
Republic to the famous Andrea Doria, after his refusal to
accept the dogeship for life. It bears the inscription : Senaf.
Cons. Andreae de Oria Patriae Libefatori Munus Publicum.

' This house was Andrea Uoria's. Here he lived ;
And here at eve relaxing, when ashore,
Held many a pleasant, many a grave discourse
With them that sought him, walking to and fro
As on his deck. 'Tis less in length and breadth
Than many a cabin in a ship of war ;
But 'tis of marble, and at once inspires
The reverence due to ancient dignity.

He left it for a better ; and 'tis now
A house of trade, the meanest merchandise
Cumbering its floors. Yet, fallen as it is,
'Tis still the noblest dwelling — even in Genoa !
And hadst thou, Andrea, lived there to the last,
Thou hadst done well ; for there is that without,
That in the wall, which monarchs could not give,
Nor thou take with thee, that which says aloud,
It was thy Country's gift to her Deliverer.

'Tis in the heart of Genoa (he who comes,
Must come on foot) and in a place of stir ;
Men on their daily business, early and late,
Thronging thy very threshold. But, when there,
Thou wert among thy fellow-citizens,
Thy children, for they hailed thee as their sire ;
And on a spot thou must have loved, for there,
Calling them round, thou gav'st them more than life^ •
Giving what, lost, makes life not worth the keeping.
There thou didst do indeed a deed divine ;
Nor couldst thou leave thy door nor enter in,
Without a blessing on thee.' — Rogers.
F 2

68 GENOA.

In the beautiful little cloister, on the left of the church,
are the remains of the colossal statues of Andrea and
Giovandrea (son of Gianetto) Doria erected in front of
the Doge's palace in 1577, and decapitated and mutilated
by the mob in 1797.

The church itself is of the thirteenth century, and striped
with black and white marble. Its inscriptions relate to the
glories of the house of Doria — to the defeat of the Pisans
by Oberto Doria in 1284, to the victory of Lamba over the
Venetians at Curzola in 1298, to the prowess of Filippo
in the Gulf of Salerno, to the conquest of the Venetians,
Greeks, and Catalans in the Bosphorus by Pagano in
1352, and to the death of Luciano whilst fighting the Vene-
tians at Pola in 1379. In the Roman sarcophagus under
the window on the right, the honoured remains of Lamba

Cloisters of S. Matteo, Genoa.

Doria were laid by his son Lambino in 1323. Over the
high altar hangs the sword of Andrea Doria, sent to him in
1535 by Pope Paul III. At the end of the left aisle is the
Doria Chapel, with a picture of Andrea and his wife kneel-
ing at the feet of the Saviour. Hence we enter a crypt
adorned with stucco-reliefs by Moniorsoli, containing the
tomb which Andrea Doria erected for himself in his life-
time, with figures allegorical of Vigilance and Plenty.
Facing it is a Reliquary of the True Cross, of which the

S. AMBROGIO. <59

keys are always kept by the present Prince Pamfili Doria.
The figures behind the high altar and the beautiful balconied
organ-loft are by MontorsolL All the monuments of the
Doria in suppressed churches or convents have been
collected in this church and its cloister. The bells were
spoils from Conca in Crete, hung up in the family church
by Oberto Doria, the victor of Meloria. The burial-place
of Andrea Doria will recall the lines of Ariosto —

' Questo e quel Doria, che fa dai Pirati
Sicuro il vostro mar per tutti i lati.

Non fii Pompejo a par di costui degno,
Se ben vinse e caccio tutti i corsari :
Pero che quelli al piu possente regno
Che fosse mai, non poteano esser pari ;
Ma questo Doria sol col proprio ingegna
E proprie forze purghera quei mari ;
Se che da Calpe al Nilo, ovunque s' oda
II nome suo, tremar veggio ogni proda.

Questi ed ogn' altro, che la patria tenta
Di libera far serva, si arrossisca ;
Ne, dove '1 nome d' Andrea Doria senta,
Di levar gli occhi in viso d' uomo ardisca.
Veggio Carlo che '1 premio gli augumenta ;
Ch' oltre quel ch' in commun vuol che fruisca
Gli da la ricca terra, ch' ai Normandi
Sara principio a farli in Puglia grandi.'

Orlando Furioso, xv.

From S. Matteo we may ascend to the handsome
Piazza Carlo Felice, containing the modern Exchange and
Theatre. Close by is the modern Palazzo Ducale^ occupy-
ing the site of the ancient Palace of the Doges', and with a
stately marble hall and staircase. Facing the palace is
the Church of San? Ambrogio, built by the Pallavicini. It
contains three large and good pictures, which are shown by
the Sacristan : —

Guido. The Assumption of the Virgin.

Riibens. The Circumcision (over the high altar).

Id. S. Ignatius healing a Demoniac.

From the Piazza Carlo Felice opens the street of the

70 GENOA.

same name. On the left is the Palazzo Pallavicini, once
remarkable for its pictures, now removed to the Palazzo
Durazzo in the Via Balbi. We now reach the Piazza delle
Fontane Amorose. On the left is the post-office. On the
right are the handsome Palazzo Negroni and another
Palazzo Pallavicini. The upper end of the square is occu-
pied by the picturesque Palazzo Spinola del Marmi, built
of black and white marble in the fifteenth century, and adorned
with statues of Spinolas, commemorated beneath by ancient
Gothic inscriptions. This palace was erected with the
materials of the old Fieschi Palace, destroyed by the Senate
to punish their conspiracy in 1336. It contains some early
frescoes of Luca Cambiaso, or Lucchetto da Genova, 1527-
1580, one of the best of the Genoese painters. The
Spinolas came into the town from the valley of the
Polcevera, where an old viscount, renowned for his
hospitality, had tapped (spillava, spinolavd) his wine-casks
with such readiness that he gained himself the name.

(On the left of the palace the steep Salita di S. Catarina
leads to the beautiful Promenade of Acqua Sola, much
frequented by the Genoese in summer. Here is the Caffe
d' Italia, in a pleasant garden.

At the top of the Salita, on the left, is the old Palazzo
Spinola, having a grand entrance court covered with decay-
ing frescoes. The rooms open upon a marble terrace, where
the walls are decorated in fresco by pupils of Pierino del
Vaga. Among the pictures are : —

Pierino del Vaga. Holy Family.
Fiasella. Samson bound.
' Bonifazio. The Prodigal Son.
Unknown. Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione.
Tintoret. A fine portrait of a Spinola (signed).
Vandyke. Portrait of a Spinola.
Ann. Caracci. S. Jerome.
Titian. Holy Family.

Here also is a beautiful bronze figure by Giovanni da
Bologna.

PALAZZO DORIA TURSI. 71

The street beneath the arch of Acqua Sola leads to the
English Church.)

From the Piazza delle Fontane Amorose opens the Via
Nuova, a succession of palaces, one more splendid than
another.

' When can one forget the streets of palaces ; the Strada Nuova
and the Strada Balbi ; or how the former looks when seen under the
brightest and most intensely blue of summer skies, which its narrow
perspective of immense mansions reduces to a tapering and most pre-
cious strip of brightness, looking down upon the heavy shade below ?
The endless details of these rich palaces ; the walls of some of them
within alive with masterpieces of Vandyke. The great heavy stone
balconies one above another, and tier above tier, with here and there
one larger than the rest, towering high up, a huge marble platform ;
the doorless vestibules, massively-barred lower windows, immense
public staircases, thick marble pillars, strong, dungeon-like arches, and
dreary, dreaming, echoing, vaulted chambers, among which the eye
wanders again, and again, and again, as every palace is succeeded by
another ; the terrace-gardens between house and house, with green
arches of the vine, and groves of orange-trees, and blushing oleanders
in full bloom, twenty, thirty, forty feet above the street ; the painted
halls mouldering and blotting and rotting in the damp corners, and
still shining out in bright colours and voluptuous designs where the
walls are dry ; the faded figures on the outsides of the houses, holding
wreaths, and crowns, and flying upward and downward, and standing
in niches, and here and there looking fainter and more feeble than else-
where by contrast with some fresh little cupids, who, on a more recently
decorated portion of the front, are stretching out what seems to be the
semblance of a blanket, but is, indeed, a sun-dial ; the steep, steep,
uphill streets of small palaces (but very large palaces for all that), with
marble terraces looking down into close by-ways, the magnificent and
innumerable churches ; and the rapid passage from a street of stately
edifices into a maze of the vilest squalor, steaming with unwholesome
stenches, and swarming with half-naked children, and whole worlds of
dirty people, make up, altogether, such a scene of wonder ; so lively
and yet so dead ; so noisy and yet so quiet ; so obtrusive and yet so
shy and lowering ; so wide awake and yet so fast asleep ; that it is a
sort of intoxication to a stranger to walk on, and on, and on, and look
about him. A bewildering phantasmagoria, with all the inconsistency
of a dream, and all the pain and all the pleasure of .an extravagant
reality. ' — Dickens.

Passing (right) the Cambiaso, Parodi, and Del Sindaco
Palaces we reach (No. 9) Palazzo Doria Tursi, now belong-

72 GENOA.

ing to the municipality, with a hanging terraced garden. In
the beautiful entrance court is a good statue of Giuseppe
Mazzini. We must ascend the splendid vast marble stair-
case to the great hall, now the Sala Comunale, adorned
with modern mosaics of Columbus and Marco Polo. The
room on the right contains a hollow pillar, filled with the
MS. letters of Columbus, and surmounted by his bust. The
room on the left contains the bronze Tabula (discovered
1506), recording the investigation of a boundary question
between the Genuenses and the Veturii, by Quintus Marcus
Minutius, and Q. F. Rufus in A. u. c. 633. Here also are
a few good pictures, especially a triptych of Albert Diirer,
representing the Virgin and Child with S. Mark and S.
Nicholas, and a Van Eyck of the Crucifixion with the Virgin
and S. John. A sort of shrine, lined with pink silk, contains
the relics of Paganini — his miniature, his medals, and his
violin with its case.

No. 1 8, in the Via Nuova, is the magnificent Palazzo
Brignole Sate, or Palazzo Rosso (from the red colour with
which it is painted), lately made over by the Duchess Galiera,
the heiress of the Brignole family, to the Municipio, on con-
dition of its being kept up, and its art collections being
undisturbed — an act of extraordinary munificence, as the
palace alone was valued at three millions of francs, and the
Library^ included in the gift, is particularly rich in ' memoires
pour servir ' for the period of the French Revolution, The
best pictures are :

•$rd Chamber (Sala del la Primaverd}\

Vandyke. Portrait of a Prince of Orange.

*ld. Portrait of the Marchese Giulio Brignole, riding and waving
his hat, with his dog running by his side.

*Id. Portrait of the Marchesa Paolina Brignole (wife of Marchese
Giulio), a lovely woman, in a blue gown embroidered with
gold, and a black feather in her chestnut hair.

Jd. Our Saviour bearing his Cross.

Paris Bordone. A portrait with red sleeves — splendid in colouring.

tfh Chamber (Sala di State} :

Guercino. The Buyers and Sellers expelled from the Temple.
Cuido. S. Sebastian, a replica of the famous picture at the Capitol.

S. SIRO. 73

5//z Chamber (Sala a"1 Autunno):

Bonifazio Veneziano. The Virgin and Child, the Mothe in a white
veil, in an open portico, receiving the adoration of the Magi.

6th Chamber (Sala d Inverno):

P. Veronese. Judith and Holofernes.
^th Chamber (Sala delta Vita del? Uomo}\

Vandyke. Young man in a Spanish dress.

*Jd. Marchesa Geronima Brignole and her daughter (mother and
sister of Marchese Giulio) — much repainted.

No. 40 is the Palazzo Serra, splendidly adorned with
gilding and modern painting, but not much worth visiting.

Further, on the left, a little behind the street, is the
Church of S. Siro, which succeeded S. Maria in Castello as
the Cathedral of Genoa, being then La Basilica dei Dodici
Apostoli. The ancient building has, however, almost
vanished under alterations. Blackbirds are still always
allowed to build their nests unmolested in this church, from
a tradition that S. Siro as a boy raised to life his pet black-
bird which he found dead one day on his return from
school. Here, during a popular irritation against the cap-
tains of the people — Doria and Spinola —

' In the midst of an excited multitude, a gold-beater rose up and
said, " Do ye wish that I should tell you something for your good?"
Laughing at the absurd little man, the people with one accord shouted
"No!" Nothing daunted, however, the gold-beater exclaimed,
"Let it be Simone Boccanegra." The innocent object of this hap-
hazard choice was a quiet, demure merchant, who chanced to be stand-
ing by. And, like an Italian crowd that it was, startled and amused by
the novelty, and perhaps liking the recurrence of the name of a captain
they had elected a century before, the assembled multitude with one
accord cried out "Let Simone Boccanegra be abbot of the people."

'Taking the opportunity of a hush, prudent Boccanegra quietly
thanked them, and declined. His refusal made them the more eager,
and they cried " Let him be our lord ! " (signore). Again Boccanegra
declined an honour the very n-ame of which smacked of feudalism in
liberal nostrils. Then at length a cry arose, and was echoed from
mouth to mouth, "We wish him for our Doge." To this Boccanegra
quietly assented, and was carried to the palace in triumph by the people,
who, wild with excitement, rushed through the streets crying, " Long
live the Doge 1 " " Long live the people ! " And the captains prudently
withdrew from the town.' — Theodore Bent ', ' Genoa.''

74 GENOA.

Here we enter the Via Nuovissima, a street of shops
less aristocratic than the others. It leads into the Piazza
deW Annunziata. The Church of the Annunziata is splendid
of its kind, has fine marble columns, and is gilt with old
Genoese zecchini. Over the entrance is a Last Supper by
Procaccini. The church was built by the Lomellini, lords of
Tabarca — an island on the north coast of Africa— till 1741,
and commemorates the extraordinary wealth acquired in
their coral fisheries, which they spent in its marbles, gold,
and frescoes. Sismondi speaks of the church as ' an illu-
minated snuff-box.'

' The S. Annunziata was built at the sole expense of the Lomellini
family, it is said, towards the end of the seventeenth century ; though
how a church so pure in design came to be executed then is by no
means clear. The church is a basilica of considerable dimensions,
being 82 feet wide, exclusive of the side chapels, and 250 feet long.
The nave is separated from the aisles by a range of Corinthian columns
of white marble, the fluting being inlaid with marbles of a warmer
colour. The walls throughout, from the entrance to the apse, are
covered with precious marbles, arranged in patterns of great beauty.
The roof of the nave is divided longitudinally into three compartments,
which prevents the awkwardness that is usually observed where windows
of a semicircular form cut into a semicircular vault. Here it is done as
artistically as it could be done in the best Gothic vaults. The one
defect that strikes the eye is that the hollow lines of the Corinthian
capitals are too weak to support the pier-arches, though this criticism
is equally applicable to all the original Roman basilicas of the Constan-
tinian age ; but, nevertheless, the whole is in such good taste, so rich
and so elegant, that it is probably the very best church of its class
in Italy. ' — Fergus son.

(The Via S. Agnese, behind the Annunziata, leads to
the immense Albergo del Poveri, beautifully-situated on a
height, with a fine sea view. It is a grand foundation of
Emanuele Brignole in 1564, and has been enriched by most
of the other great Genoese families. The long white chapel,
on the upper floor, has, at its high altar, a much-praised
statue of the Virgin by Puget, and, over a side altar on the
left, a small Pieta usually attributed to Michelangelo,
wonderfully touching and beautiful.

' Les vestibules, les escaliers et les corridors de cet hopital sont
peuples des statues, des bustes et des medaillons des fondateurs,

PALAZZO BALBL 75

donateurs et bienfaiteurs ; or, comme ces types genois sont singuliere-
ment originaux, et que les artistes qui les representerent furent choisis
pour leur habilete, ces sculptures en quelque sorte officielles forment
un veritable musee aussi interessant au point de vue historique que
varie au point de vue de 1'art. Toutes les grandes families genoises
sont la : les Spinola, les Doria, les Grimaldi, les Durazzo, Jes Pal-
lavicini ; mais presque tous, hommes et femmes, ont eu le soin de se
faire representer avec un detail fort caracteristique : de leur poche
s'echappe une bourse qui ouvre sa bouche et laisse tomber les flots
d'ecus, ou bien leurs mains tiennent le sac de la precieuse denree,
qu'elles versent largement, mais qu'elles mesurent cependant. On sent
que ces bienfaiteurs restent maitres de leur argent alors meme qu'ils
le donnent, et qu'ils sauront le reprendre sous une autre forme. C'est
la charite la plus imperieuse qui se puisse concevoir. ' — Emile Montegut. )

We now enter the Via Balbi, the most striking street in
Genoa. The splendour of the palaces seems to increase at
every step.

On the left (No. 4) is Palazzo Balbi, entered by a most
lovely cortile, enclosed by triple rows of slender columns,
through which a brilliant orange garden is seen. This is the
most comfortable and well-furnished of all the Genoese palaces.
The family inhabit the upper apartment, but generously allow
it to be shown to strangers. It contains — Great Hall :

Vandyke. Francesco Maria Balbi on horseback.
21 Cappuccino. Joseph interpreting the dream of the Chief Butler.

ist Chamber :

Guido Rcni. Lucrezia.

Titian. The Virgin and Child, with S. Catherine and S. Dominic.

Vandyke. Madonna with a pomegranate.

2nd Chamber :

* Vandyke. Philip II. on horseback (the head by Velasquez), the

horse quite magnificent.

Id. A lady in a blue and gold dress, seated with a fan.
Id. A male portrait standing, in a black cloak and dress.

$rd Chamber:

Caravaggio. The Conversion of S. Paul.

Ann. Caracci. Portrait of a girl. A most refined and lovely picture.

Gallery :

Garofalo. Holy Family.
H. Hemmliiig. Crucifixion.

76 GENOA.

On the right (No. i) is the magnificent Palazzo Durazzo
della Scala. Its beautiful court is surrounded by marble
pillars, and approached by a staircase with a triple row of
pillars upon the steps. As the Marchesa Durazzo is daughter
and heiress of the late Prince Pallavicini, the Pallavicini col-
lection is now removed here. Amongst the pictures of the
Durazzo collection are —

\st Chamber :

Ann. Caracci. A grand portrait.
znd Chamber'.

Andrea del Sarto. Virgin and Child.
Gtiido Reni. Sleeping Child.
Rubens. Portrait of himself.

4//j Chamber (passing the Sala Grande) :

* Vandyke. The White Boy ('Ragazzo in abito bianco'), a most

beautiful picture. The parrot, monkey, and fruit are by Snyders.
Rubens. Philip IV.
Vandyke. A Lady and Children.

The Pallavicini collection includes :

A so-called Raffaelle. ' La Madonna della Colonna.'
Albert Diirer. Virgin and Child.

* Vandyke. The family of James I. of England,
Luca d1 Olanda. The Descent from the Cross.

No. 5 of the Via Balbi is the Palazzo del? Universita,
approached from its cortile by a magnificent staircase,
guarded by the most grand lions. It contains some statues
and bas-reliefs by Giovanni da Bologna, and has a museum
of Natural History and a Botanical Garden. On the steps
is the tomb of Simone Boccanegra, the first and best of the
Doges, brought thither from S. Francesco di Castelletto,
when it was dismantled. His marble recumbent effigy is
supported by three lions. Raised from a lowly position, he
ruled with great power and disinterestedness, and though
the enmity of the nobles caused his deposition in 1345, he
was re-elected in 1356 ; after which the wisdom of his
government and his conciliatory power raised Genoa to the

PIAZZA AC QUA VERDE.

foremost position amongst the Italian States. In 1363,
while entertaining Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in a
banquet at Sturla, he was poisoned by Malocello, a noble
Genoese favourite of the king. His house is still known
and marked in a neighbouring alley.

Staircase of Palazzo dell' Universita, Genoa.

No. 10 is the Palazzo Reale, purchased from the family
of Durazzo in 1815, and fitted up as a residence by Charles
Albert in 1842. Its pictures have, for the most part, been
removed.

The Via Balbi ends in the Piazza Acqua Verde (where
is the entrance to the Railway Station) adorned with a
monument to Columbus, erected in 1862 opposite his
residence, which bears a commemorative inscription. It is
here that Massena, after having held the place for sixty days,
and having exhausted all his resources, even to the saddles
of his horses— themselves eaten long ago, assembled the
brave remnant of his garrison, who sang French patriotic
songs in the midst of their Austrian conquerors.

Beyond the piazza, near the sea, is another palace, the

78 GENOA.

magnificent Palazzo del Principe, built on the site of the
Palazzo Fregoso, presented by the Genoese senate to Pietro
Campofregoso, who, in 1373, took Famagosta from King
Peter of Cyprus, with the Genoese troops who, on forty
galleys, ' embarked with such loud reason for the Cyprus
wars.' * The palace, which derives its present name from
the title granted by Charles V. to Andrea Doria, was rebuilt
under Montorsoli. It bears the inscription : * Divino
munere, Andreas D'Oria (Cevae. F. S. R. Ecclesiae Caroli
Imperatoris Catholici maximi et invictissimi Francisci Primi
Francorum Regis et Patriae classis triremium 1 1 II.
praefectus ut maximo labore jam fesso corpore honesto
otio quiesceret, aedes sibi et successoribus instauravit.

MDXXVI1I.'

On the upper floor is a loggia (now glazed), richly de-
corated with stucco by Montorsoli, and painted in fresco by
Pierino del Vaga, with portraits of the Dorias in heroic
costume. Andrea is at the end of the loggia on the right,
his brother Gioberti on the left. Lovely ' putti ' occupy the
lunettes above. By the fresco of Andrea, we enter a great
hall with a grand black and white marble chimney, and
furniture of the time of the great admiral. On the ceiling
is the Fall of the Giants, by Pierino del Vaga, who had
fled from Rome after the sack of the city by the Constable
de Bourbon. Beyond this, is Andrea Doria's bed-room,
with a picture of him with his favourite cat, and his portan-
tina. The ceiling represents the Caritas Romana. Beyond
the loggia — from whose windows Perretta, wife of Andrea
Doria, beheld the conflict in the port excited by the
Fieschi conspirators — a delightful marble terrace on arches
overhangs the garden and overlooks the port and town.
Here, where the waves lap under the orange-trees, Andrea
Doria gave to the ambassadors his famous banquet, in which
the plate was renewed three times, and after each course
was thrown into the sea. On the fountain Andrea Doria is
represented as Neptune. In another garden, behind the

1 Othello, act i., sc. i.

PALAZZO DEL PRINCIPE. 79

palace, is the tomb of the dog—' II gran Roldano ' — which
Charles V. gave to Giovandrea Doria, grandson of Andrea.
The dog died in the absence of his master, and was buried by
the servants at the foot of a statue of Andrea, represented by
Montorsoli as Jupiter, in order that, in the words of the
epitaph, ' though dead he might not cease to guard a god.'
It was in passing through the small gate of the neighbouring
Porta S. Tommaso that Gianetto, the adopted son and cousin
of Andrea, was killed in the conspiracy of the Fieschi.

' Towards the sea, terraces and fountains adorned the grounds,
where the Emperor Charles V. wandered, and where Philip II., when
a gay young prince, was entertained with all the lavishness of old
Andrea's wealth, and all the magnificence of the artist's skill. , Sub-
terranean passages led down to the water's edge, and here Andrea had
his galleys anchored, twenty in all, whilst from the terrace above his
keen old eye would watch them going to and fro laden with precious
goods from all parts of the world. It is said he had twenty thousand
men at his disposal — soldiers, sailors, and slaves, all counted ; and
beneath the vaulted halls of his princely palace may still be seen the
dungeons which were always well stocked with slaves for bis galleys.

' Barely a century after the completion of this palace, Evelyn visited
it, and thus described it in his diary : "One of the greatest palaces
here for circuit is that of Prince Doria, which reaches from the sea to
the summit of the mountains. The house is most magnificently built
•without, nor less gloriously furnished within, having whole tables and
bedsteads of massy silver; many of them set with agates, onyxes, cor-
nelians, lazulis, pearls, turquoises, and other precious stones. The
pictures and statues are innumerable. To this palace befong three
gardens, the first whereof is beautified with a terrace supported by
pillars of marble. There is a fountain of eagles, and one of Neptune
with other sea-gods, all of the purest white marble. They stand in a
most ample basin of the same stone. . . . One of the statues is a
colossal Jupiter, under which is the sepulchre of a beloved dog, for
the care of which one of this family received of the king of Spain five
hundred crowns a year, during the life of that faithful animal."' —
Theodore Benfs ' Genoa. '

Further, on the left, are the lovely Scoglietto Gardens,
whose balustraded terraces and mazes of flowers, with views
of the sea between, are a perfect dream of beauty from
March to November.

In returning to the hotels, the Church of S. Giovanni di

8o GENOA.

Pre may be visited. It was founded by the Knights Hospi-
tallers of St. John in the thirteenth century, and is archi-
tecturally worthy of notice for its Lombard tower, rounded
apse, and Gothic windows. A relic of the English colony
founded here in the reign of our Richard I. will be found
in the tomb let into the tower, with the head in a recess, of
William Acton, 1180. It was to the hospice attached to
this church that Urban V. came with eight cardinals in
1367 on his way from Avignon to Rome ; and hither, in
1386, Urban VI. dragged eight cardinals whom he had
seized at Lucera, because he discovered that they were
plotting to restrict the evil use of the papal power. They
were cruelly tortured here upon the rack, after which, some
say, they were tied up in sacks and thrown into the sea,
others that they were put to death in prison and buried in a
dungeon ; only Adam of Hertford, Bishop of London, was
spared, at the intervention of King Richard II. In the
oratory of S. Hugh (who lived and died here), beneath
the church, are slabs which commemorate the visits of
the two Urbans.

The quarter called the Borgo di Pre dates from the
twelfth century, when shiploads of booty (prede) were brought
back from the Saracenic towns, and divided amongst the
deserving here, in front of the Church of S. Giovanni.

A separate excursion should be made to the humbler and
more populous quarter of Genoa, where, instead of streets
of palaces, we shall find only narrow alleys of tall houses,
where cats can jump from roof to roof across the way, and
where only a narrow slit of blue sky shines down upon the
darkness.

* In the smaller streets the wonderful novelty of everything, the un-
usual smells, the unaccountable filth, the disorderly jumbling of dirty
houses, one upon the roof of another ; the passages more squalid and
more close than any in St. Giles's, or in old Paris ; in and out of which,
not vagabonds, but well-dressed women, with white-veils and great fans,
are passing and repassing ; the entire absence of any resemblance in
any dwelling-house, or shop, or wall, or post, cr pillar, to anything one
has ever seen before ; and the disheartening dirt, discomfort, and decay,

RAMPARTS OF GENOA. 81

perfectly confound one. One is only conscious of a feverish and be-
wildered vision of saints' and virgins' shrines at the street corners ; of
great numbers of friars, monks, and soldiers ; of red curtains waving at
the doorways of churches ; of always going uphill, and yet seeing every
other street and passage going higher up ; of fruit-stalls, with fresh
lemons and oranges hanging in garlands made of vine leaves. . . . And
the majority of the streets are as narrow as any thoroughfare can well be,
where people (even Italian people) are supposed to live and walk about,
being mere lanes, with here and there a kind of well, or breathing-place.
The houses are immensely high, painted in all sorts of colours, and are
in every stage and state of damage, dirt, and lack of repair. They are
commonly let off in floors or flats, like the houses in the old town of
Edinburgh, or many houses in Paris. There are few street doors ; the
entrance halls are, for the most part, looked upon as public property,
and any moderately-enterprising scavenger might make a fine fortune by
now and then cleaning them out.' — Dickens.

Following the arcades below the hotels (to the left) to
their end, we find steps leading up from the end of the
Porto Franco to the ramparts overhanging the sea, which
are always crowded with fishermen and sailors from the
different Riviera ports, who sit in groups on the broad
flags, sprawl in the sun upon the wall, or play at Mora, in
their brilliant red berrette, loose white jackets, and crimson
sashes. Here, it is said, that S. Siro used to walk and
agitate or becalm the waves at his will. Most glorious are
the views towards the Rivieras, that towards Pegli being
backed by snowy Alpine ranges, while to the south the lovely
promontory of Porto Fino stretches out into the sea, beyond
the village and ruined church of Albaro.

' The Mediterranean is no more than a vast mass of salt water, if
people choose to think it so ; but it is also the most magnificent thing
in the world, if you choose to think it so ; and it is as truly the latter
as it is the former. And as the pococurante temper is not the happiest,
and that which can admire heartily is much more akin to that which
can love heartily, 6 5e ayaTrcav, 0e£ ^877 opmos, — so, my children, I
wish that if ever you come to Genoa, you may think the Mediterranean
to be more than any common sea, and may be unable to look upon it
without a deep stirring of delight.'— Dr. Arnold's Letters.

Near the little striped Romanesque Church of S. Giacomo
the steep Salita di S. Maria in Castello leads to the church
VOL. i. G

82 GENOA.

of that name, the earliest cathedral of Genoa, also striped of
black and white marble, and said to occupy the site of a
temple of Diana, of which the twelve granite pillars separat-
ing the nave from the aisles are relics. The church is built
upon the spot on which SS. Nazzaro and Celso baptized
their first converts after landing upon the coast, in recollec-
tion of which a canon holds a baptism here once a year. It
was here that, in the beginning of the i6th century, the
rebel capetti, who were like the ciompi in Florence, elected
their tribunes and organised a revolution. The third chapel
on the right is ancient, and contains a very striking picture
by Ludovico Brea of the Virgin in glory, with a group of
saints beneath, and an interesting predella of the Entomb-
ment. The lower part of the chapel is decorated with ex-
cellent azulejos. In the choir are tombs of the Giustiniani.
A Gothic stone pulpit projecting from the wall of the chapel
on the left of the high altar, and the flat grave-stones, with
incised portraits of ancient Genoese citizens, should be ob-
served. A small Byzantine picture of the Madonna is inter-
esting as the thank-offering of a Genoese merchant for his
escape from Mohammed II., when he took Galata from John
Paleologus. An inscription in the little chapel of S. Biagio,
behind the high altar, says that it was built by the republi-
cans of Ragusa, who claimed their liberty from Alexander
the Great. In the first chapel on the left is an ancient sar-
cophagus, and above it a very curious panel-picture of the
Virgin and saints.

Turning left, below the church, we reach the small Piazza
Embriaci, with an inscription which tells that—' Round this
piazza the Embriaci had their home, a family renowned in
the wars of the cross and in their own country. Behind,
rises intact the giant height of their ancient tower.' This
tower was spared when all similar domestic fortresses were
pulled down, in honour of Guglielmo Embriaco, who gave
the Sacro Catino to the cathedral, and who invented the
wonderful scaling-tower, by which Godfrey and Eustace de
Bouillon entered Jerusalem, when it was taken (as is men-

PONTE DI CARIGNANO. 83

tioned in the inscription which King Baldwin placed over
the entrance of the Holy Sepulchre) by the powerful aid of
the Genoese.1 Not far distant is another inscription of
1360, commemorating the destruction of the palace of the
Raggio family, on that site, to punish their conspiring against
the State (a similar inscription near the Church of S. Maria
in Via Lata commemorates the site of a Fieschi palace).
Close by is the Church of S. Donato, with an octagonal bell-
tower of the twelfth century. Hence the Stradone di S.
Agostino leads to the beautiful but ruined front of that
church, of the fourteenth century : the campanile is inlaid
with coloured tiles. Behind the church is the Piazza di
Pontoria, with a picturesque chicken-market. Hence the
broad paved Via del Ponte di Carignano leads across that
extraordinary bridge to the church, which is such a pro-
minent feature in all distant views of the town. In winter
the bridge is a sunny and delightful walk, and from it you
look down on the immensely high, many-storied, many-
windowed houses of this crowded quarter; painted pink,
blue, white, and yellow; with gardens of flowers on their
roofs; with clothes suspended in mid-air from house to
house. In the deep streets below are figures moving like
ants, in an obscurity which seems almost black compared
with the light above ; and beyond all, is the deep blue sea,
with the port, the light-house, the shipping, and the lovely
chains of pink mountains fading into an amber sky. The
height of Carignano is asserted by local tradition to have
been occupied by the vineyard of Janus, great-grandson of
Noah, who gave his name to the town. The hill was for-
merly occupied by one of the most magnificent palaces in
Italy, that of Via Lata, belonging to the Fieschi family,2 which
had given two Popes (Innocent IV. and Adrian V.), seventy-
three cardinals, and three hundred mitred bishops to the
Church, before the famous conspiracy of Gian Luigi, son of

1 A frescoed ceiling by Lazzaro Tavarone in the Palazzo Adorno represents this
feat.

2 The Fieschi were one of the four noble Genoese families which alone had the
right to build their palaces with alternate courses of black and white marble.

G 2

84 GENOA.

Sinibaldo Fieschi and his Delia Rovere wife (niece of
Julius II.), against Andrea Doria, led to its total destruction
by the vengeance of the great admiral.

The Church of S. Maria di Carignano^zs built in 1552,
entirely at the expense of the Sauli family.

' Voici a quel evenement cette eglise, 1'une desplus belles de Genes,
doit son existence.

' Le Marquis de Sauli, 1'un des hommes les plus riches et les plus
probes de Genes, avait plusieurs palais dans la ville, et un entre autres
qu'il habitait de preference et qui etait situe sur 1'emplacement meme
oil s'eleve aujourd'hui 1'eglise de Carignan. Comme il n'avait point de
chapelle a lui, il avait 1'habitude d'aller entendre la messe dans celle de
Santa Maria in Via Lata, qui appartenait a la famille Fiesque. Un jour,
Fiesque fit hater 1'heure de 1'office, de sorte que le marquis de Sauli
arriva quand il etait fini. La premiere fois qu'il rencontra son elegant
voisin, il s'en plaignit a lui en riant.

« — Mon cher marquis, lui dit Fiesque, quand on veut aller a la
messe, on a une chapelle a soi.

' Le Marquis de Sauli fit Jeter bas son palais, et fit clever a la place
1'eglise de Sainte Marie de Carignan.' — Dumas.

1 As an example of how bad it is possible for a design to be, without
having any faults which it is easy to take hold of, we may take the
much-praised church of the Carignano at Genoa. It was built by
Galeasso Alassi, one of the most celebrated architects of Italy, the friend
of Michelangelo and Sangallo, and the architect to whom Genoa owes
its architectural splendour, as much as Vicenza owes hers to Palladio,
or the city of London to Wren.

'The church is not large, being only 165 feet square, and the dome
46 feet in internal diameter. It has four towers at the four angles, and
when seen at a distance these five principal features of the roof group
pleasingly together. But the great window in the tympanum, and the
two smaller windows on each side, are irost unpleasing ; neither of
them has any real connection with the design, and yet they are the
principal features of the whole ; and the prominence given to pilasters
and panels instead is most unmeaning. If we add to this, that the
details are all of the coarsest and vulgarest kind, the materials plaster
and bad stone, and the colours introduced crude and inharmonious, it
will be understood how 1 >w architectural taste had sunk when and
where it was built. Its situation, it is true, is very grand, and it groups
in consequence well with the city it crowns ; but all this only makes
more apparent the fault of the architect, who misapplied so grand an
opportunity in so discreditable a manner.' — Fergusson.

Under the cupola are great statues of S. John and S.

S. STEFANO. 85

Bartholomew by David, and S. Sebastian and the Blessed
Alessandro Sauli by Puget. The pictures are good speci-
mens of second-class artists. Beginning from the right, we
see:

Domenico Piola. S. Peter and S. John healing the palsied man.

Carlo Maratla. Martyrdom of S. Biagio.

Girolamo Piola. Virgin ( ' miraculous '} and saints.

Vanni da Siena. The last Sacrament of S. Mary of Egypt.

Fiasella. Alessandro Sauli in the plague of Corsica. A very fine

picture.

Cauibiaso. The Deposition.

Procaccini. The Virgin with S. Francis and S. Carlo Borromeo.
Guercino. S. Fraccis receiving the stigmata.

In the sacristy is the gem of the church — an Albert
Dilrer, brought from an older church of the Sauli family,
representing S. Fabiano, S. Sebastian, S. J. Baptist, and S.
Antonio, with the Annunciation, and a Pieta.

Behind the church, on the left, the broad Via Galeazzo
Alessi, and a shady rampart looking towards the mountains
(which continues to Acqua Sola), leads to the Church of S.
Stefano, with a stumpy brick Romanesque tower, a striped
marble front, and a beautiful small cloister. Over the high
altar is a picture of the Martyrdom of S. Stephen, supposed
to be the joint work of Raffaelle and Giulio Romano, given
to the Republic of Genoa by Leo X. ; it was taken to Paris
by Napoleon, and, while there, was retouched by Girodet.
The walls of the church bear the names of the Pessagni, a
noble Genoese family distinguished in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries as admirals in Portugal, and still existing
there under the name of Pessanha : of this family was that
Antonio Uso di Mare, whose voyages eventually led to the
discovery of the Cape of Good Hope.

From the west front of S. Stefano, the Via della Ponte
degli Archi leads to the corner of the Via del Lanieri—fao.
wool-merchants' street, where a marble relief commemorates
the total destruction of the Porto Pisano by Conrad Doria
in 1290. The magnificent lofty gate, called Porta di S.
Andrea, is the most important relic of that wall of defence

86 GENOA.

which the whole people of Genoa united in raising against
Frederick Barbarossa. Beneath the arch is an inscription
which tells the story of its erection. From it, till quite
lately, hung the chains of the harbour of Pisa, brought by
Conrad Doria in 1290, the proudest trophy of the great
Genoese naval victory at Meloria, in 1284, under his father
Oberto. Passing under the gate, we again reach (right) the
Piazza Nuova.

On the hill above the Porta Pila Railway Station is the
Church of S. Bartolommeo degV Armeni ; it contains a ' Last
Supper ' of Luca Cambiaso, who, gambling with the monks,
staked a supper on his chance, and losing, thus paid his
debt, one of the figures introduced being his own portrait.

The visitor to Genoa will be constantly struck by the
immensity and magnificence of the old decaying villas and
palaces, with which, not only the city itself, but its outskirts
and all the surrounding villages, are filled. This perhaps is
owing to the fact that the sumptuary laws of the republic,
which forbade fetes, velvet and brocaded dresses, and
diamonds, did not extend to buildings, into which channel
therefore the national extravagance of the people was
diverted. The luxury of building is nowhere more manifest
than in the suburb of Albaro, which abounds in mouldering
colonnades, painted walls, and decaying terraces. Here,
beautifully placed above the sea-shore, on which SS.
Nazzara and Celso landed, is a ruined church, dedicated to
S. John the Baptist, because here his relics were first re-
ceived upon their arrival at Genoa.

The Campo Santo of Genoa is beautifully situated, and
deserves a visit as well as the walls, with their noble views over
sea and land. It was from these ramparts that in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries the vast multitudes were seen ar-
riving, who collected at Genoa to embark for the crusades,
including (1212) 7,000 children who reached the town
clamouring for transports to take them to Palestine, under
the command of a boy of thirteen.

FROM GENOA TO TURIN. 87

An excursion may be made to the villas at Pegli (see
chap, i.), about half-an-hour by rail, 90 c. (a carriage 12 frs.).
An order for the Villa should be asked for from the porter
of the Palazzo Pallavicini Durazzo.

Potto Fino (see vol. iii.) may also be visited in the day
from Genoa, as also many other places on both Rivieras.

The railway from Genoa to Turin (18 frs. 30 c. ; 12 frs.
80 c. ; 9 frs. 15 c.) passes through the Apennines by a
tunnel and the valley of the Scrivia, and then across the
plains of Alessandria and Asti (Albergo Reale], the Roman
Asta, which contains several interesting churches. The
journey occupies about five hours.

88 TURIN.

CHAPTER III.

TURIN.

(Carriages, with I horse, the course I fr. ; the 1st hour, i.i fr. (at
night 2 frs.), each half-hour afterwards, 75 c. Each piece of luggage
20 c. With 2 horses, \ fr. more either by course or hour.

Hotels. Etiropa, most excellent, with the most charming salle-a-
manger on the Continent, and very well situated in the Piazza del
Castello. Londra, Piazza Castello. Trombetta, Via Roma. Feder, Via
S. Francesco di Paola. Liguria, Piazza Bodoni. Angleterre, Via
Roma. Close to the station is the Grand Hotel de Turin, which is
most thoroughly excellent, clean, and comfortable. It is most con-
venient for those who only remain one night in Turin, or for the
excursion to S. Ambrogio. It should not be confuse i with the Grand
Hotel Sttisse close by.

Restaurant. Caffe del Cambio, Piazza del Carignano.

Hanker. Negra, 19 Via del Arsenale.

English Church. 15 Via Pio Quinto— services II A.M., 3.30 P.M.

Eglise Vandoise. Corso del Re. Services, 9 A.M., Italian ; n A.M.
French, with sermon ; 5 P.M. Italian, with sermon.

For Photographs of the Pictures in the Pinacoteca, Maggi, 6 Via
del Po.)

TURIN (Torino) is said to owe its foundation to the
Ligurian tribe of the Taurini, and afterwards to have
received a Roman colony, Julia Augusta Taurinorum. It was
ruled by its own Dukes in the middle ages, and came to the
House of Savoy in the middle of the eleventh century, by
the marriage of Adelaida, daughter of its last duke, Manfred,
with Otho of Savoy. This family, justly popular in their
own country, which is deeply indebted to them, ever after
continued (until the disturbances in the south of Italy) to
hold their court here. The first sovereign was Emanuele
Filiberto, 1553, after which the succession was —

THE HOUSE OF SAVOY. 89

Carlo Emanuele I., 1580.
Vittorio Amedeo I., 1630.
Francesco Giacinto, 1637.
Carlo Emanuele II. , 1638.
Vittorio Amedeo II., 1675.

Carlo Emanuele III., 1730.
Vittorio Amedeo III., 1773.
Carlo Emanuele IV., 1796.
Vittorio Emanuele, 1802.
Carlo Felice, 1821.

The last of these princes died without male issue, when, in
accordance with the right of succession settled at the Con-
gress of Vienna, the crown passed to the House of Carignan
(founded by Prince Tommaso Francesco, son of Carlo Eman-
uele I.) in the person of Carlo Alberto, who, being defeated
by the Austrians at Novara, March 23, 1849, abdicated at
the monastery of Laghetto, and died at Oporto. He was
succeeded by his son, Vittorio Emanuele II.

To this line of (in their lawful kingdom) thoroughly
national and constitutional monarchs, Turin, which is now
one of the most prosperous cities in Europe, is indebted for
everything it possesses. The town is regularly built, like
an American city, long straight streets traversing it from end
to end, and each at right angles with its neighbour. Many
of the streets are lined with colonnades which form a plea~
sant shade from the scorching sun in summer, those near
the palace being the favourite evening lounge of the upper
classes, crowded after sunset with smartly dressed officers
and civilians. Exposed to bitter Alpine winds, Turin is
piteously cold in winter. It does not contain much which
deserves the special attention of .strangers, beyond the
Pinacoteca and the Armoury, yet the vicinity of the Po, the
beautiful wooded hills on the further bank, and the charm-
ing walks of the Public Garden near II Valentino, render
Turin far from unpleasant as a resting-place for a few
summer days. The streets, in spite of their regularity, have
a picturesqueness of their own from the richness with which
the palaces are decorated, and, generally ending in arcades,
remind one pleasantly of the background of many Venetian
pictures.

No one who has strength for the ascent should omit to
make Turin head-quarters for the glorious excursion to the
Sagro di S. Michele.

90 TURIN.

Immediately opposite the station is the Piazza Carlo
Felice, adorned with a statue of Massimo Azeglio by Balzico.
On the pedestal are inscribed the remarkable words of his
will (July 2, -1857) — 'Rimanga la mia memoria nel cuore
degli uomini onesti e dei veri Italiani, e sara questo il
maggior onore che le si possa rendere e che io sappia
imaginare.'

Hence the Via Roma leads into the heart of the town,
passing through the Piazza S. Carlo, surrounded by open
colonnades filled with book- stalls, where collectors may
often find treasures. In the centre of the square is a fine
equestrian statue by Marochetti, erected, 1858, to Emanuele
Filiberto— ' vindici et statori gentis suae.'

The Via Roma ends in the Piazza di Castello, in the
centre of which stands the old castle of Turin, the Palazzo
Madama, formerly inhabited by the Queen Mother, having
high tiled roofs crowded with chimneys, rich fragments of
terra-cotta cornice, and four clumsy brick towers, two built
up in a later fagade, the others very quaint, and perforated
with holes. It was built in the latter part of the thirteenth
century by William, Marquis of Montferrat, and is always
crowded by birds, like the old buildings at Venice, and gives
a charm and character of the Middle Ages to a comparatively
featureless town. The handsome modern palace, and the
tower of the cathedral, are seen behind it.

There is nothing especial to be seen in the Palazzo
Madama. The Palazzo Reale, which contains public offices
and the Sala del Senate, is entered by a door on the left of
the central portal, whence a staircase leads to the great hall.
On the first landing is the equestrian statue of Vittorio
Amedeo L, commonly known as ' II Cavallo di Marmo,' by
Adriano Frisio : the king is represented as awkwardly riding
over some captives. In the Great Hall, Sala della Guardia,
is a great picture of the battle of St. Quentin by Palma
Giovane. Here servants are waiting (fee i fr.) who will
show the other state rooms. They are handsome, with
rich ceilings, and are adorned by modern pictures. In the

THE ARMOURY. 91

Sala di Consiglio, where the marriage contracts of the
Princesses Clotilda and Pia were signed, are portraits of all
' the religious ' of the house of Savoy, including Boniface,
Archbishop of Canterbury. The rooms formerly appro-
priated to Queen Maria Teresa, and the Gallery, are no
longer shown, being occupied by the family of Amedeo,
Duca d'Aosta. (From the left of the Great Hall, except in
the very early morning, the Chapel of the Santo Sudario
must be entered.)

The Armoury is in the wing of the palace, and is entered
by the first door in the arcade to the right when facing the
palace. A ticket of admission (free) is obtained on the
staircase. The armour is not numbered ; historical specimens
are*:

In the ist Compartment :

The sword of Napoleon I., and the crown offered to Victor Emmanuel
by Naples and Turin.

In the 2nd Compartment :

The four first equestrian suits belonged to the still existing but ruined

family of Martinengo da Brescia. The fourth is absolutely magni-
ficent.
The fourth equestrian suit on the right belonged to the family of

Rotta da Bergamo, under the Venetian Republic.
The last suit on foot in the next division was that of the Marchese

Parella di S. Martino.
The next suit is gigantic, and is supposed to have belonged to a

Grimaldi of Monaco.
Near this, in a case, is the scimitar of Constantine Paleologus, last

Greek Emperor of Constantinople.
Last on right, is the figure of Prince Eugene of Savoy bearing his

cuirass and sword : near it is his shield.
Returning^ on left, is the suit of Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, 1557,

worn at the Battle of S. Quentin.
The cuirass of Carlo Emanuele III. worn at the Battle of

Guastalla.

The cuirass of Prince Tommaso.
Shields taken at the Battle of Pavia.
Saracenic armour.
Between the 3rd and 4th Martinengo, the suit of Count Lodroni of

the Tyrol.

92 TURIN.

Behind the Palace is a small Garden, entered under the
same arcade as the Armoury, and open to the public on
Sundays and Thursdays, from 1 1 to 3.

To the left of the Palace is the Cathedral of S. Giovanni,
originally founded in 602, but now an unimportant building
of the fifteenth century, with a few very indifferent pictures.
Behind the high altar, raised by a flight of steps, is the
domed Chapel of the Santo Siidario, the masterpiece of
Guarini, built in 1648, to receive the shroud in which our
Saviour is supposed to have been wrapped by Joseph of
Arimathea. Similar shrouds exist at Rome, at Besan9on,
and at Cadouin in Perigord. The present relic is preserved
in an altar beneath the cupola. The chapel is lined with
black marble, which has a singular effect. Surrounding it
are monuments of the house of Savoy.

Emanuele Filiberto. Marchesi.

P-rincipe Tommaso di Carignano. Gaggini.

Carlo Emanuele II. (1675). Fraccaroli.

Amedeo VIII. (1451). CacciatorL

Maria Adelaida (1855), wife of Vittorio Emanuele II. Revelli.

From the Via Porta Palatina, which runs almost in front
of the Cathedral (turning left), an opening on the right leads
to the Piazza di Citta, which contains the Palazzo del
Munidpio. In the middle of the square is the bronze statue
of 'II Conte Verde '—Amedeo VI. of Savoy (1334-83),
by Pelagio Pelagi. At the entrance of the Piazza, on the
right, is the Church of Corpus Domini^ built by Vitozzi in
1617. It commemorates the miraculous refusal of a con-
secrated wafer to be carried off (1453) by a soldier who was
stealing it for the sake of the pyx in which it was enshrined.

The Via della Corte d'Appello, on the right of the
Palazzo del Municipio, leads into the Piazza Savoia, a little
to the right of which is the Church of La Consolata, built
in the seventeenth century by Guarini, but retaining a
tower of the middle ages. It contains a so-called miraculous
picture of ' La Madonna delle Grazie,' surrounded with ex-
votos.

THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM. 93

Returning by the Via Dora Grossa to the Piazza del
Castello, we find, immediately on the left, unmarked by any
portico, but with a fantastic ribbed dome, visible at a little
distance above the houses, the Church of S. Lorenzo, built
by Guarini for Emanuele Filiberto as a thank-offering for
the victory of S. Quentin.

The Via delle Scienze, which opens from the piazza on
the right, leads immediately to Piazza Carignano. On the
left is the fantastic Palazzo Carignano, one of the most
extravagant works of Guarini. King Victor Emmanuel II.
was born here, March 14, 1820, being the eldest son of
Charles Albert of Savoia Carignano. In the square stands
the statue of the modern Italian philosopher Gioberti, a
native of Turin (1801-48), by Albertoni. On the south
side of the piazza is the Teatro Carignano.

Close by is the Accademia delle Scienze, open daily from 10
to 4 on payment of one franc per head. On the ground-floor
are the Museum of Antiquities and the Egyptian Museum
(with the halls above) ; on the first floor is the Museum of
Natural History, containing the skeleton of a Megatherium ;
on the second floor is the Pinacoteca. The Galleries have
no catalogues.

The Egyptian Museum is a very fine collection, com-
prising grand statues of :

Thothmes III. (basalt), B.C. 1591, and of his son —
Amenophes (granite), B.C. 1565, and of his son —
Setes II. (a gigantic figure), said to be the persecutor of Moses.
* Rameses II., * Sesostris' (basalt), B.C. 1300. The most beautiful
of all -known Egyptian statues.

The Greek and Roman Museum contains :

Statue of Augustus from Susa.

Bust of Antinous.

Statue of Bacchus.

Bust of Juno from Alba Pompeja, supposed to have been us'ed by

the priests for oracles.
Sleeping Cupid (the arm and foot modern).
Hercules sleeping on the lion's skin.
Hercules with the serpents.

94 TURIN,

Bronze statuette of Minerva, found at Stradella,
Bronze statuette of a Fawn (one leg missing).
* Head of Caligula in bronze— very beautiful.

The Pinacoteca has a very interesting and too little known
collection of pictures, arranged in fifteen well-lighted walls.
The most important pictures are —

Sala I. Pictures connected with the House of Savoy.
4. Giacomo Fiamingo. Prince Eugene.
15. Giacomo Argenta di Ferrara. Boy in a white dress, with a

dwarf.

*26. Vandyke. Two children with a bird.
27. Giacomo Argenta di Ferrara. Portrait of Emanuele Filiberto,

detto Testa di Ferro.

30. Vandyke. Principe Giacinto di Savoia — a most charming pic-
ture of an ugly child, sitting in its little chair, holding a
bird.

Sala II. Piedmontese Painters, of great importance in art,
and many of them most beautiful.

33» 34? 36j 37> 39> 40. Macrino d1 Alba (1496-1506). Pictures

of Saints.

35. Presbyter Giovanni Canavesi. Altar-piece in 16 compartments.
41. Gandolfino (1493). Altar-piece in 10 compartments.
*42. Defendente Deferrari di Chivasso. Altar-piece in many divisions,
the central compartment most beautiful, of the Madonna with
angels at her feet.

53. Girolamo Giovenone (1514). Madonna and Child with saints,

and the donor with her children — a very interesting picture.
44. Defendente Deferrari. Marriage of S. Catherine.
44, bis. Gandolfino. Madonna and Child with angels.
47. bis, Giov. Giovenone. Madonna and Child with four saints.
*49. Gaudenzio Ferrari. S. Peter and a kneeling donor — glorious in

colour.
50, bis. Macrino cT Alba. Virgin and Child in glory, with saints

and angels below.
52> 53> 57> 58- Gaudenzio Ferrari di Valduggia. Four small

pictures.

54. Gaudenzio Ferrari. The Deposition.

54, bis. Gaudenzio Ferrari. Virgin and Child throned, with saints
— the background most richly and carefully painted.

56. Bernardino Lanini de Vercelli. The Deposition.

59. Ottaviano Cane da Trino (1541). Virgin and Child throned,
with S. J. Baptist and S. Antonio — feeble, compared with
the works of Gaudenzio and Macrino.

PINACOTECA. 95

Sala III. Continuation of last Hall, in later date.
60, bis. Bern. Lanini. Virgin and Child with saints.

62. Id. (1564). Virgin and Child with SS. J. Baptist, Nicholas,

Lucia, and James.

63. Pietro Grammorseo da Casale Monferrato (1523). Virgin and

Child with SS. J. Baptist and Lucia.

64. Cane da Trino (1543). Marriage of S. Catherine.

Sala IV. Continuation, but inferior.

65. Guglielmo Caccia. ' II Moncalvo.' The Bearing of the Cross.
Sala V. General Italian School, \tfli to i6th century.

93. Angelica da Fiesole ? Madonna and Child.

94, 96. Id. Two angels— undoubted and beautiful specimens of the

master.

97. Ant. Pollajuolo. Raphael and Tobias.

98. Sandra Botticelli. Tobias and three angels.

100. Spinello Aretino. Siege of Jerusalem.

101. Francesco Francia. The Entombment.
103. Lorenzo da Credi. Madonna and Child.
106. Bngiardini. Holy Family.

in. * Scuola Lombarda.' Holy Family— a lovely picture.

nS. Gian Pietrino. SS. Catherine and Peter Martyr.
*H7. Girolamo S. Croce. S. Jerome — a grand landscape.
*ill. Gir. Savoldo. Adoration of the Infant Jesus— the figure of the
Virgin most beautiful and touching in its humility.

121. M. A. Franciabigio. The Annunciation.

122. Franc. Penni (1518). The Entombment— a copy of the Bor-

ghese RafTaelle.

127. Bronzino. Lady in a crimson dress.

128. Id. Portrait of Cosimo de' Medici.

130. Paris Bordone. A woman with a basket of cherries.

Sala VI.

135. Francesco Morone. A male portrait.

140. Ant. Badile (the master of Paul Veronese]. Presentation of the
Virgin in the Temple— a very instructive picture.

148. Bassano. Portrait.

*I57. Paul Veronese. The visit of the Queen of Sheba— A most
glorious picture, equally magnificent in effect, colour and de-
tail. The dress of the queen alone is a most wonderful study.
The high-lights are nowhere more concentrated by the master
than in this composition.

Sala VII. i yth and i8th centuries.
167. Jacopo Bassano. The Forge of Vulcan.

96 TURIN.

170. G. Batt. Crespi. SS. Francis and Carlo Borromeo praying

before a statue of the Virgin.
182. Paul Veronese. The Finding of Moses — from the Palazzo

Durazzo at Genoa.

Sala VIII. Chiefly copies by Constantin.
196. Luca della Robbia. Holy Family.

Sala IX. Flower-pieces.
Sala X. Italian School, 1 6th to i Wi centuries.
*234. Paul Veronese. Mary at the feet of Christ. The dog in the
foreground is wonderful.

236. Guido Reni. A Group of Children.

237, 238. Caspar Poussin. Landscapes.

239. Guerdno. S. Francesca Romana — the head of the saint very
grand.

241. Eliz. Sirani. Death of Abel.

242. Guerdno. Ecce Homo.

244. Orazio Lomi. Annunciation.

245. Bassano. The Rape of the Sabines.

249. Aurelio Lomi (Pisano). Adoration of the Magi.
251. Bernardo Strozzi. The Blind Homer.

254. Domenichino. Three Children, supposed to represent Architec-
ture, Astronomy, and Agriculture.

Sala XL

260, 264, 271, 274. Francesco Albani. The Four Elements —
(as Venus— Juno— Galatea — Cybele) — painted for Cardinal
Maurice of Savoy.

262. Guerdno. The Return of the Prodigal Son — magnificent in

light and shadow.

263. F. Albani. Salmacis and Hermaphroditus.
276. Carlo Dolce. Madonna.

283, 288. Canaletto. Views of old Turin — good specimens of a bad
master.

Sala XII. German and Dutch Schools.
*338. Vandyke. Children of Charles I. of England.
*35i. Id. Clara Eugenia Isabella, daughter of Philip II. of Spain, in
widow's weeds.

Sala XIII. Capi d Opere.

355. A. Mantegna. Madonna and Child with saints — the head of

the Virgin very grand, full of foreboding of the future, the
rest inferior.

356. Lorenzo di Credi. Madonna and Child.

THE RIVER PO. 97

357. Guercino. Madonna and Child.

358. J. Memling, The whole story of the Passion, wonderfully

interwoven in one picture.

359. P. Christophscn. Virgin and Child.

*3^3- Vandyke. Prince Thomas of Savoy on a white horse — one of

the nob'est portraits in existence.
*36g. Sandra Botticelli. The Triumph of Chastity — a very curious and

interesting picture.

371. Gaudenzio Ferrari. Crucifixion.
*373. Raffaelle. Madonna della Tenda— a lovely replica of the picture

at Munich.

374. Sandra Botticelli. Madonna and Child.
*375- Donatella. Virgin and Child — a marble relief.

376. // Sodom a. Lucrezia.
*377. Paul Potter. Cows.

384. Vandyke. Holy Family.

385. G. Honthorst. Samson and the Philistines.

386. Holbein ? Portrait of Erasmus.
392. Velasquez? Philip IV.

Sala XIV. German and Dutch.
415. My tens. Portrait of Charles I. of England, standing at the end

of an arched corridor.
450. Rembrandt. A Rabbi.

Sala XV. French School.
481. Borgognone. Battle Scene.

Behind the Palazzo Carignano is the Piazza Carlo Alberto,
with an equestrian statue of Charles Albert, by Marochetti.

The broad Via del Po, on the left of which is the Uni-
versity, with an admirable Library, leads to the river, by the
wide Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. This is our first sight of the
Po, which will meet us so often again in our Italian wander-
ings. It rises on Monte Viso and flows to the Adriatic,
being navigable for nearly 250 miles. Many are the classical
allusions to it : —

' Proluit insano contorquens vortice silvas
Fluviorurn rex Eridanus, camposque per omnes
Cum stabulis armenta tulit. ' — Virgil, Georg. i. 481.
' Et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu
Eridanus : quo non alius per pinguia culta
In mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis.'

Georg. iv. 371."
1 See also Lucan, H. 408 : vi. 273.
VOL. I. H

98 TURIN.

On the opposite side of the river is the Church of the
Gran Madre di Dio, built by Carlo Felice in (ludicrously
bad) imitation of the Pantheon at Rome. From the Capu-
chin Convent which occupies the wooded hill above, there
is an exquisite view, far beyond the town which lies at its
feet, into the Alpine ranges.

The Avenue along the river-side is delightful, and leads
to one of the most beautiful Public Gardens in Europe,—
not to mere dressed walks, but to glades of elms and chest-
nuts, with wide and green lawns undulating to the water-
side, and lovely views up the still reaches of the river,
fringed with tufted foliage which is reflected in its water ; or

I Cappuccini, Turin. From the Public Garden.

into bosky valleys of the hills on the opposite bank, with
old turreted villas and convents rising on the different
heights and looking down into the luxuriance of wood and
vineyard which intersects them. Beyond all rises the
Superga on its blue height, and pleasure-boats with white
sails or striped awnings give constant life to the scene.

At the end of the gardens, where they melt into the
open hayfields— completely in the country, though so close
to the town — the grand old Palace of II Valentino rises from
the river bank. It was built in the old French style by a
French princess, Christine, wife of Vittorio Amedeo I. and
daughter of Henri IV. and Marie de' Medici. Of rich red
stone, with high-pitched roofs, tall chimneys, and heavy

LA SUP ERG A.

cornices, it resembles some of the best chateaux of the
Loire, and, with its richly verdant surroundings, forms a
beautiful subject for a picture. Altogether, though those
who have not seen these gardens in spring may condemn
Turin as an ugly featureless city, those who have enjoyed
their freshness, especially in May, when the white and crim-
son chestnuts are all in bloom, will carry away the impression
of scenes of perfect Italian loveliness.

II Valentino, Turin.

One may also visit the Villa delta Regina, near the bridge
over the Po, built by Cardinal Maurice of Savoy, after he
had renounced his Orders in order to marry his niece,
daughter of Vittorio Amedeo I.

The most popular excursion is that to La Superga^ the
building which crowns the highest summit of the hills near
the town. An omnibus (20 c.) starts every hour from 25
Via del Po, for the Madonna del Pilone, a village in the
valley, about \\ mile from the town. Hence donkeys (i J fr.)
may be taken, or it is a stiff walk of \\ hour, to the Superga.
The high road must be followed to the turn on the right
beyond the next village, whence the Stradone della Superga
winds up the hill. There is a grand view from the platform
at the top towards the immense snowy barrier, which hems

H 2

ioo TURIN.

in the valley of the Po with an endless variety of outline.
Turin, with its palaces and churches, is seen at the foot of
the envineyarded hills on the left. Beyond it rises the great
peak of Monte Viso : but the most beautiful point is where
the valley of Susa, half-shrouded in purple mist, opens
beneath the white ranges of the Mont Cenis.

When the army of Louis XIV. was blockading Turin,
King Vittorio Amedeo II., standing on this height with
Prince Eugene, vowed a church to the Virgin, ' if the Lord
of Hosts would deliver him and his people out of the hands
of their enemies.' The French were totally defeated in the
battle of Turin, Sept. 7, 1706, and Juvara was then employed
to build the great Church of La Superga, which was begun
in 1 7 17 'and finished in 1731.

The Church'is ill-proportioned externally, and is swallowed
up by its own dome. The interior is dull, cold, pompous
and splendid. The pillars are of coloured marble ; three
great marble reliefs represent the Annunciation, the Nativity,
and ' La Madonna del Ex-voto.' In the vaults beneath, all
the later monarchs of the house of Savoy are buried, with
the exception of Carlo Felice, who rests at Haute Combe on
the Lac de Bourget. Like the popes, the last king always
occupies a temporary position — here a colossal tomb at the
centre of the cross — till his successor comes to turn him out.
Vittorio Amedeo II., Carlo Emanuele III., Vittorio Amedeo
III., and Carlo Emanuele IV., have monuments here, sur-
rounding that of the great Carlo Alberto, who died at
Oporto, July 28, 1849.

' Here a king may fitly lie,
Who, bursting that heroic heart of his
At lost Novara, that he could not die,

(Though thrice into the cannon's eyes for this
He plunged his shuddering steed, and felt the sky

Reel back between the fire-shocks,) stripped away
The ancestral ermine ere the smoke had cleared,

And, naked to the soul, that none might say
His kingship covered what was base and bleared

With treason, went out straight an exile, yea,
An exiled patriot.

IL SAGRO DI S. MICHELE. 101

. . And now that he is dead,
Admitting it is proved and manifest
That he was worthy, with a discrowned head,

To measure heights with patriots, let them stand
Beside the man in his Oporto shroud,

And each vouchsafe to take him by the hand,
And kiss him on the cheek, and say aloud, —

"Thou, too, hast suffered for our native land !
My brother, thou art one of us ! be proud." '

E. Barrett- Browning.

Near each king rest his wives, one above another, as in
the berths of a ship. One great chamber is devoted to the
babies of the House of Savoy ! The reigning sovereign is
supposed annually to visit the graves of his ancestors on
September 8 (the Nativity of the Virgin).

A pleasant object for a drive of about six miles (there is
also a steam tramway) is the old palace at Moncalieri (the
i st station on the Alessandria line), built by Vittorio Amedeo I.,
and exceedingly handsome.

Stuptntgi (5 m.) is a handsome palace, built as a hunting-
lodge \yyfttvara for Carlo Emanuele III.

The most important expedition to be made from Turin
is that to the extraordinary convent called // Sagro di San
Michele, which occupies the summit of the mountain over-
hanging the town of Sant' Ambrogio (on the way to Susa),
to which it is best to proceed by railway.

Avigliana (stat.) is the birthplace of the House of Savoy.

Sanf Ambrogio (stat.) is a most picturesque little town.
Its rugged street, full of country-people and donkeys, pre-
sents a succession of pictures, with its buttressed walls,
Romanesque arches, overhanging roofs supported by heavy
beams, and window-sills bright with carnations and chains
of golden Indian corn ; and beyond and over all rises the
brown mountain side, with blue mist in its rifts, crowned by
the vast pile of the Sagro, half convent and half castle.

A steep mountain way (donkeys may be obtained) winds

102

TURIN.

up behind the curious old church, through rocks and frag-
ments of chestnut forest. Near the summit, it passes the
little village of S. Pietro, and then emerges upon a terrace
on the top of the rocks, whence there is the most glorious
view, into a wilderness of snowy mountain-ranges. The
Sagro itself, a huge mass of building, rises in the foreground,
at the top of an almost perpendicular precipice, where it
was built as a penance in the zoth century, by a certain
Hugo de Montboissier, on a spot where Bishop Amisone had

II Sagro di S. Miche'e.

already been directed to found an orator)7, by fire which
descended from heaven and marked out its site. The most
conspicuous portion externally is the apse of the church,
which has a Romanesque arcade. Great flights of steps form
the approach to a round-headed door facing the precipice,
whence a tremendous staircase, supported by a single
colossal pillar, ascends to the monastery, the walls being
partly formed by the rock itself, which projects in huge
masses through the masonry.1 At the top of the first stair-

1 English guide-books describe this staircase as having been lined with dried
corpses, which were decorated with flowers by the peasants, but this has never been
heard of at the Sagro itself.

LE CHIUSA, SUSA. 103

case a beautiful round arch with marble pillars, very richly-
sculptured, opens upon a second ascent leading to the
Church, which is exceedingly curious, with many fragments
of ancient sculpture, and a fine Gothic tomb of Guglielmo
di Savoia, who was abbot here. A door on the left forms
the entrance to a little platform overhanging the rock called
// Salto delta Bella Alda, from an imprudent damsel, who,
having leapt once from the top in safety under the protec-
tion of the Virgin, attempted to do it again, and perished in
the attempt. Here is the entrance to the vaults filled with
modern tombs, to which Carlo Alberto caused a number of
the earlier members of the House of Savoy to be removed
from the church of S. Giovanni at Turin. It is scarcely
possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the views
upon which the Monastery looks down. It contains several
pictures of the surrounding scenery, by Massimo # Azeglio,
who was, however, but a poor artist. Prince Eugene, who
never married, was a titular abbot of S. Michele. There
were formerly 300 Benedictine monks here, now the monas-
tery is a centre for the Missionary Preachers under the
direction of the Rettore Carlo Caccia.

A separate excursion on this line of railway should be
made from Turin to Susa. A little beyond S. Ambrogio, on
the left, may be seen the remains of walls on the side of the
mountain. The place is called Le Chiusa, and the walls are
relics of the famous fortifications erected in A.D. 772 by the
Lombard king Desiderius, against his enemies from the
north, and which he deemed impregnable. Charlemagne
did not attack them, but was guided round the mountains
by a Lombard spy (one Martin, a deacon, afterwards Arch-
bishop of Ravenna), and, falling upon the Lombards from
the rear, totally defeated them. On this story is founded
the ' Adelchi,' Manzoni's best play, carefully studied oh the
spot.

Susa, the ancient Segusio, situated amid sterile rocks, is
a picturesque place, full of mediaeval towers and gateways,

104 TURIN.

:and with the river Dora rushing through its midst. The
most conspicuous building is the Cathedral of S. Justus,
which has a noble campanile of the nth century, a fine grey
marble font, and a gilt statue of the famous Countess
Adelaida of Susa, through whom the House of Savoy
acquired its Italian territory. In the sacristy is a silver
cross, said to have been given by Charlemagne.

On a rising ground, behind the cathedral, is the beautiful
marble Arch of Augustus, adorned with Corinthian columns,
and reliefs representing sacrifices of rams and swine. It
was erected, in honour of the Emperor, a^out B.C. 8, by
Julius ' Cottius, son of King Donnus. Above the town is
the ruined fortress of La Brunetta, destroyed by the French
in 1798.

At the top of the Monte di Rocria Melone, above Susa,
at a height of 11,139 feet, is a chapel, romantically founded
by the crusader Bonifazio d' Asti, who was taken prisoner
by the Saracens and vowed this shrine to the Virgin if he
were ever set free : his fetters hang in the chapel. A pil-
grimage is made here annually on the feast of the Assump-
tion.

A little to the east of Susa, close under the Alps, is the
site (it is little more now) of the famous Monastery of
Novalesa, founded in 739, where Charlemagne once spent
his Lent In its prosperity, Novalesa used to send out in
harvest- time the plaustrum dominicale, a great car, supporting
a pole with a bell hanging to it, which returned, heading all
the waggons, bringing back the supplies of corn and wine
from the monastic farms. It was a rule in the country-side,
that no fairs should begin till the plaustrum of Novalesa had
been seen to pass.

The railway now supplants the fine road over the Mont
Cenis from Susa, constructed by Napoleon, who determined
to make it after being kept five days in the snow, with
twenty-five others, upon his descent into Italy.

CARIGNANO, CARMAGNOLA. 105

A railway leads in three hours from Turin to Cuneo for
the passage of the Col di Tenda. Carmagnola and Saluzzo
may also be conveniently visited by the steam tramway from
Turin. The railway passes —

20 kil. Villastellone (stat), 6 m. west of which is Carig-
nano, a well-built town, with handsome churches. S.
Giovanni was built by Count Alfieri : in S. Maria delle
Grazie is the tomb of Bianca Palaeologus, daughter of
William IV., Marquis of Monserrat, and wife of Duke
Charles I. of Savoy, before whom Bayard contended in a
tournament. In 1650 the title of Prince of Carignano was
taken by Tommaso, the youngest son of Duke Carlo
Emanuele I., and from him the present royal family are
descended. Carignano is still one of the royal titles.

29 kil. Carmagnola (stat.) was once, as the border-town
of the Marquisate of Saluzzo, defended by a strong castle, a
fragment of which remains as the tower of the Church of S.
Filippo. In the cloister of S. Agostino is the tomb of James
Turnbull, a Scottish condottiere, 1496. This town is the
birthplace of Francesco Bussone, Count of Carmagnola,
who was born here, in 1389, as the son of a peasant, and
served in boyhood as a cowherd. He fought as general
for Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, for whom he
reconquered a great part of Lombardy. From this service
he passed into that of Venice, in which he took Brescia, and
gained (1427) the battle of Maclodio ; but, by the jealousy
of the Senate, after having been allured back to Venice by
a vote of thanks and confidence, he was imprisoned,
tortured, and beheaded 'between the columns,' May 5,
1432. His life is the subject of a tragedy by Manzoni.

The name of Carmagnola is known throughout the
world from the ' Dansons la Carmagnole, Vive le son des
Carmagnoles,' of the great revolution, the name having been
given to the Savoyard boys, who were amongst the first
revolutionary recruits, and many of whom came from
hence.

38 kil. Racconigi (stat). The Castle, restored by Palagi,

io6 TURIN.

was the favourite residence of Charles Albert. Trissino
(1510) sang the beauty of the women of Racconigi :—

1 E quei di Scarnafesso e Racconigi,
Ch' han bellissime donne.'

45 kil. Cavalier maggio re (stat.). (Hence there is a
branch-line to Savona, passing through Bra, wrhich has a
handsome Church of S. Chiara, built by Vettone in 1742.
The town is united by an avenue to the Sanctuary of 6".
Maria dei Fiori, where it is said that on Dec. 29, 1336, an
appearance of the Virgin was the means of rescuing a young
girl from murder, in a copse of wild sloes, which have ever
since blossomed three times annually. The Castle of
Pollenzo, two miles from this, marks the Roman Pollentia.)

52 kil. Savigliano (stat.), (Inn. Corona], on the river
Macra. A triumphal arch here commemorates the marriage
of Carlo Emanuele II. with the Infanta, Donna Caterina.
In the churches are many pictures by Giovanni Molineri
(called ' II Carraccino,' from his imitation of the Carracci),
born here in 1577.

(There is a branch-line from hence in ^ hour to
Saluzzo. Its old castle was the residence of the sovereign
Marquises of Saluzzo, who became extinct in 1548. In the
Church of S. Bertiardo are the tombs of the Counts Delia
Torre. Saluzzo was in 1789 the birthplace of the poet and
political martyr, Silvio Pellico, to whom a statue was erected
in 1863. J

88 kil. Cuneo (stat.), (Inn. Pasta • Londra\ usually
spoken of as Com, so called from the wedge of land upon
which the town was erected, in the i2th century, under pro-
tection of the Abbot of S. Dalmazzo, by peasants who
rebelled against the tyrannies of the surrounding barons.

A steam tramway runs four times a day between Cuneo

1 From Saluzzo it is a drive of 14 miles to Paesana, an exquisite spot, and a walk
or ride of 8 miles thence to Crissolo. This is a great place of pilgrimage with fair
accommodation (at the Hospice of San Chiaffredo under Monte Viso) when not
overcrowded with pilgrims. A steam tram runs four times daily (z\ hours) between
Saluzzo and Pinerolo.

CERTOSA DI PESIA. 107

and Borgo S. Dalmazzo : also (i hr. 40 m.) between Cuneo
and Dronero ; also (2 hrs. 15 m.) between Cuneo and Saluzzo.

(About nine miles S.E. from Cuneo, in the Val Pesio, a
pleasant situation amid woods and mountains, always green
and fresh, is the Certosa di Pesia, now a pension, much
frequented by English who pass the summer in Italy.

20 miles S.W. from Cuneo, in the Val di Gesso, are the
Baths of Valdieri — resorted to for the cure of wounds — in a
very fine natural situation.)

There is a diligence from Cuneo to Nice, in 22 hours, by
the road, made in 1591, over the pass of the Col di Tenda
(5883 feet). The defile of the Roya, wi;h the picturesque
villages of Saorgio, Ghiandola, Broglio, and Sospello (Hotel
Carenco), is well worth seeing. The unprotected ledges of
the pass are, in places, very alarming.

1 68 THE WALDENSES

CHAPTER IV.

THE WALDENSES.

T)ROTESTANTS will be interested in an excursion to
JL Waldensian Valleys ( Vallees Vaudoises), which are
situated about thirty miles S.W. of Turin, and occupy a dis-
trict of about twenty-two miles by eighteen, under the Alps
which bound the French frontier. Here, in spite of cruel
persecutions, the inhabitants have preserved their own form
of faith unchanged for 600 years.

The name of the Waldenses is sometimes derived from
the Latin word Vallis, but more generally from Peter Waldo,
a rich bourgeois of Lyons, who became, as it were, the S.
Francis of heresy ; while his disciples, who received the
name of the Poor Men of Lyons, ' resembled the Minorites,
the lowest of the low.' At a meeting which was assembled
for devotional purposes, Waldo had seen a man fall dead,
struck by lightning, and thenceforward religion was his one
thought. Ignorant himself, he employed a poor scholar to
translate the Gospels and some of the other books of
Scripture, and in these he instructed his disciples. He sent
them forth by two and two to preach the Gospel. They
sought the support of Alexander III., but were harshly
repulsed and censured by the Pope, and treated with the
utmost obloquy and contempt by the clergy. The severity
they met with caused their entire alienation from the Roman
Catholic Church. They denied that the priestly office had
any intrinsic virtue, and maintained that a layman of pure
life and manners might administer all religious rites. They
condemned the vices of wicked popes. They rejected all

HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES. 109

the Sacraments, except Baptism and the Lord's Supper ;
and they denied all sanctity in the water of baptism, and
transubstantiation in the Eucharist. They renounced prayers
for the dead, purgatory, and indulgences. They enjoined,
to the extreme, a pure and virtuous life. Above all, they
read the Gospels, preached, and prayed in the vulgar tongue.

The followers of Peter Waldo are believed to have been
the first teachers of these Alpine villages. The Waldensian
Church occupies thirteen parishes situated in three valleys :
S. Jean, La Tour, Villar, Bobbi, and Angrogna, in the
valley of Luzerne ; S. Germain and Pramol in the valley of
Perouse ; Pomaret, Maneille, Massel, Rodares, Prali, and
Prarustaing, in the valley of S. Martin, — altogether a popu
lation of 24,000. The English term ' Lollard ' came from
Peter Lollard, a Waldensian pastor in the middle of the
1 3th century.

The Protestant villages were situated in the dominions
of the Duke of Savoy, from whom, early in the i5th century,
they suffered their first persecution, when the inhabitants of
the village of Prajelas were massacred or banished. In
1487, Pope Innocent VIII. issued a Bull calling upon 'all
authorities, spiritual and temporal, to unite in the extermina-
tion of the Vaudois.' At this time 18,000 regular troops
were sent against the valleys, when the inhabitants found
their only protection in the mountain-fastnesses by which
they were surrounded. When the Reformation in Germany
took place, Pastor Martin of Luzerne travelled thither, and
brought back the writings of the Reformers, and, in the
Synod of Angrogna (Sept. 12, 1532), the division of the
Waldensian from the Catholic Church was formally ratified.
This led to a fresh persecution, in 1532, from Charles, Duke
of Savoy. In 1560, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy sent a
fresh army against the Waldenses ; they concealed their
helpless in caves, and defended their valleys by ambushes.
Their chief stronghold was the ravine of the Pra del Tor,
which was attacked by the army of Savoy, under the Count
de la Trinite, for four whole days ; at the end of which he

I io THE WALDENSES.

was repulsed with great loss, numbers of his soldiers being
precipitated from the rocks into the river. After this, the
Duke of Savoy perceived that he was only ruining both his
army and his treasury to please the Inquisitors, and, accept-
ing the mediation of his duchess Margaretta, he made a
treaty with the Vaudois, in terms which allowed them the
free exercise of their religion. Nevertheless, they were
perpetually tormented by his successors, till, in 1655, by
'the bloody order of Gastaldo,' more than a thousand
families were banished in the depth of winter into the
Alpine recesses, where a great portion perished of cold and
starvation. The valleys were then entered by the Marchese
di Pianezza at the head of 15,000 men, who, aware of the
desperate resistance he should meet with if he encountered
the Vaudois on their own ground, pretended a wish for con-
ciliation, and requested that, in token of obedience to the
temporal power, they would receive companies of troops in
their different villages. Their compliance was followed by
the most cruel massacres, and great numbers of those who
escaped the sword, died of hunger in the mountains or
perished in the snow. The indignation of all the Protestant
powers was aroused. Cromwell ordered a general fast, had
the narrative of the Waldensian sufferings printed and dis-
tributed through England and Wales, and himself headed a
subscription for them with ^2,000 from the privy purse.
A sum of ^38, 24 1 was raised for them. The British
Ambassador, sent by Cromwell to the Duke of Savoy and
received in the presence of his mother, Madame Royale,
daughter of Henri IV., gave expression to the feeling of
England.

'Audivit enim Protector (quod nemo celsitudinis vestrae regalis
voluntate factum esse dixerit) miserrimos illos, partim ab vestris copiis
esse crudeliter occisos, partim vi expulsos, domoque patriaque exrurba-
tos, adeoque sine lare, sine tecto, inopes, omnique ope destitutos, per
asperrima loca atque inhospita, montesque nivibus coopertos, cum suis
conjugibus ac liberis vagari. Quid enim per hosce dies, quod genus
crudelitatis inausum illis militibus, aut praeteritum fuit? Fumantia
passim tecta, et laceri artus, et cruenta humus ! Virgines, post stupra,

SUFFERINGS OF THE WALDENSES. in

differto lapillis ac ruderibus utero, aetate ac morbo clinici, in lectulis
combust! ? Infantum alii saxis allisi, alii jugulati, quorum cerebrum
ab interfectoribus, immanitate plusquam Cyclopaea, coactum ac
devoratum.'

It is this persecution of the Waldensian Church which is
immortalised in the sonnet of Milton : —

' Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold ;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones,
Forget not : in thy book record their groans,
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that roll'd
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant ; that from these may grow
A hundred-fold, who, having learn'd thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.'

For a time, the threats of Cromwell produced a certain
degree of toleration for the Vaudois, but, on Jan. 31, 1686,
Vittorio Amedeo II. published a decree that every Protestant
church and chapel should be razed to the ground, and that
every Protestant should renounce his faith within fifteen
days, upon pain of banishment. The whole population con-
sisted of 15,000, and of these only 2,500 were capable of
bearing arms. ' Death rather than the Mass ' was, however,
the general answer. The French General Catinet asked
from the Duke of Savoy ' the honour of striking the first
blow at the heretics,' and, in the words of Henri Arnaud,
* had the honour of being well beaten.' But prolonged re
sistance against overwhelming numbers was useless, and the
Waldensians submitted, upon a promise that they should
then experience the mercy of the sovereign, which was kept
by his throwing the whole Protestant population into prison.
Here the greater part perished of hunger and fever, and,
after six months, the sentence of the survivors was remitted
to perpetual banishment. They were forced to cross the

ii2 THE WALDENSES.

Alps in the depth of winter, hundreds perishing amid the
snows, and they took refuge in the Protestant cantons of
Switzerland. After three years the survivors, 800 in number,
under the command of Henri Arnaud, determined to regain
their native villages or perish in the attempt. They crossed
the Alps, and so bravely maintained their position in the
denies above Angrogna, that at last the Duke of Savoy was
induced to reinstate them, upon condition of their fighting
for him against Louis XIV. Of this — ' La glorieuse rentree
des Vaudois dans leurs vallees ' — Henri Arnaud has left a
detailed account.

For the generalship of the guerilla warfare in which the
Vaudois were engaged, Arnaud was eminently fitted, and
his personal bravery greatly contributed to their success.
In battle he used to say — * I know not what the occasion
may require of me ; but while I advance, follow me, and, if
I fall, avenge me.' It is, however, only fair to Roman
Catholics to say that the return of the Vaudois was attended
by the most horrible massacres on their part, and that they
avenged their past sufferings by doing their best to exter-
minate the inoffensive Catholic population which had taken
their place in the valleys. As they were unable to provide
for prisoners, none were taken, and no quarter was given to
age or sex !

Vittorio Amedeo had afterwards so much reason to be
satisfied with his Waldensian troops, that they were brigaded
by themselves, were commanded by their own officers, and
had a distinguished place in every action ; and when
Amedeo himself was forced to fly, it was with a Waldensian
family in the village of Rora that he took refuge.

After their return, the Waldenses — exemplifying their
doctrine that * the great end of Christian teaching is charity
-out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned,' drew up, at a Synod in the Valley of Prajelas
above Pinerolo, their ' Rule of Conduct ' :—

How people should conduct themselves with strangers : —

1. Love not the world.

2. Avoid bad company.

DOCTRINE OF THE WALDENSES. 113

3. If possible, live in peace with all men.

4. Strive not in law.

5. Revenge not yourselves.

6. Love your enemy.

7. Be willing to suffer toils, calumny, threats, rejection of men,

wrongs, and all torments, for truth's sake.

8. Possess your souls in patience.

9. Enter not into the yoke with the unfaithful.

10. Hold no communication with bad works, nor by any means what
savours of idolatry, nor with services inducing to it, nor with
anything of the sort.

How the faithful ought to keep their bodies under sub-
jection : —

1. Serve not the mortal desires of the flesh.

2. Watch over your members, lest they be members of iniquity.

3. Rule your affections.

4. Submit the body to the soul.

5. Mortify your members.

6. Avoid idleness.

7. Be sober and temperate, in eating and drinking, in your words,

and the cares of this world.

8. Do works of charity.

9. Live by faith and moral practice.

10. Control your desires.

11. Mortify the works of the flesh.

12. Devote yourselves to religion in due season.

13. Confer with one another on the will of God.

14. Diligently examine your consciences.

15. Cleanse, amend, and pacify your minds.

It was in consequence of examining these canons that
Bucer declared that it must be allowed that the Vaudois had
truly preserved among them the discipline of Christ's Church,
an opinion assented to by Luther, Oecolampadius, and
Melanchthon. The latter, in a letter written to the Vaudois,
A.D. 1557, had thus expressed himself: — 'I cannot in truth
object to the severe discipline and practice prevailing
among you ; would to God it were a little more severe
among us ! '

The pastors of the Vaudois were diligently taught and
rigidly examined. When approved of by the synod, they
were ordained, with imposition of hands, by the moderator.

VOL. I. I

ii4 THE WALDENSES.

Their pastoral duties were explained and enforced, on these
occasions, in a sermon, also by the moderator. Their wants
were supplied from the gratuitous offerings of their flocks,
paid publicly to the synod.1

' The functions of the ancient Waldensian moderator were the same
as those of the Protestant and Romish bishops. If the synod had a
more general, the moderator had a more direct, authority. Though
elected by the synod (as were all bishops in the primitive ages) he was
not amenable to it ; but, on the contrary, was, as now, its president,
and his office was for life. He only could confer holy orders, by the
imposition of hands ; and he only had authority to visit the churches,
inquire into the doctrine and practice of their pastors, examine at his dis-
cretion the whole economy of the Church, and reform such abuses as he
might discover. Thus did the moderators, as overseers, take heed unto
the flock.'— H. Dyke Adand.

The Waldensian Valleys may be reached in i^ hour
from Turin by taking the train to Pinerolo (3 frs. 55 c. ;
2 frs. 55 c. ; i fr. 70 c.). There is an omnibus from Pinerolo
to La Tour.

Pinerolo (Inns. Grande Couronne, Verna Nova] is a
pleasantly-situated provincial town on the little river
Lemina.

Hence it is i hour's drive to La Tour (Torre Luserna),
(Inns. Ours, Lion d'Orj, which may be considered the
capital of the Vaudois, but is only a large country village,
with a clear stream running down its street. Above rises
the fine crag of Castelluzzo, and beyond it, Mont Vanderlin.
The primitive aspect of the people, and their good manners,
make them very attractive. All take off their hats and give
a kindly greeting to strangers, and they appear to be of a
different class to the usual Italian population. There is now
a handsome Protestant Church here ; a College for the edu-
cation of young men for the Waldensian ministry ; a Hos-
pital ; and an Orphanage, where lace-making and straw-
plaiting are admirably taught, and where specimens of the
children's work may be purchased. Much of the recent

1 See Norland's History of tlie Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont,
and The Waldenses of W. S. Gilly.

VILLAR, BOB BIO. 115

prosperity of La Tour is due to the generosity of Colonel
Charles Beckwith, who employed the closing years of his
active life entirely for the benefit of the Waldensian Church.
Three excursions, which will give the best idea of the
Vaudois valleys, may be made on foot, or on donkeys, from
La Tour, in the day.

I. (It is possible to drive, but the road is very bad) To
Villar, a most picturesque village, with a vine-shaded street,
and a glorious background of mountain-peaks. Beyond
this, about 2\ hours from La Tour, is Bobbi, or Bobbio,

Villar.

another exceedingly picturesque village, nearer to the foot
of the mountains. It has been twice destroyed by inunda-
tion, and is now defended by the Breakwater of the Pelice,
built by a grant from Oliver Cromwell. In the war of 1799,
the inhabitants of Bobbio were conspicuous for the
humanity with which they treated the wounded French
soldiers who were left behind ; and, when their resources
failed, carried them on their shoulders across the frontier,
and set them down in their own country. A wild moun-
tain-path leads from Bobbio to the ruined fortress of

I 2

ii6 THE WALDENSES.

Mirabouc^- and beyond it (3^ hours from Bobbio) to the
Bergerie de Pra.

II. It takes about 2\ hours from La Tour to the Pra
del Tor. It is a pleasant ascent, by the village of Angrogna,
to this grand defile. In each village there are two churches,
for the two religions. The inscriptions on those of the last
village we pass are characteristic. On one is — ' Allons a la
Montagne de FEternel et a la maison du Dieu de Jacob, et
il nous montrera de ses voies, et nous marcherons dans ses
senders.' On the portal of the opposite church is ' Ave
Maria Mater Gratiae.'

Pra del Tor.

The defile of Pra del Tor is as sacred ground to the
Waldensian people. Here, most of all, they fought, suffered,
and conquered for their faith, for, in the words of Leger 2 —
' L'eternel Dieu, qui avoit destine ce pais-la pour en faire
particulierement le theatre de ses merveilles, et Fasyle de
son arche, 1'a naturellement et merveilleusement fortifieV
Here, when the Count de la Trinite invaded the pass in
1560, he was repulsed with shouts of 'Viva Gesu Cristo,'
and two colonels, eight captains, and four hundred of his
men perished. The Rocks of Roccialla are pointed out,

1 The fact that this fortress was taken by the French, was used to inflame the
popular feeling against the Vaudois, though not a Protestant was there when it
surrendered. " Histoire des Eglises Vandoises.

RORA, CASTELUZZO. 117

whence the Vaudois showered down stones upon their
enemies ; the narrow pathway, where they formed their easy
barricade ; the clear river Angrogna, rushing amid the rocks
in a succession of waterfalls, into which so many of their
assailants were thrown ; the stone from which, in 1686, ' the
French General ' was hurled into the whirlpool beneath.
At the end of the gorge is the Pra itself, not a meadow, but
a rocky wilderness, with a few poor cottages.

III. By Luzerne, to Rora, the smallest and most southern
of the Protestant parishes, situated beneath the crags of Sea
Bianca. Here Vittorio Amedeo II. (the persecutor of the
Waldensians) took refuge with the family of Durand, and

Waldensian Cottage, Pra del Tor.

when he escaped, owing to their magnanimity, rewarded
them by granting their family for ever the privilege of using
their garden as a burial ground !

Only hardy mountaineers will attempt to visit, in the
crag called ' Le brie Casteluzzo,' l the famous Cavern of
Vandelin or Castelnzzo, in which from 400 to 500 fugitives
could take refuge at a time. It is a kind of open gallery on
the face of the cliff, into which people had to be let down by
ropes, as into a mine. There are traces of a fountain there.
It was explored by Dr. Gilly in 1829.

(From Pinerolo there is a road by Fenestrelles and Pra-
gelas to Brian9on.)

1 From Bricca, a steep, craggy place.

n8 THE VAL U AOSTA.

CHAPTER V.

THE VAL D* AOSTA.

ONLY 3 hours from Turin, by a branch line from Chi-
vasso (3 frs. 65 c. ; 2 frs. 55 c. ; i fr. 85 c.), is the
pleasant town of Ivrea (Inns. Europa, Universo\ on the
Dora Baltea (Doire), with a fine machicolated castle.

(Diligence to Aosta 8 frs. ; a carriage with 2 horses, 30 frs. ; a very
large vetturino-carriage for much luggage, 60 frs. An arrangement
may be made with a small one-horse carriage for the whole excursion,
at 12 frs. a day.)

The road to Aosta passes under the old castle of Mont-
alto to (12 miles) Ponte S. Martina (Inn. Porta Rossa bad)
where there is a picturesque old Roman bridge, over the
Lys (Lesa), to sketch. Hence the road ascends to Donnaz,
where there is a Roman tunnel through the rock, and on
to Fort Bard (1019 feet), which for eight days checked the
advance of the French army under Bonaparte in 1 800 (before
the battle of Marengo), being garrisoned by only 400
Austrians. Passing the entrance (left) of the Val di Cam-
porriero, and the village of Arnaz, we reach (yj m.) Verrex
(Inns. Poste, Couronne]^ where French becomes the language
of common intercourse. The castle, built in the last decade
of the seventeenth century, and enlarged in the early part of
the sixteenth, has a magnificent staircase, projecting from
the four walls of the courtyard. In the middle was a great
tank for rainwater.

About 2 m. from Verrex, on the opposite side of the
river, is the Castle oflssogne, built at the close of the fifteenth
century, and lately restored in a conservative spirit by an
Italian artist who inhabits it. The frescoes under the arcade
of the ground floor are interesting examples of Burgundian
art. One represents the interior of a mercer's shop, another

AOSTA. 119

a tavern scene. The Salle de Justice has a fresco of the
Judgment of Paris. The shells painted on the roof of a
small room, near the postern gate, show that it was intended
for pilgrims and wayfarers. Near this are two dungeons, the
inner absolutely dark. A room on the first floor, with a fine
fireplace, seems to have been decorated in anticipation of a
visit from one of the Kings of France. This castle, like
that of Verrex, formerly belonged to the Chaillants, and the
Miroir des Enfants de Chaillant, painted on the walls of
the courtyard, shows the arms of the most distinguished
members of that family. The present owner has spared
no trouble or expense in acquiring old furniture suitable
to the castle. Strangers can generally obtain admission by
presenting their cards, but the kindness of the proprietor
in this respect should not be abused.

A little beyond Verrex we enter a narrow gully in the
rocks under the ruined castle of S. Germain, called the defile
of Montjovet. The views are now most beautiful. The Doire
tosses deep below. After passing the bridge called Pont des
Salassins, we reach — 9 m. Chatilion. (Inns. Hotel Royal,
Lion d*Or), and proceed by many small villages, and
through a country rich in vineyards, beyond which

' the mountains
Lift through perpetual snows their lofty and luminous summits,'2

to (15 m.) Aosta (Inns. H. du Mont Blanc — with a beau-
tiful view, kept by Jean Tairraz, very clean and good.
Couronne, in the town.)

Aosta occupies the site of the city which was built for the
permanent subjection of the Salassi, and to which Augustus
gave the name of Augusta Praetoria. It speedily rose to
prosperity, and became the capital of the whole surrounding
region. Pliny speaks of it as the extreme point of Italy
towards the north. S. Anselm was born at Aosta, 1053.

The town is entered by a noble Triumphal Arch of
Augustus (Arco della Trinita). To the right are the remains
of a small Roman Bridge of one arch, and of a ruin, shown

1 Here the path to Zermatt, by the S. Theodule, branches off,
2 Longfellow s Evangtline.

120

THE VAL D1 AOSTA.

as the amphitheatre, but in reality the straight wall of a
Theatre. Spanning the street further on, is a double Gate^
with three arches in each facade.

In the centre of the town is a large Piazza. The Cathe-
dral is the Minster of SS. Gratus and Jocundus. Its towers
date from the eleventh century. The choir has a splendid
mosaic pavement, and fine wooden stalls ; beneath it is a
.Romanesque crypt. In the treasuiy is a consular diptych
of the time of Honorius. The cloister bears the date of 1460.

The Church of S. Urse was founded in the sixth century,
by Ursus, a Scotchman, Archdeacon of the cathedral, who,
in 525, finding that his bishop inclined to Arianism, sepa-

Arch of Augustus, Aosta.

rated himself from him with six of the canons, and founded
a chapel to S. Peter, on the site of the church which now bears
his name. He was buried in his own chapel, of which the
dedication was changed, in consequence of the miracles
wrought at his tomb. The church contains the tomb of
Duke Thomas of Savoy, of 1232. It has a detached twelfth-
century tower, noble wooden stalls, and a beautiful Roman-
esque cloister, with the history of Esau and Jacob and
other Scriptural subjects upon its capitals. The adjoining
Priory is said to occupy the site of the Baptistery, built in
the fifteenth century by Georges de Chaillant, of a noble
family which long did homage directly to the Emperor. It
has an octagonal tower, and windows and walls decorated
with rich bands of terra-cotta ornament.

FROM AOSTA TO COURMAYEUR. 121

In a side street, still called after his name, is a cross
commemorating the expulsion of Calvin from the town.
There are many picturesque points upon the old walls. The
name of the Tour Bramafan (Cri de la faim) records the
death of Marie de Bragance, wife of Count Rene of Chalons,
who was imprisoned there by the jealousy of her husband
in the fifteenth century, and left to die of starvation.

A little further, abutting upon the city wall, is a square
tower called Tour de la Frayeur^ from the ghost story of a
white woman holding a lamp, who is said to be seen emerg-
ing from it on dark nights. It is also called the Tour de
Lepreux, and is the scene of the pretty story of * Le Lepreux
de la cite d'Aoste,' by Xavier le Maistre.1

A carriage from Aosta to Courmayeur costs— for 2 people — 12 frs.,
or — for 3 people — 15 frs. Places in the corriere to S. Didier 2^ frs.

On the road to Courmayeur, to or from Aosta, the noble
peak of the Grivola comes in sight between the valleys of
Cogne2 and Savaranche. At Fort Roc the road passes
through a defile above the Doire, and hence there is a grand
view of Mont Blanc. It is also well seen from the Baths of
S. Didier (Hotel de la Rose].

Courmayeur (Hotel du Mont Blanc, good ; Hotel Royal)
is a picturesque village, with the most glorious view, and
delightful walks through meadows in which you can ' scarce
see the grass for flowers.' This is the starting-point for the
excursion to Chamounix by the Col de la Seigne, the Col
de Bonhomme, and the Col de Voza.

' There is a terrace upon the roof of the inn at Courmayeur where one
may spend hours in silent watches, when all the world has gone to sleep
beneath. The Mont Chetif and the Mont de la Saxe form a gigantic
portal not unworthy of the pile that lies beyond. For Mont Blanc re-
sembles a vast cathedral ; its countless spires are scattered over a mass
like that of the Duomo at Milan, rising into one tower at the end. By
night the glaciers glitter in the steady moon ; domes, pinnacles, and
buttresses stand clear of clouds. Needles of every height and most fan-
tastic shapes rise from the central ridge, some solitary like sharp arrows

1 From Aosta an excursion may be made to the Great S. Bernard. It is about 5$
hours to the Hospice.
. z The scenery around Cogne is very fine. The Hotel de la. Grivola is a fair inn.

122

THE VAL

AOSTA.

shot against the sky, some clustering into sheaves. On every horn of
snow and bank of grassy hill stars sparkle, rising, setting, rolling round
through the long silent night. Moonlight simplifies and softens the
landscape. Colours become scarcely distinguishable, and forms, de-
prived of half their detail, gain in majesty and size. The mountains
seem greater far by night than day — higher heights and deeper depths,
more snowy pyramids, more beetling crags, softer meadows, and darker
pines. The whole valley is hushed, but for the torrent and chirping

Courmayeur.

grasshopper, and the striking ot the village clocks. The black tower
and the houses of Courmayeur in the foreground gleam beneath the
moon until she reaches the edge of the Cramont, and then sinks quietly
away, once more to reappear among the pines, then finally to leave the
valley dark beneath the shadow of the mountain's bulk. Meanwhile
the heights of snow still glitter in the steady light : they, too, will soon be
dark, until the dawn- breaks, tingeing them with. rose.' — J. A. Symonds.

123

CHAPTER VI.

VERCELLI AND NOVARA.

VERCELLI is reached in less than two hours by rail
from Turin. The line passes through a luxuriant
country, bounded, on the left, by the Alps. The only
places of importance the railway passes through are Chivasso\<
which was the residence of the sovereign Marquises of Mont-
ferrat, and Santhia, whence there is a branch-line to the
manufacturing town of Biella, six miles from which is the
sanctuary of La Madonna d'Oropa, with an image, said to
have been carved by S. Luke, and brought from Syria by
S. Eusebio.

Vercelli, in a low marshy situation, presents many curious
architectural features, and is well worth visiting between the
trains. All those who are interested in Lombard art must
certainly stop here, as here alone can the works of the great
artist, Gaudenzio Ferrari, be seen in their perfection.

Close to the station is the noble Church of S. Andrea,
which is of great beauty externally both as to colour and
form. It was begun in 1219. The west front is gabled,
and has three portals, with a rose window and two arcades
above. The material is stone, with brick details, giving
much colour. The central tower is of brick, double, and
octangular. On the south side is a large detached cam-
panile. Over one of the side doors is a representation of the
dedication of the church by its founder, who was the Car-
dinal Guala de' Bicchieri, the devoted ally of our King John,
and papal legate in England during his reign and that of
Henry III.

I24 VERCELLI AND NOVARA.

The Lombard exterior suggests something different to
the graceful early-pointed arches of the interior. The mix-
ture of brick and stone is most effective, but the church is
spoilt by wretched painting, and worse stained glass. The
only tomb (in the 2nd chapel — in the right transept) is that
of Tommaso Gallo, first abbot, and architect of the church,
ob. 1246, with a relief of his presentation to the Virgin, by
Dionysius the Areopagite.

The adjoining Hospital was also founded and endowed
by Cardinal Guala. It has a fine cloister, now used as a
garden.

Behind S. Andrea is the Cathedral, which has an old
brick campanile, but which otherwise is the work of Pdle-
grino Tibaldi, of the sixteenth century. It has a handsome
portico. Opening out of the transepts are the chapels of S.
Eusebio, first bishop of Vercelli, and S. Amedeo di Savoia.
The shrine of the latter was decorated with silver by Carlo
Felice, in 1823.

In the Cathedral Library was long preserved the famous
manuscript of the Gospels writtten in the fourth century by
the first bishop, S. Eusebio, and bound in silver by order of
King Berengarius. The manuscript (now moved to Florence)
is of the greatest importance, and is believed to be the most
authentic copy of the ' Itala ' of S. Augustine. The order in
which the Gospels are written is — S. Matthew, S. John, S.
Luke (' Lucanus '), and S. Mark. The silver cover is very
curious as a work of art. It represents the Saviour present-
ing the Gospels to the world. By his side stands ' Eusebius
Episcopus.' The inscription tells :—

' Praesul hoc Eusebius scripsit, solvitque vetustas ;
Kex Berengarius reparavit idem. '

From the Cathedral, passing- on the right the Church of
S. Bernardino, and crossing the Corso, we reach (about \
mile) the Church of S. Cristoforo, which contains the prin-
cipal works of Gaudenzio Ferrari, who was born in 1484 at
Valduggia, near Novara, and died at Milan in 1550. He

FRESCOES OF GAUDENZIO FERRARI. 125

was a pupil of Luini, and his pictures nearly resemble the
works of that master. Lomazzo ranks him amongst the
seven greatest painters in the world.

' Gaudenzio must be pronounced a very great painter, and one who
approached nearest of any of Raffaelle's assistants to Pierino and Giulio
Romano. He appears truly unequalled in his expression of the divine
majesty, the mysteries of religion, and all the feelings of piety of which
he himself offered a notable example, having received the title of Eximie
Pius in one of the Novarese assemblies. He was excellent in strong
expressions ; not that he aimed at exhibiting highly-wrought muscular
powers, but his attitudes were, as Vasari entitles them, wild, that is,
equally bold and terrible where his subjects admitted them.

' The w7arm and lively colouring of Ferrari is so superior to that of the
Milanese artists of his day, that there is no difficulty in recognizing it in
the churches where he painted ; the eye of the spectator is directly
attracted towards it. If we may so say, he represented the minds even
better than the forms of his subjects. He particularly studied this
branch of the art, and we seldom see more marked attitudes or more
expressive countenances. Where he adds landscape or architecture to
his figures, the former chiefly consists of very fanciful views of cliffs and
rocks, which are calculated to charm by their novelty ; while his edifices
are constructed on principles of the best perspective. ' — Lanzi.

The frescoes in S. Cristoforo are in- honour of the Virgin
and the Magdalen . They begin in the Left Transept : —

1. The Birth of the Virgin.

2. The Marriage (the Presentation seen in the background).

3. The Nativity.

4. The Adoration of the Magi. (Between these S. Catherine of

Siena and S. Nicholas presenting two members of the Liguara
family.)

5. The Assumption.

Most spectators will feel that the conception of this picture is far
grander than that of Titian. The Virgin in a light-coloured robe with
extended hands and long golden hair, floats upwards, her feet resting
on the back of a cherub, while other cherubs circle round her and hold
a crown over her head.

In the Right Transept are : —

1. The Crucifixion. Angels of wondrous beauty float around the

cross. In the corner on the right is represented Padre Angelo
Corradi, one of two brothers at whose expense the frescoes
were executed. The Magdalen is the most conspicuous figure.

2. The Conversion of the Magdalen.

126 VERCELLI AND NOVARA.

3. The Magdalen wiping the feet of our Lord.

4. The Preaching of the Magdalen at Marseilles.

5. The Assumption of the Magdalen.

The Altar-piece represents the Virgin and Child sur-
rounded by saints. S. Christopher has a tree in his hand
as a staff; there are two monks in white robes, and, in the
foreground, two lovely children, besides S. John, who is
holding a Lamb. In the Sacristy is a Nativity, with monks
behind.

Other churches in Vercelli have works of Ferrari, but of
less importance.

(There is a branch-line from Vercelli to Valenza on the
line between Alessandria and Pavia. It passes through
Casale, the capital of the Duchy of Montferrat, with an in-
teresting Romanesque Cathedral, consecrated in 1107. In
the Church of S. Domenico, a Renaissance building of 1513,
is the grave of Benvenuto da S. Giorgio, the historian, 1527.
Of the Marquises of Montferrat was Guglielmo the great
imperialist, taken prisoner in the war with Alessandria, who
died in an iron cage.1 His daughter lolanthe married the
Emperor Andronicus Palaeologus, and the Marquises of
Montferrat were continued by her second son Theodore.
The male line became extinct in 1533.)

Half an hour's rail takes us from Vercelli to Novara
(Inn. Tre Re Italia), which a few years ago was an old
city with heavy arcades like Padua, but is now a modern
town like Turin. From the railway Novara has an imposing
appearance, the lofty white dome which is seen from thence
being that of the Basilica of S. Gaudenzio. Novara is a
good sleeping-place, and an evening walk on the ramparts is
agreeable, but its sights may easily be seen in two hours.

From the railway we must ascend the hill to the Statue
of Cavour by Dini (1863). A little to the right is the
Basilica of S. Gaudenzio, built 1547 by Pellegrino Tibaldi,
and a magnificent edifice of its kind. S. Gaudenzio, the

1 Dante, Par. vii. 133.

.CHURCHES OF NOVARA. 127

patron and bishop of Novara, rests beneath the heavy high
altar. The church contains : —

Left, 2nd Chapel. La Madonna del Mezzo — one of the finest works
of Gaudenzio Ferrari. An altar-piece intended for the high altar, and
executed in 1515. It is in six compartments. The Virgin and Child
are attended by S. Ambrose and S. Gaudentius. The other divisions
represent S. Peter and S. J. Baptist ; S. Paul and S. Agibius ; the
Annunciation ; and the Nativity.

Right, \st Chapel. Moncalvo. A Deposition.

Right, yd Chapel. Gaudenzio Ferrari, Crucifix.

Returning to his statue, we should now follow the Via
Cavour, on the right of which is a monument to Charles
Albert, recalling his abdication in consequence of the victory
gained over the Piedmontese at Novara by the Austrians,
March 23, 1849.

On the left is the Church of S. Pietro del Rosario, with
pictures by G. C. Procacdni in the fourth Chapel on the
right. The church is only interesting at the place where,
in 1304, the papal anathema was pronounced against the
heresy of the fanatical reformer Fra Dolcino, who, having
long defended himself with his followers on Mount Zerbal
above Triverio, was put to a cruel death at Vercelli by order
of Clement V. Dante represents Mahomet as desiring that
Fra Dolcino may be warned of his danger : —

' Or di' a fra Dolcin dunque, che s' armi,
Tu, che forse vedrai il sole in breve,
(S' egli non vuol qui tosto seguitarmi)

SI di vivanda, che stretta di neve
Non rechi la vittoria al Noarese,
Ch' altrimenti acquistar non saria leve. '

Inferno, xxviii. 55.

The street opposite this church leads to the old market,
on the left of which is the Cathedral, entirely modernised
(1860-70), and containing nothing of interest, unless an
angel, by Thorwaldsen, at the high-altar, can be called so.
Some frescoes, by Luini (once in the chapel of S. Giuseppe)
have been removed to the Sacristy. They are : —

The Adoration of the Magi.

128 VERCELL1 AND NOVARA.

The Massacre of the Innocents.

The Virgin (Mater-Dolorosa), with S. Catherine and other saints.

Here also are two panel pictures by Gaudenzio Ferrari —

The Holy Family.

The Adoration of the Magi.

A ' Last Supper ' is attributed to Cesare da Sesto.

The Cloisters are of great size, and contain fragments of
ancient fresco and sculpture, and two Roman pillars, of the
same character as those in the Baptistery.

At the west end of the cathedral is a pillared atrium, on
the other side of which is the circular Baptistery, surrounded
by fluted Corinthian columns, relics of some Roman edifice,
with a font for immersion in the centre ; also a Roman
relic, and bearing an inscription to ' Umbrena Appolla.' In
the chapels between the pillars, with frescoed backgrounds,
are sculptured groups from the Passion, by Gaudenzio Fer-
rari and his pupils. Some are very coarsely executed and
cause almost a shock, from the real hair and beards of the
figures ; but the first group, of * the Agony in the Garden,'
is exceedingly beautiful — the suffering Saviour, the com-
forting angel, and the intense sleep of the disciples, being
most powerfully pourtrayed. The man who offers the
sponge in the Crucifixion scene is also a very fine figure.

129

CHAPTER VII.
MILAN".

X 1" OTHING of much importance, except Vercelli and
.1 \| Novara, is passed between Turin and Milan (16 frs.
95 c. ; ii frs, 95 c. ; 8 frs. 55 c.) The journey occupies 3^
hours.

Hotels. De la Ville, Corso Vittorio Emanuele ; Continent ale ^ 7
Via Manzoni — very good ; Gran Bretagna (smaller and quieter, kept by
the proprietors of the Continentale), 45 Via Torino ; Cavour, Piazza
Cavour ; De Milan, Corso del Giardino. Excellent Restaurants may
be found in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Omnibuses from the station to the Cathedral square, 25 c. ; to the
hotels, 50 c. ; from any of the gates to the Cathedral square, 10 c.
Carriages by day cost 75 c., by night I fr. 25 c. for the course or by
the half-hour ; for each succeeding half-hour, they are 75 c. and I fr. ;
each piece of luggage is charged 25 c.

Hanker. Ulrich, 21 Via Bigli.

Milan, as Mediolanum, situated in a plain midway between the
rivers Ticinus and Addua, was the chief city of the Insubres in Cisal-
pine Gaul. In B.C. 222 it was taken by the Romans, and in B.C. 49
received the full Roman franchise and passed into the condition of a
Roman municipium. Slrabo and Pliny both mention it as a consider-
able city, and it was the native place of the Emperor Didius Julianus,
and of Septimius Geta. The Emperor Maximian made the town his
permanent residence, thus raising it to the rank of the capital of
northern Italy. But greater importance was conferred upon the town by
S. Ambrose, son of the Praefect of Gaul, and himself Praetor of Upper
Italy, who, elected Bishop of Milan while yet an unbaptized catechu-
men, and consecrated in 374, made Milan the intellectual centre of
Italy. It was here that he gave the great example of ecclesiastical
independence, by refusing admission to his church to the Emperor
Theodosius, while he was stained with the guilt of murder, though the
same Emperor, having done penance for his crimes, afterwards died in
his arms.

Though the imperial court was transferred to Ravenna in 452,
Milan continued to prosper, and, in the time of Theodoric the Great,
VOL. I. K

130 MILAN.

surpassed Rome in its population and riches. It was plundered by
Attila, and again (539) by Uraia, brother of Vitiges the Goth ; yet,
though the Lombard kings held their court in Pa via, Milan, as the seat
of the Archbishopric, appears to have retained the rank of the capital
of Liguria.

Strongly Guelfic, Milan, having tyrannized over the neighbouring
town of Lodi, came in for a terrible siege from the Emperor Frederic
Barbarossa, and having been forced by famine to capitulate, March I,
1162, was destroyed by the imperialists ; but the town was soon rebuilt
by the famous Lombard League, and the Milanese avenged their losses
by the victory of Legnano, gained desperately fighting around their
carroccio, in 1176. The Emperor Henry VI L was crowned at Milan
with the Iron Crown of M,onza in 1312. Soon after, the chief power
was conferred by the citizens upon Matteo Visconti, whose grandson
Azzo was made imperial vicar by the Emperor Louis the Bavarian.
The great alliances and the ability of the house of Visconti afterwards
so extended their power that all Lombardy and Piedmont were under
their rule.

In the I4th century lived Bernabo Visconti, so celebrated for his
cruelties, who was imprisoned and poisoned by his nephew, Giovanni -
Galeazzo, Count of Virtu. This was the first of the Visconti to obtain
the title of Duke of Milan. Having already gained the sovereignty,
not only of all the principal Lombard towns, but of Bologna, Siena,
Pisa, Perugia, Assisi, and Spoleto, he was about to march to Florence
to be crowned King of Italy, when he died, in 1402. It was under
this Giovanni-Galeazzo that the greatest public works of the Visconti
were accomplished. He spent the most enormous sums in order to
turn away the Mincio from Mantua and the Brenta from Padua, and
so render those towns defenceless. He founded the Certosa of Pavia,
and the Cathedral of Milan, and finished the Palace of Pavia, then of
the utmost magnificence.

After the death of Gian-Galeazzo many of the towns he had
governed deserted from the rule of his son, Gian-Maria Visconti, who
was a cruel tyrant and was murdered in 1412. His successor, Filippo
Maria, was even more hated. He beheaded his first wife, Beatrice di
Tenda, and lived in such constant fear of assassination that he trusted
no one, alienated the Count of Carmagnola, first his faithful general,
and then, under Venice, his most formidable enemy, and shut himself
up in .the castle of Milan, scarcely ever visiting the town; he died,
however, a natural death, in 1447, leaving no sons.

Bianca, the daughter and heiress of Filippo-Maria, had married the
Condottiere Francesco Sforza, son of that famous Condottiere Giaco-
muzzo Attendolo-, who, beginning life as a poor peasant of Cotignola,
obtained the name of Sforza, because he always carried everything by
force. Francesco ruled in Milan with great mildness and wisdom,

SIGHTS OF MILAN. 131

and died in 1466. His son, Galeazzo-Maria, who was equally passion-
ate and vicious, was murdered, and was succeeded by his brother,
Ludovico il Moro, in whose reign the arts flourished at Milan under
Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante. He fought against France, was
taken prisoner in 1500, and died in prison. His son succeeded in ex-
pelling the French from Milan in 1512, but, being defeated at Marig-
nano in 1515* was obliged to give up Milan in exchange for an annuity.
His younger brother, Francesco, received the dukedom again in 1529
rom Ch arles V., after his victory over the French. Upon his death,
in J535> Charles V. gave Milan as a fief to his own son Philip II. of
Spain, and the Spanish rule continued till 1713, during which the
proverb was verified— ' I ministri del re di Spagna in Sicilia rosicchia-
vano, a Napoli mangiavano, a Milano divoravano.'

In 1710 Milan fell into the hands of Austria, and, after being re-
peatedly re-taken by the French, was united to the Austro-Venetian
kingdom in 1814. By the peace of Villafranca, in 1859, it was re-
stored to Italy.

The greatest architect who worked in Milan was Bramante, from
1479 to 1500. The chief painters employed here were Borgognone, c.
1500, and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Among the pupils of
Leonardo were Cesare da Sesto (c. 1520), Gio. Antonio Beltraffio (c.
1510), Francesco Melzi (1568), Marco d'Oggione, Andrea Salaino, and
the great Bernardino Luini, c. 1530.

Two whole days at least should be given to Milan, but
weeks may be pleasantly devoted to the study of the art-
treasures it contains. Those who are only here one day
should see (the best) S. Ambrogio, S. Eustorgio, and the
Leonardo da Vinci at S. Maria delle Grazie (in this order),
S. Maurizio, the Cathedral, and the Brera Gallery. As a
residence, Milan is not pleasant, being exceedingly hot in
summer and dreadfully cold in winter. The streets are for
the most part modern and handsome, and have none of the
picturesque beauty of other Lombard towns, and after the
Cathedral, S. Ambrogio, and Chiaravalle have been seen
there is little external to admire either in the city or its
environs. Beautiful views of the Alps, however, may be
obtained from the shady walks on the ramparts, or from the
top of the Cathedral.

' L 'aspect frangais de Milan, si fort accru dans ces derniers temps,
avait etc deja remarque par Montaigne. II trouvait que " Milan
ressembloit assez k Paris, et avoit beaucoup de rapport avec les villes

K 2

132 MILAN.

de France." La meme ressemblance avait frappe le Tasse lorsqu'il
vint passer a Paris deux annees a la suite du cardinal d'Este, et qu'il
ecrivit son etrange parallele de 1'Italie et de la France.' — Valery.

No Italian town has suffered more than Milan from
ignorant ' restoration ' in the last few years. The fine
mediaeval towers on each side of the Porta Ticinese have
been pulled down. The high altar of S. Ambrogio with the
Paliotto d'Oro have been moved from their original posi-
tion, and it is proposed to pull down the fine columned
portico which Bramante added on the north of the church
and to rebuild the facade in the style of the ninth century.
It is intended to reconstruct in stone the entire outside of
S. Maria delle Grazie, which, in brick and terra cotta, has
been the admiration of the world for centuries. The church
of S. Babila has been pulled down, only the plan preserved ;
the churches of S. Maurizio, S. Maria Incoronata, and S.
Calimero are threatened ; and S. Giovanni in Conca, one of
the oldest and most interesting churches in the town, has
been utterly destroyed.

Nurses and peasant-women may still occasionally be
seen In the streets with the picturesque national head-dress
of silver pins arranged in a circle, like rays of the sun. Black
lace veils, after the manner of Spanish mantillas, are usually
worn by women of the middle classes.

The great centre of interest at Milan must always be its
glorious Cathedral, a brick building, veneered with white
marble. It was founded in 1387, by Gian Galeazzo Vis-
conti, on the site of a more ancient edifice, the original
church on this site having been spoken of by S. Ambrose
when writing to his sister Marcellina, as ' the great new
basilica.' Heinrich von Gmunden, who built the Certosa
for the same great founder, was the principal architect,
though architects and sculptors from all nations were
associated in his work. Since his time the building has
been very gradually carried on. The octagonal cupola was
erected in 1490-1522, under the Omodei \ the west end of
the nave was finished in 1685 ; the spire in 1772, from

MILAN CATHEDRAL. 133

designs of Croce ; the ugly western facade in 1790. The
Roman doors and windows in this fa£ade are portions of a
design for a huge Roman portico, by Francesco Ricchino,
which was fortunately not carried out. Even as it is, the
contrast of these portions of the front with the Gothic work
around them, greatly mars the effect of the whole.

Great variety of opinion exists as to the beauty of
Milan Cathedral, and, as a whole, the general feeling will
be, that the oftener you see it, the uglier it seems externally.

At Milan.

But, as to the exquisite beauty and finish of its Gothic
details all will agree, though, in order to appreciate these
thoroughly, it will be necessary to mount to the roof,
guarded by an army of statues, Wordsworth's

( aerial host
Of figures hnman and divine.'

The ascent is also welt worth while on account of the noble
view of the Alpine ranges to be obtained from thence.

' The Cathedral of Milan has been wonderfully contrived to bury
millions of money in ornaments which are never to be seen. Whole
quarries of marble have been manufactured here into statues, relievos,
niches, and notches ; and high sculpture has been squandered on
objects which vanish individually in the mass. Were two or thretj
thousand of those statues removed, the rest would regain their due
importance, and the fabric itself become more intelligible. Those
figures stand in rows which cross and confound the vertical direction of

134 MILAN.

the architecture ; for here the eye naturally runs up the channelled
pillars, the long windows, the lateral spires, the tall thin buttresses,
and never can keep in the horizontal line of the Greek entablature.' —
Forsytki

' Upon the whole, the exterior is in no respect more Italian than it is
German in its style ; it belongs to no school, and has no fellows ; from
the beginning it has been an exotic, and to the end of time will pro-
bably remain so, without a follower or an imitator in the singular
development of which it is the only example ... It has all the appear-
ance of having been the work of a stranger who was but imperfectly
acquainted with the wants or customs of Italian architecture, working
to some extent with the traditions of his own native school before him,
but, at the same time, impressed with a strong sense of the necessity
imder which he lay of doing something quite unlike what he had been
taught to consider necessary for buildings in his native land . . . There
is a constant endeavour to break up plain surfaces of wall, unlike the
predilection for smooth surfaces of walling so usual in thoroughly
Italian work, and destructive of the kind of breadth and dignity which
this last generally has . . . The architect appears to have been shocked
at the necessity under which he lay of sacrificing the steep lines of roof
so dear to him in his native land, and to have striven with all his might
to provide a substitute for their vertical effect by the vertical lines of
his panelled buttresses and walls, by the gabled outline of his parapets,
and by the removal of such a mark of horizontalism as the commence-
ment of the traceries of his windows even on one line. And his work
is a most remarkable standing proof of the failure of such an attempt ;
for, despite all these precautions, and I incline to believe in con-
sequence of them, the general effect is, after all, entirely depressing and
horizontal. ' — Street's Brick and Ma,rble in the Middle Ages.

' A more unlucky combination of different styles or a clumsier
misuse of ill-appropriated details could scarcely be imagined. Yet no
other church, perhaps in Europe, leaves the same impression of the
marvellous upon the fancy. The splendour of its pure white marble,
blushing with the rose of evening or of dawn, radiant in noonday sun-
light, and fabulously fairy-like beneath the moon and stars ; the multi-
tudes of statues sharply cut against a clear blue sky, and gazing at the
Alps across that memorable tract of plain ; the immense space and
light-irraHiated gloom of the interior ; the deep tone of the bells above
at a vast distance, and the gorgeous colours of the painted glass, con-
tribute to a scenical effect unparalleled in Christendom.' — y. A. Symonds.

The first appearance of the Interior is most striking — the
great height of the pillars, their exquisitely-sculptured
capitals, the general solemnity, and the rich effect of light
which streams in from the upper windows upon the golden

MILAN CATHEDRAL. 135

pulpits at the entrance of the choir, form a picture to be
revisited again and again. Yet even here more intimate
acquaintance will serve to dispel many illusions, for the tra-
ceried roof is only painted, and but few of the sculptures
have any intrinsic merit.

' The solitary blot upon this otherwise noble work is one for which
its architect is in no way responsible — the cells of the groining are all
tilled in with painted imitations of elaborate traceries in brown colour,
an abominable device, which never ceases to offend and annoy the eye
more and more every time it is observed. The window tracery through-
out is meagre, confused, and unmeaning, and the traceries introduced
at mid-height most unsatisfactory; but the glass with which it is filled,
though poor and late in its character, contains much rich colour, and
gives the entire building a very grand and warm tone.' — Street.

At the entrance are the two huge granite columns given
by S. Carlo from the quarries at Baveno. Turning into the
right aisle, we see : —

The Tombs of Ariberto d'Intimiano and Marco Carelli.

\si altar. F. Zucchero. S. Agata.

2nd altar. M. Gherardino. S. Augustine.

yd altar. Fiamminghino. Madonna and two Saints.

Right transept. The monument of the brothers, Gian Giacomo and
Gabriele de' Medici (erected by their brother, Pope Pius IV.), by
Leon Leoni, but said by Vasari to have been designed by Michelangelo ;
the figures are in bronze. The splendid altar next to it was a gift of
Pius IV., who was uncle of S. Carlo. The tribune of this transept has
a statue of S. Giovanni Bono, Archbishop of Milan, ob. 660, by Busca.
The elaborate bas-reliefs, which tell his story, are by Simonetta, San
Pctro, Zarabatta, JBussola, and Bruitetti. Then comes the entrance to
the subterranean passage to the archbishop's palace. Then a relief
of the Presentation of the Virgin (1510), by Bambaja. Then the
famous statue of S. Bartholomew flayed, with the inscription, — ' Non
me Praxiteles sed Marcus finxit Agrates.'

Passing the Altar of S. Agnese, we enter the Ambulatory, at the
back of the choir, which is itself copiously adorned with bas-reliefs of
the 1 7th century, relating to the life of Christ. On the right is a most
beautiful Gothic door, by Porino Grassi, leading to the sacristy ; then
a fine statue of Martin V., by Jacopino di Tradate, placed here by
Filippo-Maria Visconti, to commemorate his having consecrated the hijji
altar, on his way from Constance to Rome, immediately after his
election. Then comes the tomb of Cardinal Marino Caracciolo,
Governor of Milan (ob. 1538), in black marble with figures in white

136 MILAN.

marble, by Bambaja. A curious tablet on the wall with a monogram
is called the ' Chrismon Sancti Ambrogii,' and has the inscription : —

' Circulus hie summi continet nomina regis,
Quem sine principio, et sine fine vides,
Principium cum fine tibi denotat /\ £*_).'

Next, passing an inscription to S. Carlo, is the tomb of Ottone
Visconti (ob. 1295), Archbishop of Milan. Beyond, is the statue of
Pius IV. (1559-65) by the Sicilian, Angela de Manis: the beautiful
Gothic bracket which supports it is by Brambilla. Here is another
rich door leading to the second Sacristy.

Now we enter the North Transept, which contains the grand bronze
candelabrum, given in 1562 by Giovanni Battista Trivulzio, archpriest
of the church. Here are the slab tombs of two Visconti archbishops,
and that of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, nephew of S. Carlo. By the
latter tomb travellers will remember with what tenderness and skill the
character of Cardinal Federigo is drawn in the delightful pages of the
' Promessi Sposi. ' We watch the meekness and love of the saint softening
the haughty savagery of the ' unknown,' the firmness and zeal of the
chief pastor rebuking and inspiriting the pusillanimous Don Abbondio :
' He was one of those too rare characters who have devoted with un-
changing energy great natural powers, all the resources of immense
wealth, all the advantages of an exalted position, to the search after and
practice of truth and goodness. His life was like a stream which flashes
pure from the rock, and without ever becoming stagnant or stained
carries its waters down their long and varied course, and pours them
pure into the river. He made truth the sole rule of his thoughts and
actions. Thus he learnt that life was not given to be a burden to the
many, a holiday to the few, but to all a charge, of which each must one
day give account : and from a child he began to think how he might
make his own life useful and holy.' It is said that the canonisation of
his cousin Carlo had so crippled the fortune of his family that they were
fain to decline for Federigo so well-deserved but so costly an honour.

Entering the Left A isle we have a picture of S. Ambrose absolving
Theodosius, by Baroccio, and the Marriage of the Virgin, by F. Zticchero;
then a crucifix, which S. Carlo carried in procession during the plague
of 1576, at an altar which is adorned by modern statues of Martha by
Monti, and Mary by Marchesi. Next is a tomb, with a Madonna by
Marchesi. Near the entrance is an early mediaeval bas-relief of the
Virgin and Child with eight saints, the latter in red Verona marble.
Opposite this is the Baptistery, by Pellegrini, still used for immersion,
a porphyry bason with four columns of macchia-vecchia marble support-
ing the canopy.

The Choir was designed by Pellegrini. The High Altar supports a
great tabernacle of gilt-bronze, given by Pius IV., and designed by the
Pellegrini.

Beneath, is the subterranean chapel of S. Carlo.

. GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE. 137

' The subterranean chapel in which the body of San Carlo Borromeo
is preserved, presents as striking and as ghastly a contrast, perhaps, as
any place can show. The tapers which are lighted down there, flash
and gleam on alti-relievi in gold and silver, delicately wrought by skilful
hands, and representing the principal events in the life of the saint.
Jewels, and precious metals, shine and sparkle on every side. A
windlass slowly removes the front of the altar ; and, within it, in a
gorgeous shrine of gold and silver, is seen, through alabaster, the
shrivelled mummy of a man ; the pontifical robes with which it is
adorned, radiant with diamonds, emeralds, rubies ; every costly and
magnificent gem. The shrunken heap of poor earth in the midst of
this great glitter, is more pitiful than if it lay upon a dunghill. There
is not a ray of imprisoned light in all the flash and fire of jewels, but
seems to mock the dusty holes where eyes were, once. Every thread
of silk in the rich vestments seems only a provision from the worms that
spin, for the behoof of worms that propagate in sepulchres.' — Dickens.

The Sacristy contains some curious medieval vessels and church
ornaments.

' O Milan, O ! the chanting quires ;
The giant windows' blazon'd fires ;

The height, the space, the gloom, the glory !
A mount of marble, a hundred spires. '

Tennyson. The Daisy.

From the Piazza del Duomo is the entrance to the really
magnificent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the handsomest
and loftiest arcade of shops in the world — eighty feet high —
erected by the architect Mengoni for an English company.
When lighted up in the evening and filled with people,
walking or sitting under the Gaffes, it has the effect of a
great ball-room.

Having seen the cathedral, the other sights of Milan may
be visited in three walks, taking the Piazza del Duomo as a
centre, viz. : —

I. The Church of S. Ambrogio, Baths of Hercules, Church of S.
Lorenzo, Church of S. Eustorgio, Churches of S. Celso and
S. Maria presso S. Celso, Church of S. Nazzaro Maggiore,
Ospedale Maggiore, Church of S. Satiro.

II. Palazzo della Kagione, Loggia degli Ossi, Palazzo della Citta, T»ro-
letto, Church of S. Maurizio, Palazzo Litta, Church of S. Maria
della Grazie, Church of Sepolcro, Ambrosian Library.
III. Piazza and Teatro della Scala, Churches of S. Fedele, S. Carlo
Borromeo, S. Marco, and S. Sempliciano, Arco della Pace, Cas-
tello, Church of S. Maria del Carmine, Brera Gallery.

138 MILAN.

Turning to the left from the Piazza del Duomo, we
follow the Via Torino. An opening on the right shows the
Church of S. Giorgio in Palazzo, founded in 750 by Bishop
Natalis, but completely rebuilt in 1800. It contains : — •

Gaiidcnzio Ferrari. S. Jerome.
Luini. Ecce Homo— very beautiful.

The Via del Torchio, and its continuation, the Via Lan-
zone, lead (right) to the Church of S. Ambrogio, the most
remarkable church in Milan, founded in 387 by S. Ambrose,
and dedicated to All Saints. It was at the same time en-
riched with the bones of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius.
It is the church where S. Augustine was baptized, and where
the Te Deum was first recited by Ambrose and Augustine,
who took up the verses alternately as they advanced to the
altar. It was rebuilt by Archbishop Anspertus in the ninth
century, and, though restored in the nineteenth century, it
remains comparatively unaltered, and one of the most inter-
esting buildings in Christendom.

The exterior of the church, of red brick, with stone
pillars and arches, is highly picturesque. On the north is a
fine columned portico added by Bramante. The atrium —
which all artists will draw — is surrounded by open arches,
the arcades being filled with ancient inscriptions, altars, and
fragments of carving. In the doors of the church are two
small panels of cypress wood, removed hither from the
Basilica Portiana, now S. Vittore al Corpo, and believed to
be part of the identical gates which S. Ambrose closed
against the Emperor Theodosius.

' When Ambrose was informed of the massacre of Thessalonica, his
mind was filled with horror and anguish. The Emperor was deeply
affected by the reproaches of his spiritual father and, after he had
bewailed the mischievous and irreparable consequences of his rash fury,
he proceeded, in the accustomed manner, to perform his devotions in
the great church of Milan. He was stopped in the porch by the arch-
bishop ; who, in the tone and language of an ambassador of heaven,

;

S. AMBROGIO. 139

declared to his sovereign, that private contrition was not sufficient to
atone for a public fault, or to appease the justice of the offended Deity.
Theodosius humbly represented, that if he had contracted the guilt of
homicide, David, the man after God's own heart, had been guilty, not
o'nly of murder, but of adultery. "You have imitated David in his
crime, imitate, then, his repentance," was the reply of the undaunted
Ambrose. The rigorous conditions of peace and pardon were accepted ;
and the public penance of the Emperor Theodosius has been recorded
as one of the most honourable events in the annals of the Church.' —
Gibbon.

The interior of S. Ambrogio is very striking, the grey
stone being relieved by the red brick of the arches. The
approaches to the chapels on the right demand notice, as
peculiarly simple and graceful. On either side the nave
stands a pillar ; that on the right is surmounted by a curious
old cross ; that on the left by a bronze serpent, shown as the
brazen serpent of the wilderness, and given as such, in 1001,
to Archbishop Arnulphus by the Emperor of the East. In
the decorations of the pulpit is a curious bas-relief, repre-
senting an Agape, and, beneath it, an early Christian sarco-
phagus, called, without foundation, the tomb of Stilicho.
The Tribune is covered with Byzantine mosaics upon a
gold ground, representing the Saviour, with SS. Protasius,
Gervasius, Satirus, Marcellina, Candida, and the cities of
Milan and Tours, the latter in reference to the story of
S. Ambrose having been miraculously present at the death-
bed of S. Martin of Tours, without leaving his own episcopal
city. The inscriptions are partly in Greek and partly in
Latin. They are supposed to have been executed, A.D. 832,
by the monk Gaudentius. Beneath, is the ancient episcopal
chair of S. Ambrose, in which the archbishops sate in the
midst of their eighteen suffragans, whose sees extended
from Coire to Genoa. The seats of the other bishops re-
mained till the i6th century. In front of the tribune stands
the high altar, beneath a baldacchino, on the spot where S.
Augustine was baptized by S. Ambrose. Here the corona-
tions with the- iron crown took place — Berengar, 888 ; Lo-
thair, 931 ; Otto the Great, 961 ; Henry the Black, 1046 ;

140 MILAN.

Henry IV., 1081 ; Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 1311 ; Louis
of Bavaria, 1327; Charles IV., 1355; and Sigismund, 1431.
The golden front of the altar was presented by Archbishop
Angilbertus II., about 835.

' Within this venerable and solemn old church may be seen one of
the most extraordinary and best-preserved specimens of Mediaeval Art :
it is the golden covering of the high-altar, much older than the famous
pala cToro at Venice ; and the work, or at least the design, of one man ;
whereas the pala is the work of several different artists at different
periods. On the front of the altar, which is all of plates of gold,
enamelled and set with precious stones, are represented in relief scenes
from the life of our Saviour ; on the sHes, which are of silver-gilt,
angels, archangels, and medallions of Milanese saints. On the back,
also of silver-gilt, we have the whole life of St. Ambrose, in a series of
small compartments, most curious and important as a record of costume
and manners, as well as an example of the state of Art at that time. In
the centre stand the archangels, Michael and Gabriel, in the Byzantine
style ; and below them, S. Ambrose blesses the donor, Bishop Angil-
bertus, and the goldsmith Wolvinus. Around, in twelve compartments,
we have the principal incidents of the life of S. Ambrose, the figures
being about six inches high, viz : —

1. Bees swarm around his head as he lies in his cradle.

2. He is appointed prefect of the Ligurian provinces.

3. He is elected Bishop of Milan in 375.

4. He is baptized.

5. He is ordained.

6, 7. He sleeps, and beholds in a vision the obsequies of S. Martin of
Tours.

8. He preaches in the Cathedral, inspired by angels.

9. He heals the sick and lame.

10. He is visited by Christ.

11. An angel wakes the Bishop of Vercelli, and sends him to S.

Ambrose.

12. Ambrose dies, and angels bear away his soul to heaven.'—

Jameson's Sacred Art.

In making the round of the church, beginning on the
right, we see : —

The Sarcophagus of Archbishop Anspertus, who built the church.

1st Chapel. Gaudenzio Ferrari. Three frescoes of the Bearing
the Cross, the three Maries, and the Deposition.

6th Chapel. Bernardino Lanini. The Story of S. George, signed
' Bernardinus Juvenis.'

7th Chapel (of S. Satire), called the Basilica of Fausta in the time

S. AMBROGIO. 141

of St. Ambrose, and only united to the church in the ninth cen-
tury. The mosaics of the fifth century are very curious, and have full-
length figures of Ambrose, Gervasius, Protosius, Maternus, Felix, and
Nabor.

In the apse of the right aisle is a fine old Lombard picture of saints.
Hence, passing through the many-pillared crypt, we reach the apse of
the left aisle, where is a beautiful fresco of Christ amongst the Doctors,
by Amb. Borgognone. Opposite is the tomb of Pepin, son of Charle-
magne, 77^-810. crowned king of Italy in his fifth year, found 'in
choro Basil,' 1874. In returning down the Right Aisle, the chapel
nearest the entrance has a fresco of Christ between Angels, by Bern.
Luini.

The shrine of SS. Gervasius and Protasius,1 saints cele-
brated in the dedication of many cathedrals and churches,
is of unusual interest.

' Their relics were found by S. Ambrose, who fell into a vision
while praying in the church of SS. Nabor and Felix, in which he saw
two beautiful youths presented to him by SS. Peter and Paul, and it
was revealed to him, that their martyred bodies were buried beneath
the spot on which he knelt. These bodies, of huge size, with severed
heads, were found in a tomb, with a written record of their fate and
story. Their removal to this church by S. Ambrose, and his laying
their bones beneath the altar, saying, " Let the victims lie in triumph,
where Christ is sacrificed ; He upon the altar, who suffered for all ; they
beneath the altar, who were redeemed by His suffering ! " was the
signal for calumnies 'of the Arians, who accused him of having invented
the new saints and bribed others to support him. The church was
originally dedicated to the brothers, but, after the death of S.
Ambrose, was re named. Their legend tells that : —

' "They were twin-brothers, who had suffered for the faith under
the Emperor Nero. Having been sent bound to Milan, together with
Nazarus and Celsus, they were brought before Count Artesius, who,
sharing in the enmity of his master against the Christians, commanded
them to sacrifice to his idols. On their refusal, he condemned Gerva-
sius to be beaten to death with scourges loaded with lead ; and ordered-
Protasius to be beheaded. A good man, whose name was Philip,
carried home their bodies, and buried them honourably in his own
garden ; and they remained undiscovered until their revelation to S.
Ambrose. On the second day after the discovery of the relics, they
were borne in solemn procession to the Basilica. And as they passed
along the street, many of those who were sick or possessed by evil

1 In honour of these saints an annual procession has taken place, but it has lately
been forbidden by the authorities, because the people of Piacenza threatened, if it
occurred again, to produce their relic -the third leg of S. Protasius !

142 MILAN.

spirits, threw themselves in the way, that they might touch the drapery
with which the bodies were covered ; and immediately they were healed.
Among these was a man, named Severus, well known to all in the
city, who had been blind for many years, and was reduced to live upon
the alms of the charitable. Having obtained permission to touch the
bones of these holy martyrs, he was restored to sight ; which miracle,
being performed before all the multitude who accompanied the proces-
sion, admitted of no doubt, and raised the popular enthusiasm to its
height." ' — Jameson ''s Sacred Art.

Returning to the Corso Porta Ticinese, which continues
the Via Torino, we find, on the left, the Colonne di S.
Lorenzo, sixteen ancient Corinthian columns, said to be the
peristyle of the Baths of Hercules, built by Maximinian.
They were greatly injured by fire in 1071. Hence we enter
the curious octangular

Church of S. Lorenzo, rebuilt by Pellegrino and Martino
Bassi, in the i6th century, on the plan of S. Vitale at
Ravenna. On the right is the octagonal chapel of S. Aquil-
linus, containing the shrine of the saint in pietra-dura.
Here are some early Christian Mosaics, representing our
Lord amongst his Apostles, and the Sacrifice of Isaac ; also
the sarcophagus — adorned with the Christian monogram
and two lambs — of Ataulphus, who married Galla Placidia,
daughter of Theodosius the Great. Some consider that
this chapel was a chamber in the Roman baths.

Behind the high-altar of the church is a fine tomb,
erected, 1538, by Gaspare Visconti to Giovanni Conti. A
column on the left is a pillar from the Baths of Hercules
reversed.

Passing through the Porta Ticinese and continuing in a
straight line down the Corso di Cittadella (which takes its
name from this having been the first portion of the town
fortified by the Visconti), we reach, on the left, the square
in front of the

Church of S. Eustorgio, originally built by Archbishop
Eustorgius, in A.D. 320. In the i3th century it was rebuilt
by Tommaso Lombardino, for the Dominicans who had
established themselves in the adjoining convent. The

S. EUSTORGIO. 143

beautiful brick steeple is of this period. The whole build-
ing (of brick) is very interesting, as well as the tombs it
contains. Adjoining the west front is the open-air pulpit
from which S. Peter Martyr often confuted the Manicheans.
The interior is much spoilt by gaudy modern painting. It
has three aisles and ends in a low apse, with a raised platform
behind the high -altar, over the crypt.

(Right] 1st Chapel. Architecture by Bramante. The beautiful
cinquecento tomb of Stefano Brivio, 1456. The altar-piece in three
parts, by Amb. Borgognom, is a Madonna and Child with saints.

ind Chapel (of S. Dominic). Exquisite tomb of Pietro Torelli, 1416,
son of Guido, Lord of Guastalla.

4//j Chapel. Tomb of Stefano, son of Matteo Magno Visconti, 1327,
— a sarcophagus under a canopy supported by spiral columns, resting on
lions.

6th Chapel (built to S. Martin, by the Delia Torre family). Tombs
of Gasparo Visconti, 1430, and his wife Agnese. The former bears
traces upon its armorial bearings of the Order of the Garter, conferred
by Edward III., when Gasparo was ambassador to the court of
England.

Chapel, right of High-Altar. A great sarcophagus, supposed to
have contained the relics of the Magi, to receive which the church was
originally built. The relics were carried off to Cologne by Rinaldus,
Archbishop of that city, when Milan was taken by Frederick
Barbarossa. A bas-relief, of 1347, attributed to the scholars of
Balduccio di Pisa, tells the story of the Nativity and the coming of the
Magi.

The beautiful screen above the High- Altar has fourteenth-century
bas-reliefs of the Passion.

In the Crypt is the sarcophagus containing the relics of S. Eustor-
gius and S. Magnus, Bishops of Milan.

From the Crypt, a passage leads to the Chapel of S.
Pietro Martire, built, in 1460, by Pigello de1 Portinari, a
Florentine. It contains the shrine of the saint, by Balduccio
da Pisa, looked upon by Cicognara and others as a master-
piece. It is inscribed — * Magister lohannes Balducci de
Pisis sculpsit hanc archam, Anno Domini, 1339.'

Next to the founder, S. Peter Martyr is the glory of- the
Dominican Order. He was born at Verona, 1205, and was
induced by S. Dominic to become a monk in his i5th year.
To reward his unrelenting persecution of heretics, he was

144 MILAN.

appointed Inquisitor-General by Honorius III. His cruel-
ties in this office led to his murder, in a wood between Milan
and Como, by two Venetian noblemen, April 28, 1252. He
was canonised, by Innocent IV., in 1253. The history of
his imaginary miracles fills twenty-two pages of the Acta
Sanctorum.

' Balduccio's monument to this saint (1336-1339) consists of a sarco-
phagus, supported upon eight pilasters, in front of which stand alle-
gorical figures of Hope, Prudence, Justice, Obedience, Charity, Faith,
Force, and Temperance, all bearing the strongest evidence of Giotto's
influence upon him. Take, for instance, the Hope, with upturned
eyes, full of intense expression ; and the Temperance, charming in
repose, and noble in drapery, with a wreath of ivy-leaves around her
veiled head, and a look of dreamy gentleness in her wide eyes ; or the
triple-faced Prudence, which looks at once at past, present, and future.
The eight bas-reliefs upon the side of the Area, representing scenes in
the saint's life, are very inferior in workmanship to these statues, and
cannot stand a moment's comparison with the bas-reliefs of Nicola or
Giovanni Pisano, and far less with those of Andrea Orcagna. They
are separated from each other by statuettes of SS. Peter, Paul,
Eustorgio, Thomas Aquinas, and the Doctors of the Church ; and upon
the sides of the lid of the "Area," the donators are represented in relief.
Statuettes of angels, and a tabernacle, under which sits the Madonna
and Child, with SS. Peter Martyr and Dominic, complete this elaborate
work, which has few equals in unity of design, earnestness of feeling,
and a judicious use of the symbolism of Christian art.' — Perkins,
' Tuscan Sculptors. '

Turning to the left, along the boulevard, just beyond S.
Eustorgio, and descending the first wide street on the left,
we find (right) the

Church of S. Celso, originally built, A.D. 396, by S.
Ambrose, over the remains of S. Celsus, which he discovered
here, with the body of S. Nazarus, in a field ' ad tres moros.'
The small church, as it now exists, with a handsome brick
campanile, was built by Filippo-Maria Visconti in 1429.
Beside it stands the large

Church of S. Maria presso San Celso (generally called
La Madonna) begun in 1491, by Galeazzo Sforza, to accom-
modate the crowds of pilgrims who came out of devotion to
a small picture of the Madonna (who was said to have her-

5. NAZZARO MAGGIORE. 145

self appeared on the spot) placed by S. Ambrose in the
adjoining church of S. Celso. The original designs were by
Bramante, but were altered, in 1572, by Martino Bassi, and
completed by Galeazzo Alessi. The church is approached
by a cloistered court. Over the door are two Sibyls, by
Annibale Fontana. The beautiful statues of Adam and
Eve, on either side, are by Stoldo Lorenzi.

The great chapel on the right contains a S. Jerome, by Paris
Bonlone.

Over the 1st altar on the left is a small head of the Madonna, by
Sassoferrato, and over it a Madonna -with two angels, by Amb. Bor-
gognone. Over the altar of the Madonna del Pianto, in the same aisle,
is an interesting fresco of the Madonna and two saints. The shrine
of SS. Nazarus and Celsus has a sepulchral urn of the fourth century.

Continuing along the Corso di San Celso as far as the
Piazza S. Eufemia, and turning (right) between that church
and S. Paolo opposite it, we reach the Corso di Porta
Romana, on the right of which is the

Church of S. Nazzaro Maggiore^ founded by S. Ambrose
in A.D. 382. Having been burnt in 1075, it was rebuilt by
S. Carlo Borromeo. It is entered by the curious octangular
sepulchral chapel, of 1518, of the Trivulzi family, who lie
around it, in eight sarcophagi, unfortunately too high up to
allow of their being well seen. They are Antonio Trivulzi,
1454 : his son, the great Gian-Giacomo, Marquis of Vige-
rano, 1518 (with the inscription — 'Johannes Jacobus Mag-
nus Trivultivs Antonii filius, qui nunquam quievit, quiescit,
tace) ; ' the wives of Gian-Giacomo, Margherita Colleoni,
1488, and Beatrice d'Avalos ; his son, Gian-Niccolo, 1512,
and his wife, Paula Gonzaga ; Ippolita, Luigi, and Marghe-
rita, children of Gian-Niccolo ; and, lastly, his son Gian
Francesco, 1573, who erected these monuments to his
family. The chapel itself was built by Gian-Giacomo, and
is said to have been designed by Bramante.

From the left aisle of the church opens the Cappella di
S. Caterina della Ruota, with noble frescoes by Bernardino
Lanini) of the story and martyrdom of the saint. Lanzi

VOL. I. L

146 MILAN.

says that the colouring is that of Titian, while the face of
the saint recalls the work of Guido, the- angels that of
Gaudenzio. In the same chapel is a beautiful Gothic altar
in carved wood, representing the Adoration of the Magi.

(Higher up the Corso, a side street on the left leads to
the Church of S. Alessandro, opposite which is the Palazzo
Trivulzi (never shown without an order), containing many
interesting historical memorials, especially the tomb, by
Balductio, of Azzo Visconti, Lord of Milan.

' The front of the sarcophagus, on which the recumbent figure of the
deceased prince lies, watched over by angels, is sculptured with reliefs,
representing knights, and their patron saints (typical of the cities sub-
ject to Azzo), kneeling before S. Ambrose. It is supported upon two
columns, above which stood the now detached statues of S. Michael
and the Dragon, and a female figure holding before her a small
child with clasped hands, possibly emblematic of her soul.' — Perkins,
Tttscan Sculptors.

At the Porta Romana, which closes the Corso at the
lower end, are some curious reliefs.

' The victory of the Milanese at Legnano (A.D. 1176) is commemo-
rated at Milan in the bas-reliefs of the Porta Romana, which represent
the triumphal citizens returning to their half-destroyed homes, headed
by a monk named Frate Jacopo bearing the city banner in his hand,
and accompanied by their allies from Cremona, Brescia, and Bergamo.
One of the inscriptions upon the gate records the name of Anselmus
as the sculptor of these reliefs, and honours him with the title of a
second Daedalus ; but by applying to him the name which erroneously
stood to them as the type of perfection in sculpture, his contemporaries
showed how incompetent they were to estimate him rightly, for the
short, clumsy, thick-set figures, ranged one behind the other in stiff
monotony, dangle in the air like a row of wooden dolls with pendent
feet and shapeless hands. Filled with contempt and hatred for Bar-
barossa, the Milanese caused two portrait bas-reliefs of himself and his
wife, the Empress Beatrice, to be set up upon the Porta Romana, one
of which is a hideous caricature, the other too grossly obscene for de-
scription.'— Perkins, Italian Sculptors.

Behind the Church of S. Nazzaro is the Great Hospital
(Ospedale Maggiore) founded by Duke Francesco Sforza
and his wife Bianca Maria, in 1456, on the site of an old
palace of Bernabo Visconti. It is a magnificent building of

O SPED ALE MAGGIORE. 147

brick, with terra-cotta ornaments, by Vincenzo Foppa, the
illustrious pupil of Mantegna. The southern portion of the
architecture is the work of Antonio Filarete, the original
architect; the rest was added in 1621. In the church is an
Annunciation, by Guercino.

' The immense facade owes its effect not merely to its unsurpassed
wealth of ornament, but still more to its beautiful distribution and gra-
dations ; the brick style has never produced a more splendid and, at
the same time, a nobler creation. Briefly to recapitulate its principal
features :— Two rows of pointed windows, bisected by small columns.
The common framework with its elegant decorations, above all with an
arabesque of vine-leaves and grapes, interspersed with exquisite birds.
In the upper arched compartment vigorously-treated half-length figures
of male and female saints. The lower row of windows, enclosed by
circular sham-arcades resting on semi-columns. In the pendentives
half-length figures of saints, standing out in strong relief. Then the
broad frieze, separating the two stories, decorated alternately with
rosettes and branch-work, eagles, and angels' heads. Above, the
windows of the lower story are repeated with the same rich ornament,
but in rectangular frames, and the compartments thus obtained are
again adorned with heads in relief, so that four rows are presented of
these heads and half-length figures. All this is executed with incom-
parable freshness and sharpness in the purest forms, and is a perfect
wonder in clay sculpture. The twenty-nine arcades to the right of the
principal portal are less richly executed than the seventeen of the left
side. The heads in the upper windows are able and somewhat more
realistic in style than those of the upper parts, and here and there
appear with a flowing and tolerably detailed beard. On the left side
the utmost abundance of ornament is displayed. Its terra-cottas are
perhaps the freest, most life-like, and most important works which
Upper Italy has produced in burnt clay. They bear the perfect stamp
of the sixteenth century. The male heads exhibit the utmost power ;
at the same time, the treatment of the forms throughout is grand and
bold. The female half-length figures are full and soft, beautiful, even
voluptuous in the flow of the lines and in the mass of the falling hair ;
the Putti in the framework of the windows are full of life, freshness, and
grace. In addition to all this there is the equally rich ornament of the
large central court, executed a little later by Richini. In the upper
and lower rows of columns, medallions fill the compartments above the
arches, forming altogether no less than 152 heads. The style here is
somewhat feeble and more conventional than even in the later parts of
the fa9ade, although a few very able works appear among them.' —
Liibke, ' History of Sculpture.'

L 2

148 MILAN.

A little behind the Ospedale Maggiore is the Renaissance
Church of S. Stefano in Broglio^ celebrated as the place where
Galeazzo- Maria Sforza was murdered.

' The most abominable lust, the meanest and vilest cruelty, supplied
Galeazzo-Maria with daily recreation. Three young nobles of Milan,
educated in the classic literature of Montano, a distinguished Bolognese
scholar, had imbibed from their studies of Greek and Latin history an
ardent thirst for liberty, and a deadly hatred of tyrants. Their names
were Carlo Visconti, Girolamo Olgiati, and Giannandrea Lampugnani.
Galeazzo Sforza had wounded the two latter in the points which men
hold dearest —their honour and their property. The spirit of Har-
modius and Virginius was kindled in the friends, and they determined
to rid Milan of her despot. After some meetings in the garden of
S. Ambrogio, where they matured their plans, they laid their project
of tyrannicide as a holy offering before S. Ambrose, the patron saint of
Milan. Then, having spent a few days in poignard exercise for the
sake of training, they took their place within the precincts of S.
Stephen's Church. There they received the sacrament and addressed
themselves in prayer to the Protomartyr, whose fane was about to be
hallowed by the murder of a monster odious to God and man. It was
on the morning of Dec. 26, 1476, that the duke entered San Stefano.
At one and the same moment the daggers of the three conspirators
struck him — Olgiati's in the heart, Visconti's in the back, Lampugnani's
in the belly. He cried, " Ah, Dio ! " and fell dead upon the pavement.
The friends were unable to make their escape : Visconti and Lampug-
nani were killed on the spot ; Olgiati was seized, tortured, and torn to
death.' — Symcndf * Renaissance in Italy. ,'

Returning to the Corso Porta Romana, and its continua-
tion, the Via del Unione, we pass, on the right, the site of
the admirable Church of S. Giovanni in Ccnca. Here the
grand tomb of the tyrant Bernabo Visconti, now removed
to the Brera, was originally erected. The house, which
stood on the right of the church, is called Dei Cani, from
the hounds which he kept there, and for the maintenance
of five thousand of which he compelled the citizens to pay.

A little further (right) the Via del Falcone leads to the
curious brick chapels at the back of the Church of S. Satiro,
originally built by Archbishop Anspertus in the pth century,
though the present building only dates from 1480. The
interior is very simple and effective. The octagonal sacristy
is by Bramante. A curious Mortorio in one of the chapels,

PIAZZA DP TRIBUNAL!. 149

* like a tableau-vivant out of one of the old " Mysteries," ' is
by Ambrogio Caradosso, c. 1490.

Hence the Via Torino leads again to the Piazza del
Duomo.

II.

Leaving the Piazza del Duomo by the west, we find our-
selves at once in the Piazza dJ Tribunal^ now intersected
by the modern Via Mercanti, surrounded by some of the most
curious buildings in the city. In the centre rises the Palazzo
delta Ragione, almost dividing the piazza into two parts. It
stands upon open arches, now enclosed with glass as a kind
of Exchange. It was begun in 1228, and finished in 1233,
by Oldrado da Tresseno, Podesta of the city, who is repre-
sented on horseback, on the south wall of the building. The
inscription below sets forth, among his other virtues, his
persecution of Manichean heretics : —

{Qui solium struxit, Catharos ut debuit ussit.'

On the shields ornamenting the third and fifth arches, is
introduced the traditional half-fleeced sow which guided the
Gaul Belovesus to the foundation of Mediolanum (In medio
lanae).

On the left of the piazza is the beautiful Gothic Loggia
degli Ossi, so called from the family who built it, in 1316.
The front is richly adorned with shields. It was from the
balcony in front of this edifice that sentences were pro-
nounced upon criminals, and that the Podesta asked the
assent of the people to the acts of government. Beyond
this is the Scuola Palatina, a renaissance building, now an
office for mortgage deeds, with statues of Ausonius and
S. Augustine in front. The opposite side of the former
piazza, across the Via Mercanti, is occupied by the Palazzo
della Citta (with a clock-tower), a town hall of the i6th
century. It is adorned with a statue of S. Ambrose, replac-
ing that of Philip II. of Spain, destroyed by the mob in

150 MILAN.

1813. On the north of the piazza is the Broletto, built by
Filippo-Maria Visconti.

Turning a little to the right, beyond the piazza, we reach
the Viadei Meravigli, descending which — to its continuation,
the Corso Magenta — we reach, on the left, the

Church of S. Maurizio, said to have been one of the
three buildings spared by Barbarossa in his general destruc-
tion of Milan. Small fragments of Roman work may be
discovered in one of the two towers, which are the only
really ancient portions remaining. The present church was
built by Dolcebono, a pupil of Bramante, 1497-1506, and
the facade added by Perovano in 1565. The whole has
been threatened with destruction since 1881, though it is a
precious gallery of exquisite pictures of the school of Luini.

In the chapels on the left are, i. The Resuirection ; 2. The
Preaching and Stoning of S. Stephen (by Aurelio Luini} ; 3. The
Birth and Martyrdom of the Baptist (Aurelio Luini} ; 4. The Deposi-
tion (pupils of Luini). The second chapel on the right has saints, by
Bern. Luini ; the 4th Chapel, Christ bound between S. Catherine and
S. Stephen, and the founder of the chapel kneeling (Bern. Luini}. In
the lunettes on the inner side of the screen are the Mocking, the Cruci-
fixion, and the Deposition of Christ ; on the side walls, the Agony
in the Garden and the Resurrection (Bern. Luini}. The Almighty,
the Evangelists, and the Angels are attributed to Borgognone. Other
frescoes here are by Aurelio Luini, son of Bernardino.

' Above the high altar of the outer church the whole wall is covered
with Luini's loveliest work, in excellent light and far from ill pre-
served. The places of distinction (below scenes from the life of S.
Maurizio) are reserved for two great benefactors of the convent,
Alessandro de* Bentivogli and his wife, Ippolita Sforza. When the
Bentivogli were expelled from Bologna by the papal forces, Alessandio
settled at Milan, where he dwelt, honoured by the Sforzas and allied
to them by marriage, till his death in 1532. He was buried in the
monastery by the side of his sister Alessandra, a nun of the order.
Luini has painted the illustrious exile in his habit as he lived. He is
kneeling, as though in wondering adoration of the altar mystery,
attired in a long black senatorial robe trimmed with fur. In his left
hand he holds a book ; and above his pale, serenely-noble face is a little
black berretta. Saints attend him, as though attesting his act of faith.
Opposite kneels Ippolita, his wife, the brilliant queen of fashion, the
witty leader of society, to whom Bandello dedicated his Novelle, and
whom he praised as both incomparably beautiful and singularly learned.

S. MARIA DELLE GRAZIE. 151

Her queenly form is clothed from head to foot in white brocade, slashed
and trimmed with gold lace, and on her forehead is a golden civelet.
She has the proud port of a princess, the beauty of a woman past her
prime but stately, the indescribable dignity of attitude which no one
bat Luini could have rendered so majestically sweet. In her hand is a
book : and she, like Alessandro, has her saintly sponsors, Agnes and
Catherine and Sebastian.' — J. A Symonds.

Nearly opposite this church is the handsome Palazzo
Litta, built by Richini. It contains some interesting frescoes
of Luini, brought from a ruined church, and a small
Correggio of Apollo and Marsyas. Beyond, on the same
side of the street, we reach the famous and most pictur-
esque

Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built 1463-93,
having been founded by Count Gasparo Vimercati, comman-
der of the army under Francesco Sforza I. ; the beautiful
Gothic nave is of that date. The great cupola is a very rich
and picturesque work of Bramante, and is perhaps among
the finest specimens of brick and terra-cotta decoration in
the world, yet in 1881, Signer Colla, a Milanese architect,
received a gold medal for his scheme for the entire recon-
struction of the exterior of the church in new stonework !

In the fourth Chapel on the right are grand frescoes of Gaudeuzio
Ferrari (1452), of the Flagellation and the Crucifixion. On the vault-
ing are angels bearing the instruments of the Passion.

In the Choir are a series of half-length terra-cotta figures, by Bra-
mante.

The adjoining convent is now turned into a Barrack, but
the Refectory is reserved under the superintendence of the
Academy of Arts. Here, on the wall by the entrance, is a
great fresco of the Crucifixion, by Giov. Donata Montorfano
(dated 1495), and opposite it, the world-famous Cenacolo of
Leonardo da Vinci.

1 The purpose being the decoration of a refectory in a rich convent,
the chamber lofty and spacious, Leonardo has adopted the usual
arrangement : the table runs across from side to side, filling up the
whole extent of the wall, and the figures, being above the eye, and to
be viewed from a distance, are col issal ; they would otherwise have
appeared smaller than the real personages seated at the tables below.

152 MILAN.

The moment selected is the utterance of the words, " Verily, verily, I
say unto you, that one of you shall betray me ; " or rather, the words
have just been uttered, and the picture expresses their effect on the
different auditors. The intellectual elevation, the fineness of nature,
the benign God -like dignity, suffused with the profoundest sorrow, in
the head of Christ, surpassed all I could have conceived as possible
in Art ; and, faded as it i«, the character there, being stamped on it by
the soul, not the hand, of the artist, will remain while a line or hue
remains visible. It is a divine shadow, and until it fades into nothing
and disappears utterly, will have the lineaments of divinity. Next to
Christ isS. John ; he has just been addressed by Ptrter, who beckons
to him that he should ask " of whom the Lord spake" :— his disconso-
late attitude, as he has raised himself to reply, and leans his clasped
hands on the table, the almost feminine sweetness of his countenance,
express the character of this gentle and amiable apostle. Peter, leaning
from behind, is all fire and energy ; Judas, who knows full well of
whom the Saviour spake, starts back amazed, oversetting the salt ; his
fingers clutch the bag, of which he has the charge, with that action
which Dante describes as characteristic of the avaricious : —

44 Questi risurgeranno dal sepolcro
Con pugno chiuso."

"These from the tomb with clenched grasp shall rise.'

4 His face is seen in profile, and cast into shadow ; without being
vulgar, or even ugly, it is hateful. S. Andrew, with bis long grey
beard, lifts up his hands, expressing the wonder of a simple-hearted
old man. S. James Minor, resembling the Saviour in his mild
features, and the form of his beard and hair, lays his hand on the
shoulder of S. Peter — the expression is " Can it be possible? have we
heard aright ? " Bartholomew, at the extreme end of the table, has
risen perturbed from his seat ; he leans forward with a look of eager
attention, the lips parted ; he is impatient to hear more. On the left
of our Saviour is S. James Major, who has also a family resemblance
to Christ ; his arms are outstretched, he shrinks back, he repels the
thought with horror. The vivacity of the action and expression are
wonderfully true and characteristic. S. Thomas is behind S. James,
rather young, with a short beard ; he holds up his hand, threatening
— " If there be indeed such a wretch, let him look to it." Philip, young
and with a beautiful head, lays his hand on his heart : he protests his
love, his truth. Matthew, also beardless, has more elegance, as one
who belonged to a more educated class than the rest ; he turns to Jude
and points to our Saviour, as if about to repeat his words, " Do you
hear what he says ? " Simon and Jude sit together (Leonardo has
followed the tradition which makes them old and brothers ) ; Jude ex-
presses consternation ; Simon, with his hands stretched out, a painful
anxiety.

S. SEPOLCRO. i S3

' To understand the wonderful skill with which this composition has
been arranged, it ought to be studied long and minutely ; and to
appreciate its relative excellence, it ought to be compared with other
productions of the same period. Leonardo has contrived to break -the
formality of the line of heads without any apparent artifice, and without
disturbing the grand simplicity of the usual order ; and he has vanquished
the difficulties in regard to the position of Judas, without making him
too prominent. He has imparted to the solemn scene sufficient move-
ment and variety of action, without deducting from its dignity and
pathos ; he has kept the expression of each head true to the traditional
character, without exaggeration, without effort. To have done this,
to be the first to do this, required the far-reaching philosophic mind,
not less than the excelling hand, of this "miracle of nature," as Mr.
Hallam styles Leonardo, with reference to his scientific as well as
his artistic powers.' — Jameson's Sacred Art,

' Tho' searching damps and many an envious flaw
Have marred this work, the calm ethereal grace,
The love deep-seated in the Saviour's face,
The mercy, goodness, have not failed to awe
The elements ; as they do melt and thaw
The heart of the beholder. ' — Wordsworth,

' Indefatigable was Leonardo in the execution of this work. " I have
seen him," says Bandello, the novelist, " mount the scaffold at day-break
and continue there till night, forgetting to eat or drink." Not but what
he would sometimes leave it for many days together, and then return
only to meditate upon it, or to touch and retouch it here and there. The
Prior was for ever complaining of the little progress that he made, and
the Duke at last consented to speak to him on the subject. His answer
is given by Vasari. " Perhaps I am then most busy when I seem to be
most idle, for I must think before I execute. But, think as I will, there
are two persons at the supper to whom I shall never do justice — Our
Lord and the disciple who betrayed Him. Now, if the Prior would but
sit to me for the last — "

' The Prior gave him no more trouble. ' — Notes to Rogers'1 Italy.

Retracing our steps, as far as the entrance of the Via dei
Meravigli, a street on the right will lead to a piazza in which
is the

Church of S. Sepokro, modernised, but with towers of
the nth century. It contains some curious figures carved
in wood. Over the door is a fresco, the ' Christ of Pity,'
by Suardi, greatly praised by Lomazzo, who wrote a sonnet
to it.

154 MILAN.

' Bramantrno the younger, or more properly Bartolommeo Suardi,
has left a Dead Christ mourned by the Marys, which is particularly cele-
brated ; it is over the door of the church of S. Sepolcro ; the foreshort-
ening of the body (the feet being nearest to the eye) is said to be inimit-
able. To protect it from the weather, this picture is unfortunately shut
up in glass and grating, so that no part of it can be thoroughly
examined. ' — Kugler.

Behind this church, occupying a large palace, entered
on the other side, is the celebrated Biblioteca Ambrosiana,
founded in 1609, by Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, Arch-
bishop of Milan.

The library is open from 10 to 3. The collection of MSS.
is of the greatest interest. It comprises some of the earliest
specimens of the Gaelic language known, consisting chiefly
of portions of the Bible, found in the convent of Bobbio,
which was founded in the yth century by S. Columbano. The
Palimpsests, also from Bobbio, were discovered by Cardinal
Mai when he was at the head of this library. They are
written upon vellum, upon which the original MS. has been,
as far as possible, effaced, to make use of the same surface
for monastic purposes — so that their deciphering and re-
storation has been both long and difficult : amongst them
are fragments of the Codex Argent eus, a Gothic Bible,
written A.D. 360-80, by Ulfilas, the Arian bishop. One of
the greatest treasures is Petrarch's copy of Virgil with his
notes, and a miniature by Simone Memmi, representing Virgil
with ' the various species of his poetry personified ; ' this
afterwards belonged to Galeazzo Visconti. The correspond-
ence, and portions of the sermons, of S. Carlo Borromeo,
and his Missal with his motto ' Humilitas ' are preserved
here.

The upper rooms are used as a museum and picture-
gallery. The pictures are ill-arranged and numbered. The
best works are : —
Sala III.

Amb. Borgjgnone, Virgin and Child throned, with saints.

Virgin and Child with S. John, unfinished— a.tributed to Raffaelle ?
Andrea Mantegna. Daniel and the lions.

AM BROS I AN LIBRARY. 155

Sala IV.

Sketches of the Old Masters.

Sala V.

•X. * Raffaelle. Cartoon for the School of Athens.

B. Luini. Holy Family, copied from the Paris Leonardo.

* Ccsare da Sesto ? (cal.ed a Luini). Head of the young Christ.
' The early works of this master resemble Leonardo's ; among them
is a youthful head of Christ, in the Ambrosian Library, of very bland
and unaffected expression, simply and beautifully painted.' — Kugler.
f * B. Luini, St. John and the Lamb.

f ' The spirit of Leonardo was so largely imbibed by Luini, that his
latest works are generally ascribed to Leonardo. This was the case for
a long time with the enchanting half-length figure of the Infant Baptist
playing with the Lamb.' — Kugler.
^ * Leonardo da Vinci. Portraits of Lodovico Moro and Beatrice

d'Este.

' Painted in oil, in the early and rather severer manner of the
artist. '— Kugler.

Giorgione. Holy Family.

Titian. His own portrait.

Id. The Adoration of the Magi.
V * B. Liiini. Tobit and the Angel —a most beautiful sketch.

IJ. The Madonna reading— a sketch.

Leonardo da Vinci. Two portraits in chalk.

Sala VI.
Moroni. A standing Portrait, 1554.

Sala VI I.

Vandyke. Portrait of a Lady.
Moroni. A Portrait.
Bonifazio. A Portrait.

III.

Turning (right) from the Piazza del Duomo, through the
splendid Galleria Vittorio Emanuele — lined with shops and
restaurants, and covered in with glass at the whole height of
the houses — we reach the Piazza della Scala, with a modern
statue of Leonardo da Vinci. Facing us, is the magnificent
Theatre of La Sca/a, second only in size to that of San Carlo

156 MILAN.

at Naples, and capable of containing 3,600 persons. It was
built from designs of Piermarini, and opened in 1779. It
derives its name from the Church of S. Maria della Scala,
on the site of which it was built.

Turning to the right from the end of the Galleria, and
passing (left) the Palace of the Magistrate Camerale, we
reach (left) the

Church of S. Fedele, built by Pellegrino Pellegrini for S.
Carlo Borromeo. It contains a few tolerable pictures.

A street on the right leads us back to the Corso Vittorio
Emanuele, following which, on the left, we find the

Church of S. Carlo Borromeo, built from designs of
Amati, 1838, as a thank-offering for deliverance from cholera.
It is circular, and surmounted by a dome, 105 feet in dia-
meter, and 150 feet high (with the lantern). It contains two
marble groups, by Marchesi — on the right . of the high altar,
a Pieta, called * II Venerdi San'o ; ' on the left S. Carlo
Borromeo administering a first Communion.

Passing, on the right, the recently rebuilt Church of S,
Babila, and, on the left, the Seminario Arcivescovile, with a
handsome gate, we reach the Naviglio, which encircles
Milan. Here, turning (left) down the Via Senato, and
passing (right) the Palace of the Archivio and the hospital of
the Ben-Fratelli, we find (right) the

Church of S. Marco, a very handsome brick building of
1254, with a good campanile. Observe —

Right, yd Chapel. Lomazzo. Virgin and Child, with Saints.

Ajh Chapel. A magnificent bronze candlestick.

8/7* Chapel. Virgin and Child with S. Maurice?

In the Right Transept are a most interesting collection of thirteenth-
century monuments, the most remarkable that by Baldnccio di Pisa of
Lanfranco Settala, the first General of the Augustinians, 1243, an(l a
Professor of Theology.

* On the top of the sarcophagus, which is raised upon consoles, and
set against the wall, the deceased monk lies upon a mortuary couch,
behind which two figures raise the folds of a curtain. He is again re-
presented in the centre of the front of the "Area," seated at a desk,
instructing his scholars, who are sculptured in bas-relief within the side
panels, and his very earnest face, as well as his cowl, frock, and hands,

S. SEMPLICIANO, ARCO DELLA PACE. 157

being coloured, the effect is life-like and striking.' — Perkins, Tuscan
Sculptors.

'1 he frescoes are by Lomazzo. Near the high altar are some huge
pictures by C. Proccacini.

Continuing, the Strada S. Sempliciano (on right) leads
to the

Church of S. Sempliciano, built by the Milanese after they
defeated Barbarossa at Legnano, because they believed that
they had been assisted in the battle by the spirits of saints
(buried by S. Ambrose in a small oratory on this site), who
perched upon the mast of their carroccio. The church is
much altered : there are modem mosaics over the three
doors in its west front. The tribune is decorated with a vast
fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin, by Amb. Borgognone
(Amb. Stefani da Fossano) architect of the facade of the
Certosa.

Turning right, we reach the wide space called Piazza
d'Armi, beyond which, outside the Porta Sempione, is the
Arco della Pace, built 1807-38, from a design of the
Marchese Cagnola, originally intended and used (merely for
a wooden arch) in honour of the marriage of Prince Eugene
Beauharnois.

' Un arc de triomphe a qui celui du Carrousel passerait entre les
jambes, et qui pourrait lutter de grandeur avec 1'arc de PEt»ile, donne
a cette entree un caractere monumental que le reste ne dement pas.
Sur le haut de 1'arc, un figure allegorique, la Paix ou la Victoire, con-
duit un char de bronze attele de six chevaux. A chaque angle de 1'en-
tablement, des ecuyers tendant des couronnes font piaffer leurs montures
d'airain ; deux colossales figures de fleuves accoudes sur leurs urnes
s'adossent au cartel gigantesque qui contient 1'inscription votive, et
quatre groupes de deux colonnes corinthiennes marquent les divisions
du monument, soutiennent la corniche et separent les arcades au nombre
de trois ; celle du milieu est d'une prodigieuse hauteur.' — Thtophile
G a 21 tier.

On the other side of the Piazza d'Armi is the Castello,
built originally by Galeazzo Visconti in 1358, but destroyed
on his death, and rebuilt by his son, Gian Galeazzo. The
second castle was destroyed by the people in 1447, and the
present edifice (much altered by Philip II., and stripped of

158 MILAN.

its fortifications by Napoleon) is the work of Francesco
Sforza. It is rather picturesque. Being now used as a
barrack, almost all the frescoes in the interior have perished.

Turning (left) to the Corso di Porta Garibaldi, and
following it for a little distance, the Via del Carmine leads
to the

Church of S. Maria del Carmine, where, over an altar
on the left, is a beautiful little fresco by Bern. Luini of
the Madonna and two saints, and two pictures by Camilla
Procacdni.

' The Eclectic school of the Procaccini at Milan rose to greater im-
portance than that of the Campi, owing to the patronage of the Borro-
meo family. Its founder was Ercole Procaccini (1520-1590), who was
born and educated at Bologna. His best scholar was his sonCami'lo,
who flourished about the beginning of the seventeenth century. His
later pictures are in the churches and galleries of Milan ; in these a
peculiar gentleness occasionally reminds us of the manner of Sasso-
fen ato. ' — Kugkr.

Following the Via del Carmine to the Via della Brera,
and turning left, we reach (right) the Palace containing the
famous

Galleria della Brera (so called from the Collegio di
Santa Maria in Brera — Brera, a corruption of Praedium,
meaning meadow). The palace was erected by the Jesuits
in 1618, from designs of Richini ; the portal and facade are
by Piermarini. In the centre of the court is a bronze statue
of Napoleon L, by Canova : around it are statues of famous
natives of Milan.

The ground-floor is occupied by a Scientific Institute, a
Library, a Museum of Coins and Medals, and the

Archaeological Museum (entrance 50 c.), which is worth
visiting, if it is only for the sake of seeing the exquisitely
beautiful recumbent statue, by Agostino Busti (Bambaja) of
Gaston de Foix, nephew of Louis XII. and Governor of
Milan, who was killed, 1512, in the battle of Ravenna, after
a short career of two months — ' qui fut toute sa vie et son
immortalitd' l The statue was brought from his famous

1 Henri Martin, Histoire de France.

THE BRER A. 159

tomb in the now destroyed Church of S. Marta, where it
was erected by the French when they were in possession of
Milan.

* Were it not for this one statue, we should think Bambaja overrated,
notwithstanding his great .skill as an ornamental sculptor. Clothed
with armour, and wearing a helmet wreathed with laurel upon his head,
the young soldier lies in a simple attitude, with his arms crossed upon
his breast, and a severe and dignified expression in his face, "quasi
tutto lieto nel sembiante, cosi morto per le vittorie avute. " ' — Perkins,
Italian Sculptors.

In the centre of the gallery is a great equestrian statue
of Bernabo Visconti, Duke of Milan (1385), celebrated for
cruelties, which can only be accounted for by insanity. He
kept five thousand hounds, which he quartered upon the
richest citizens. Every two months there was an inspection.
If a dog was too fat, the keeper was fined for over-feeding ;
if he was too thin, he was fined equally ; but, if a dog was
dead, the householder was imprisoned, and all his property
was confiscated. Bernabo was treacherously seized by his
nephew, Gian-Galeazzo, Conte di Virtu, and imprisoned in
the castle of Trezzo, where he died of poison, upon which
his nephew took possession of his sovereignty.

' It is well to recall what manner of man Bernabo was as we look at
his statue, which needs some historical association to give it interest.
Clad in armour, and holding the baton of command in his left hand, he
sits stiffly upon his horse, whose trappings, enriched with his cypher
and the emblems of his house, were once gay with gilding and colour ;
two diminutive figures of Fortitude and Justice stand like pages at his
stirrups. The statue is raised upon a sarcophagus which rests upon
nine short columns, and has its four sides adorned with coarsely-
modelled bas-reliefs of the Crucifixion, the dead Christ and Angels, the
Evangelists, and single figures of saints. It is not the monument of
Bernabo, as one would naturally suppose, but that which he erected to
the memory of his wife, Regina clella Scala, who had great influence
over him, and to whom he was much attached, despite his cruelty, his
bad temper, and libertinism. It originally stood behind the high-altar
at S. Giovanni a Conca, in such a position that the worshippers
appeared to be praying to Bernabo, which was considered so scanda-
lous, that it was removed, soon after the tyrant's death, to amore fitting
place near the door. Matteo da Campione is said to have been its
sculptor, but we feel rather induced to ascribe it to Bonino, from the

160 MILAN.

resemblance of the equestrian group to that with which he crowned the
Gothic tomb of Can Signorio at Verona.' — Perkins, Italian Sctdptors.

Among other monuments here, we must notice the beau-
tiful Renaissance tomb of Bishop Bagaroto, 1519, brought
from S. Maria della Pace.

' The figure of the deceased is dignified, and the drapery grandly
arranged ; the arm is drawn easily below the head, and thus the effect
of quiet slumber is obtained.' — Lubke, History of 'Sculpture.

The tomb of Lancino Curzio, 1513, is by Bambaja.

A relief of four horsemen and a female figure in a land-
scape on the right wall of the inner chamber deserves notice
as the work of the great artist, Agostino di Duccio. A number
of Roman altars, fragments of sculpture, and inscriptions
are collected here ; also some interesting inscriptions (near
the entrance) relating to the great plague of Milan.

* Among the most important works here, which evidence the com-
mencement of the new style, there is an extremely nobly-conceived
female monumental statue, represented lying with arms crossed, with
grandly-arranged drapery, the head and arms treated with the finest
perception of nature, and with a long flowing garment, in which we can
still trace the remains of the Gothic style. Several masterly heads in
relief exhibit the advanced realism of the fifteenth century : thus, for
instance, a male portrait of energetic expression, the luxuriant hair en-
circled with a laurel wreath, and the mouth especially betraying vigorous
power, while the whole recalls to mind the heads of Mantegna or
Buttinone. Another head exhibits the still bolder and commanding
features of an older man, who acquires a character of unflinching firm-
ness from the strongly projecting lower lip. A cap covers the shortly-
clipped hair. Another, with a great wig-like head of hair, reminds
us of Bellini's heads. There is a head in relief in black marble of
Ludovico Moro, recognisable from the fat double chin and rich hair, a
work of delicate execution and masterly conception. Among the most
important works of the time, there is also a statue of a woman praying,
with long hair falling to her feet, in simple, flowing, and grandly-
designed drapery, and with an expressive head. Among the relief
compositions, a gracefully executed Madonna, with the Nativity, is
especially striking. Mary and Joseph and a group of angels are wor-
shipping the Child, who is lying on the ground. The style of the
drapery belongs, in its creased and restless folds, to the most conven-
tional works of the period. On the other hand, a relief of Christ teach-
ing in the Temple, just as He is discovered by His parents, exhibits the
nobly-finished style of about 1520.'— Liibke.

THE BRERA. 161

Ascending the handsome staircase in the courtyard, we
reach (right) the entrance to the Pinacottca, open on week-
days (i fr.) from November to February, from 9 to 3 ; in
the other months from 9 to 4 ; on Sundays, admission free,
from 12 to 3.

The entrance corridor is almost entirely occupied by a
most lovely collection of the works of Bernardino LuinL
They are chiefly frescoes.

' Foremost amongst the scholars of Leonardo stands Bernardino
Luino (or di Luvino, a village on the Lago Maggiore), a master whose
excellence has been by no means sufficiently acknowledged. It is true,
he rarely rises to the greatness and freedom of Leonardo ; but he has a
never-failing tenderness and purity, a cheerfulness and sincerity, a grace
and feeling, which give an elevated pleasure to the student of his works.
• That spell of beauty and nobleness, which so exclusively characterises
the more important works of the Raphaelesque period, has here impelled
a painter of comparatively inferior talent to works which may often rank
with the highest which we know.' — Kugler.

All the pictures of Luini in this corridor are well
deserving of study : we should especially notice :—

10. A Fair- Haired Boy crowned with laurel, cantering on a white

horse.

11. Three Girls ploying at 'II guancialino 1* oro ' (forfeits)— from

Villa la Felucca.

13. A Young Woman standing at a Door— from the convent of La

Pace.

14. A Flying Angel — a beautiful figure.

*IQ. S. Joseph chosen as the Husband of the Virgin — from S. Maria

della Pace.

24. The Resurrection — from the Monastero delle Vetere.

38. The Virgin at Prayer— from the Monastero Maggiore.

39. The Metamorphosis of Daphne — from the Villa la Felucca.

40. S. Thomas Aquinas — from the Monastero delle Vetere.

41. The Angel appearing to S. Anna — from S. Maria della Pace.

42. The Visitation — from S. Maria della Pace.

44. Habakkuk awakened by the Angel— from the Monastero delle

Vetere.
*47. The Virgin and Child with SS. Antony and Barbara — a noble

picture, signed and dated 1521, from S. Maria di Brera.
51. The Birth of the Virgin — from S. Maria della Pace, a scene

apparently studied from nature.
VOL. I. M

">u> i I ^

L 0 O ljnysiui/% /

1 62 MILAN.

*52. The Burial of S. Catherine — one of the gems of the gallery, from

the Villa la Felucca.

' And when S. Catherine was beheaded, angels took up her body,
and carried it over the desert, and over the Red Sea, till they deposited
it on Mount Sinai. There it rested in a marble sarcophagus, and there
a monastery was built over it in the eighth century, where it is revered
to this day.' — Legend of S. Catherine.

' Three angels sustain the body of S. Catherine, hovering over the
tomb in which they are about to lay her. The tranquil, refined charac-
ter of the head of the saint, and the expression of death, are exceedingly
fine.' — Jameson's ' Legendary ArtS

53. The Meeting of Joachim and Anna -chiefly interesting from its

accessories— from S. Maria della Pace.

55» 58, 62, 65. Figures in imitation of marble statues — from S.
Marta. Interesting as showing the extent to which Luini
could secure solidity by chiaroscuro.

57. A Sacrifice to Pan — from the Villa Pelucca, recalling the frescoes
of Pompeii.

68. An Angel with a censer — from the Monastero delle Vetere.

69. The Virgin presented to the High Priest— from S. Maria della

Pace.

70. The Israelites preparing for their departure from Egypt — from

the Villa Pelucca.
72. The Birth of Adonis— from the Villa Pelucca.

We must also notice —

Jfci^ Vincenzo Foppa. The Martyrdom of S. Sebastian— -t the only
fragment saved from a cycle of frescoes by this rare master,
pupil of Mantegna, in S. Maria di Brera. C(J^A^ ^5t^ / /»
4. Bartolommeo Suardi, detto il Bramantino. Madonna an<^
Child, with angels — from the Archivio Notarile.

25. Gandenzio Ferrari. The Adoration of the Magi.

30. Gaud. Ferrari. The Dedication of the Virgin.

32. Gaud. Ferrari. The Legend of S. Anna --from S. Maria della

Hence we enter the Main Gallery, and may observe : , 1
Sala I. (Milanese School.)

75. Amb. Borgognone. Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin— a
very important work of the master — from Nerviano.

82. Bern. Luini. The Drunkenness of Noah.

87. Bernardo Zenale, 1436-1526. Madonna and Child, with the
Fathers of the Church — the best of five specimens of a very
harsh master — from S. Ambrogio ad Nemus.

83. Ambrogio Bevilacqua. ('II Liberale '). Madonna and Child

THE BRERA. 163

throned ; at the sides, David, and a suppliant presented by
S. Pietro Martire, signed and dated 1502.

91. Cesare da Sesto (Milanese). Madonna and Child, with SS. John

Baptist, Joachim, and Joseph.

92. Borgognonc. Christ Bound — from S. Maria della Vittoria.

96. Marco cT Oggione. The Archangels vanquishing Satan — from

S. Marta.

99. Marco if Oggione. Madonna and Child, with SS. John Baptist
and Paul — one of the best works of the master, almost
Venetian in colour.

104. Beltraffio (?) (Milanese). S. John Baptist.

106. Andrea Solaria (* da Milano '). Madonna and Child with SS.
Joseph and Jerome and two angels— from S. Paolo in Compito.
A very interesting picture. The downcast eyes of each noble
head direct attention to the Divine Child.

*IO7. Gaudenzio Ferrari. The Martyrdom of S. Catherine — from the
Chiesa dei Osservanti.

' S. Catherine is represented in a front view, kneeling, her hair dis-
hevelled, her hands clasped, and in the eyes, upraised to the opening
heavens above, a most divine expression of faith and resignation ; on
each side are the wheels armed with spikes, which the executioners are
preparing to turn : behind sits the emperor on an elevated throne, and
an angel descends from above armed with a sword. In this grand
picture the figures are life-size.'— Jamesoifs ' Sacred Art*

' This is a work of strong and somewhat coarse expression. The
scene of torture is well executed, though the colouring is somewhat
glaring ; the saint is noble and gentle, and the executioners full of
effective action. ' — Liibke.

Sala II. (Early Italian masters).

159. Gentile da Fabriano. Coronation of the Virgin— called 'II

Quadro della Romita' — from the Church of the Osservanti, near

Fabriano.

164. Lorenzo Veneziano. The Coronation of the Virgin.
167. Bart. Mcntagna da Vicenza, 1499. Madonna and Child, with

SS Andrew, Monica, Ursula, and Sigismund.
*i68. Gentile Bellini. The Preaching of S. Mark at Alexandria.

Painted at Constantinople, whither the artist repaired by

desire of the Sultan, 1497. Formerly in the Scuola di S.

Marco at Venice.
173. Giovanni da Udine, 1507. S. Ursula and her companions. From

S. Pietro Martire at Udine.

175. Giacomo Fraucia 1544. Madonna and Child, with saints and

worshippers. From SS. Gervaso and Protaso at Bologna.

176. Baldassare Carrari of Ravenna, c. 1512. Madonna and Child,

M 2

164 MILAN.

with SS. Nicholas of Bari, Augustine, Peter, and Bartholomew.
An important picture, from S. Domenico in Ravenna.

177. Niccolb Rondinelli (pupil of Giovanni Bellini). S. Giovanni

Evangelista appearing to Galla Placidia in the church she had
dedicated to him at Ravenna — from S. G. Evangelista at
Ravenna.

1 78. Marco Palmezzano. Coronation of the Virgin— from the church

of the Osservanti near Cotignola.

179. Stefano Falzagalloni da Ferrara (ob. 1500). Madonna and Child

throned, with saints and angels. An admirable and har-
monious picture.

180. Niccolb Ahmno, 1465. Virgin and Child, with angels — from the

Church of the Conventual! at Cagli. The central portion of

an ancona, of which six other compartments are in this

gallery.

182. Filippo Mazzuola. A portrait.
185. Marco Palmezzano da Forli (signed 1493). Madonna and Child,

with saints — from Forli.

187. Frate Carnevale (1484). Madonna, with the kneeling knight

Duke Federigo d' Urbino. Very interesting to those who
have studied his beautiful life. From S. Bernardino of Urbino.

1 88. Giovanni Sanzio (father of Raffaelle). The Annunciation.

191. Cimada Conegliano. SS. Peter Martyr, Nicholas, and Augustine

— from the Church of Corpus Domini at Venice.

192. Benedetto Montagna, Madonna and Child, with SS. Bernardino

and Francesco. Painted for S. Michele at Vicenza.

Li 93. Carlo Crivetli. Madonna and Child throned. Gorgeous in its
decorative accessories.

195. 7i moteo delle Vite. Annunciation, with SS. John Baptist and

Sebastian — from S. Bernardino at Urbino. Mentioned by
Vasari.

196. Francesco and Bernardino Zaganelli, 1504. Madonna and

Child enthroned, with SS. John Baptist and Francis. A
striking picture, the brown tones in the saints giving value to
the rich colour of the Virgin's drapery. From the convent
of S. Apollinare Nuovo at Ravenna.

197. Marco Palmezzano. The Nativity, signed in the peculiar

manner of the artist, and dated 1492.

202. Girolamo Genga, 1476-1551. Saints around the Madonna
God the Father and angels above. From S. Agostino a
Cesena.

Sala III. (Venetian artists of the sixteenth century).

209. Bonifazio. The Infant Moses presented to Pharaoh's daughter
— from the Archbishop's palace.

THE BRERA. 165

* Personne ne songe ici a Moise : la scene n'est qu'une partie de
plaisir pres de Padoue ou de Verone pour de belles dames et de grands
seigneurs. On voit des gens en beau costume du temps sous de grands
arbres, dans une large campagne montagneuse. La princesse a voulu
se promener et a emmene tout son train : chiens, chevaux, singes,
musiciens, ecuyers, dames d'honneur. Dans le lointain arrive le reste
de la cavalcade. Ceux qui ont mis pied a terre prennent le frais sous
les feuillages ; ils se donnent un concert ; les seigneurs sont couches
aux pieds des dames et chantent, la toque sur la tete, 1'epee au cote ;
elles, rieuses, causent en ecoutant. Leurs robes de soie et de velours,
tantot rousses et rayees d'or, tantot glauques ou d'azur fonce, leurs
manches bouffantes a creves font des groupes de tons magnifiques sur
les profondeurs de la feuillee. Elles sont de loisir et jouissent de la
vie. Quelques-unes regardent le nain qui donne un fruit au singe, ou
le petit negre en jaquette bleue qui tient en laisse les chiens de chasse.
Au milieu d'elles et plus fastueuse encore, comme le premier joyau d'une
parure, la princesse est debout ; un riche surtout de velours bleu fendu
et rattache par des boutons de diamants laisse voir sa robe feuille-
morte ; la chemise pailleteede semis d'or avive par sa blancheur la chair
satinee du col et du menton, et des perles s'enroulent avec de molles
lueurs dans les torsades de ses cheveux roussatres.' — Taine.

210. Giovanni Bnsi or Cariani, 1480-1541. Madonna and Child,
with saints and angels— from S. Gottardo in Bergamo.

212. Paris Bordone? The Baptism of Christ.

*2I3. Paul Veronese. The Supper in the Pharisee's house— a mag-
nificent" picture, from S. Sebastiano at Venice.

214. Giov. Batt. Moroni^ 1565. Portrait of Antonio Navagiero,

Podesta of Bergamo.

., 215. Bonifazio. The Supper at Emmaus — a very interesting, but not
very religious picture — from the Magistrate del Sa'e at
Venice.

217. Tintoretto, 1512-94. The Dead Christ, with the Maries and

S. John. From S. Maria dell' Umilta at Venice.

218. Moroni. The Assumption — from S. Benedetto in Bergamo.
220. Paul Veronese. The Coming of the Magi.

2IQ. )

221 C The doors to this picture — the Fathers of the Church.

224. II Romanino. Madonna and Child, with S. Francis and angels

from S. Caterina in Crema.

225. Calisto (Piazza] da Lodi. Madonna and Child, with SS. Jerome

and John Baptist — from S. Francesco in Brescia.

226. Bonifazio. The Adoration of the Magi.

227. Paul Veronese. SS. Cornelius, Antonino, and Ciprianus — a

noble picture, from Torcello.

230. Tintoretto. SS. Elena, Macario, Andrea, Barbara, and two
suppliants — from the Church of S. Croce.

1 66 MILAN.

*234. GiroJamo Savoldo of Brescia, c. 1522-1550. Madonna and Child
in the clouds, with SS. Peter, Paul, Dominic and Jerome in
adoration — a very noble picture, from S. Domenico at
Pesaro.

Sala IV. (The first of the small rooms — Venetian artists).

244. Lorenzo Lotto, 1480-1560. Pieta — from S. Polo at Treviso.

248. Titian. S. Jerome in the Desert — from S. Maria Nuova at

Venice.

249. Titian. Portrait of an old man.

253- )

254. \ Lorenzo Lotto. Magnificent portraits.

255- >
Sala V.

261. Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child.

262. Luca Signorelli. The Flagellation — from S. Maria del Mercato

at Fabriano.

263. Cesare da Sesto. Madonna and Child.

*264. Andrea Mantegna (1454). Saints in twelve compartments — a
very beautiful work — from S. Giustina of Padua.

*2Q5. Bern. Luini. Madonna and Child — much restored, with a

lovely background — once in the Certosa at Pavia.
266. Sketch either for or from the Nozze Aldobrandini, attributed to
Ra/aelle.

*z6j. Leonardo da Vinci. Head of the Saviour, in chalk— a drawing
of the highest interest, as being the original study for the all
but lost fresco in the Madonna delle Grazie.

*2;o. Raffaelle. The Sposalizio.

' This picture is inscribed with the painter's name, and the date,
1504. The arrangement is simple and beautiful: Mary and Joseph
stand opposite to each other in the centre ; the high priest, between
them, joins their hands ; Joseph is in the act of placing the ring on the
finger of the bride : beside Mary is a group of the Virgins of the
Temple ; near Joseph are the suitors, who break their barren wands, —
that which Joseph holds in his hands has blossomed into a lily, which,
according to the legend, was the sign that he was the chosen one. In
the background is the lofty Temple, adorned with a peristyle. With
much of the stiffness and constraint of the old school, the figures are
noble and dignified ; the countenances, of the sweetest style of beauty,
are expressive of a tender, exquisite melancholy, which lends a peculiar
charm to this subject, inappropriate as it is in more animated represen-
tions. ' — Kugler.

( Raphael avait vingt et un ans, et copiait avec quelques petits
changements un Perugin qui est au musee de Caen. C'est une aurore,

THE BRERA. 167

la premiere aube de son invention. La couleur est presque dure et
decoupee en taches nettes par des contours sees. Le type moral des
figures viriles n'est encore qu'indigne; deux adolescents et plusieurs
jeunes filles ont la meme tele ronde, les memes yeux petits, la meme
expression moutonniere d'enfant de choeur ou de communiante. II ose
a peine ; sa pensee ne fait que peindre dans un crepuscule. Mais la
poesie virginale est complete. Un grand espace libre s'etend derriere
les personnages. Au fond, un temple en rotonde, muni des portiques,
profile ses lignes regulieres sur un ciel pur. L'azur s'ouvre amplement
de toutes parts, com me dans la campagne d'Assise et de Perouse ;
les lointains paysages, d'abord verts, puis bleuatres, enveloppent de
leur serenite la ceremonie. Avec une simplicite qui rappelle les
ordonnances hieratiques, les personnages sont tous en une file sur le
devant du tableau ; leurs deux groupes se correspondent de chaque
cote des deux epoux, et le grand pretre fait le centre. Au milieu de ce
calme universe! des figures, des attitudes et des lignes, la Vierge,
modestement penchee, les yeux baisses, avance avec une demi-hesitation
sa main oil le grand pretre va mettre 1'anneau de mar age. Elle ne salt
que faire de 1'autre main, et, avec une gaucherie adorable, la laisse
collee a son manteau. Un voile diaphane et delicat effleure a peine ses
divins cheveux blonds ; un ange ne 1'eut pas pose sur elle avec un soin
et un respect plus chaste. Elle est grande pourtant, saine et belle
comme une fille des montagnes, et pres d'elle une superbe jeune femme
en rouge clair, drapee d'un manteau vert, se tourna avec la fierte d'une
deesse. C'est deja la beaute pa'ienne, le vif sentiment du corps agile et
actif, 1'esprit et le gout de la renaissance qui percent a travers la placi-
dite et la piete monastiques. ' — Taine.
272. Giotto. Madonna and Child — from S. Maria degli Angeli near

Bologna.

This picture was originally in the Church of S. Maria degli Angeli
at Bologna. It had side-panels, with sainis and angels, which are now
in the gallery at Bologna.
*273. Andrea Mantegtta. Pieta.

* The giants painted in chiaro-oscuro by Paolo Uccello in the Palazzo
dei Vitelliani at Padua furnished Mantegna with an object of study and
emulation ; and by dint of constantly exercising his pencil in every
variety of fore-shortening, and habituating himself to overcome the
greatest difficulties in this branch of the art, he at length succeeded
in producing this astonishing figure of the dead Christ, which, from the
peculiar position of the body, with the feet towards the spectator, pre-
sented a problem to the artist, the solution of which had been hitherto
reputed impossible.' — Rio.

280. Andrea Solari. Portrait.

281. Luca Signorelli. Madonna and Child — from S. Maria del

Mercato at Fabriano.

168 MILAN.

Sala VI.

283. Carlo CrivelH. In three divisions. In the centre, the Madonna ;

on the left SS. Peter and Dominic ; on the right SS. Peter
Martyr and Gemignano— from S. Domenico at Camarino.

284. Giovanni Bellini. Dead Christ with the Madonna and S.

John.

286, 289. Cima da Conegliano. Two small pictures of saints.
286. Vittore Carpaccio. S. Stephen and the Doctors of the Law —

from the Scuola di S. Stefano at Venice.
290. Palma Vecchio. Four saints.
293. Cima da Conegliano. Madonna.
*3OO. Cima da Conegliano. S. Peter throned, with SS. Paul and

J. Baptist standing — a characteristic work — from S. Maria

Mater Domini at Conegliano.
302. Marco Basaiti ? S. Jerome — from S. Daniele in Venice.

Sala VII.

306. Francesco Verla of Vicenza. Madonna with Angels and Saints.
*3°7> 3C9- Vittore Carpaccio. Presentation and marriage of the

Virgin — from the Scuola di S. Marco at Venice.
315. Liberali da Verona. S. Sebastian — from the Convent of S.

Domenico at Ancona.

Sala VIII.

324. Guide Reni. SS. Peter and Paul.
*326. Francesco Albani. . Dance of the Cupids.

328. Lorenzo Costa. The Coming of the Magi.
*33i. Guercino. Abraham and Hagar.

' Agar pleure de desespoir et d'indignation ; mais elle se contient,
1'orgueil feminin laroidit ; elle ne veut pas donner sa douleur en pature
a Sarah, sa rivale heureuse. Celle-ci a la hauteur d'une femme
legitime qui fait chasser une maitresse ; elle affecte de la dignite et
cependant regarde du coin de Pceil avec une mechancete satisfaite.
Abraham est un pere noble qui represente bien, mais dont la tete
est vide ; il etait difficile de lui trouver un autre role.' — Taine.

* Guercino's Agar — where the bond-maid hears
From Abram's lips that he and she must part,
And looks at him with eyes all full of tears,
That seem the very last drops from her heart.
Exquisite picture ! — let me not be told
Of minor faults, of colouring tame and cold—
If thus to conjure up a face so fair,
So full of sorrow ; with the story there
Of all that woman suffers, when the stay
Her trusting heart hath lean'd on falls away —

THE BRER A. 169

If thus to touch the bosom's tenderest spring,
By calling into life such eyes, as bring
Back to our sad remembrance some of those
We've smil'd and wept with, in their joys and woes,
Thus filling them with tears, like tears we've known,
Till all the pictur'd grief becomes our own —
If this be deemed the victory of Art —

If thus, by pen or pencil, to lay bare
The deep, fresh, living fountains of the heart

Before all eyes, be genius — it is there \ ' — Moore.

*333« Dossi Dossi (sometimes considered to be the work of Giorgione).

S. Sebastian— from the Annunziata in Cremona.
' S. Sebastian is standing, bound to an orange-tree, with his arms
bound above his head ; his dark eyes raised towards heaven. His
helmet and armour lie at his feet ; his military mantle of green, em-
broidered with gold, is thrown around him. This picture, with the
deep blue sky and deep green foliage, struck me as one of the most
solemn effects ever produced by feeling and colour.' — Jameson's ' Sacred
Art:

334. F. Francia. The Annunciation.

340. Benvenuto Garofalo. The Crucifixion — from S. Vito in
Ferrara.

Sala IX.

390. Velasqiiez. Dead Monk.

391. Salvator Rosa. S. Paul the Hermit, in the wilderness.

401. Caspar Pottssin. S. John Baptist as a child in the wilderness —

from S. Maria Vittoria.

402. Pietro Berrettini da Cortona. Virgin and Child with saints.
415. Sassoferrato. Madonna and sleeping Jesus.

442. Vandyke. Madonna and Child with S. Anthony of Padua.
446. Vandyke. Portrait of a Lady.

Sala XX.

At the end of many rooms of sculpture. The Three Graces and
Cupid of Thorivaldsen, as a monument to Andrea Appiani.

In the Galleria Oggiom, opening out of the first room
with the frescoes, are only two pictures especially demanding
notice : —

Carlo Crivelli (signed 1493). The Coronation of the Virgin..

Bern. Luini. Madonna.

170 MILAN.

No one should leave Milan without making an excursion
to the wonderful old church of Chiaravalle, about 3^ miles
distant, beyond the Porta Romuna.

* This was the church of the first Cistercian monastery that was esta-
blished in Italy. The Cistercian reform was first introduced by St.
Bernard, who was abbot of Clairvaux in France. In 1134 St. Bernard
crossed the Alps to attend a council at Pisa, and on his way back paid
a visit to Milan. The citizens of Milan advanced seven miles beyond
their gates to receive him. His presence excited the most enthusiastic
feelings ; and within a year after his departure a monastery was built at
a distance of about four miles from the city, which was to be governed
by St. Bernard's rules, and to receive a name from the parent institution.
The monastery was inhabited in 1 136, but it was not till nearly the close
of the twelfth century that the church was completed. It is in the
Lombard style, and deserves consideration, as an architectural com-
position, for the importance of its central tower. The body of the
fabric is left perfectly plain, and in effect , serves only as a base for the
leading features of the design. The tower alone is enriched. Octagonal
in its form up to a certain height, it becomes a spire above. Both the
octagonal and spiral portions are enriched with Lombard galleries,
which give an appearance of lightness, and attract the eye to that part
of the building on which it is intended to rest. It is evident that the
architect, must have made the central tower the chief object ; and when-
ever an architect has had a peculiar object, and has succeeded in
producing the effect which he desired, his w^rk deserves to be studied.'
— G. Knight.

The monastery was suppressed in 1797. The interior
of the church is falling into decay, but very picturesque and
beautiful. The tomb of Ottone Visconti is shown, who
lived much here in retirement. In the adjoining graveyard
are many monuments of the Torriani, who governed Milan
before the Visconti, including that of Pagano della Torre,
1241. Here also is the tomb, marked by five stars on the
wall, of the famous Wilhelmina, a Bohemian, who died in
1282.

* She appeared in Milan, and announced her gospel, a profane and
fantastic parody, centring upon herself the great tenet of the Fraticelli,
the reign of the Holy Ghost. In her, the daughter, she averred, of
Constance, Queen of Bohemia, the Holy Ghost was incarnate. Her
birth had its annunciation, but the angel Raphael took the place of the
angel Gabriel. She was very God and very woman. She came to save
Jews, Saracens, false Christians, as the Saviour the true Christians.

SARONNO, 171

Her human nature was to die as that of Christ had died. She was to
rise again and ascend into heaven. As Christ had left his vicar upon
earth, so Wiihelmina left the holy nun, Mayfreda. Mayfreda was to
celebrate the mass at her sepulchre, to- preach her gospel in the great
church at Milan, afterwards at St. Peter's at Rome. She was to be
a female Pope, with full papal power to baptize Jews, Saracens,
unbelievers. The four gospels were replaced by four Wilhelminian
evangelists. She was to be seen by her disciples, as Christ after his
resurrection. Plenary indulgence was to be granted to all who visited
the convent of Chiaravalle, as to those who visited the tomb of our
Lord : it was to become the great centre of pilgrimage. Her apostles
were to have their Judas, to be delivered by him to the Inquisition.
But the most strange of all was that Wiihelmina, whether her doctrines
were kept secret to the initiate, lived unpersecuted, and died in peace
and in the odour of sanctity. She was buried first in the church of S.
Peter in Orto ; her body was afterwards carried to the convent of
Chiaravalle. Monks preached her funeral sermon ; the Saint wrought
miracles ; lamps and wax candles burned in profuse splendour at her
altar ; she hau three annual festivals ; her Pope, Mayfreda, celebrated
mass. It was not till twenty years after that the orthodoxy of the
Milanese clergy awoke in dismay and horror ; the wonder-working
bones of S. Wiihelmina were dug up and burned ; Mayfieda and one
Andrea Saramita expiated at the stake the long unregarded blasphemies
of their mistress.' — Milmarfs ' Latin ChiistianityS

A ' Strada Ferrata Economica,' with a station in the
Piazza d' Armi (tram from the Piazza del Duomo), has trains
every two hours for Corno, passing slowly, for the con-
venience of the country people, through the rich agricultural
district to the north of Milan. This is the easiest means of
reaching Saronno (thirty miles by rail) — an excursion which
will only occupy half-a-day, and should on no account be
omitted. (Be careful not to leave the train when the inter-
mediate station of Garonno is shouted.)

Saronno is a small town of local celebrity for its cheese-
market. To the left of the station an avenue of planes
leads to the world-famous Santuario della Madonna di
Saronno, which has a graceful campanile and a rich cupola
encircled by an arcade of round-headed arches. The
interior is very richly decorated. The cupola is covered by
a chorus of angels by Gaudenzio Ferrari. The lunettes,

i;2 MILAN.

relating to the story of Adam and Eve, are by the same
great master. The lunettes beneath the arches and the
frieze of cherubs are by Lanini. The figures of S. George
and S. Martin on the first pillars are by Cesare Manni
(1534); S. Roch, S. Antonio, S. Christopher, and S. Sebas-
tian are by Bern. Luini.

The sanctuary is entirely decorated by the most glorious
works of Bernardino Luini ; and here it will be felt that no
one can appreciate this great master at his full value without
visiting Saronno. In the outer sanctuary are —

Left. The Sposalizio. The rejected lovers break their
barren rods, and the rod of Joseph blossoms as in the picture
of RafTaelle. The maidens attendant upon the Virgin are
magnificent princesses.

Right. The Dispute in the Temple. The moment is
that in which the Virgin Mother appears, and to her the
youthful Saviour turns, standing upon the step of the
magistral chair. The half-convinced doctors turn to their
books in inquiry. An old man with a white beard, seated
on the right, is believed to represent the artist.

In the inner sanctuary are —

Left The Presentation in the Temple. The figure of
Joseph is of marvellous beauty : those of Anna and the
maidens bearing gifts recall the peasants of this district. An
arch behind the principal figures shows the Flight into
Egypt, and beyond stands the Santuario di Saronno itself on
a hill.

Right. The Coming of the Magi— a vast scene, crowded
with life. The Virgin and Child are found seated beneath
a ruined cow-stall. On the left kneels a noble figure in
the prime of life, offering myrrh. On the right an aged
chief with white hair has laid frankincense at the feet of the
holy maid, and a youth bearing his crown and sword
stands behind, near a tall Moorish prince bearing the gold.
Behind is a procession of strange animals, camels, drome-
daries, and a giraffe on the winding way. In the clouds
are singing angels.

VILLA CASTELAZZO, MAGENTA. 173

In the lunettes are the Four Doctors and Four Evange-
lists, also by Luini. The cherubs and seraphs of the ceiling
are by Alberto da Lodi.

In the tribune are half figures of S. Catherine and S.
Apollonia and two angels. The sacristy has a good picture
of S. Carlo, S. Ambrose, and S. James, by Giulio Cesare
Procaccini. In the cloister is a lovely lunette by Luini of
the Madonna and Joseph praying over the new-born child,
with an ox and an ass behind.

An excursion may be made to the Villa Castelazzo, on
the road to Varese — an immense palace in the plain — to
visit the colossal naked Statue of Pompey, which disputes
with that in the Palazzo Spada at Rome the honour of
being the statue at whose feet Caesar fell. The features of
the statue have great individuality, but the lower part of the
face is weak.1

The battle-field of Magenta may be visited by a steam -
tramway (ij hr.) from Milan.

1 Pompey, being one of the handsomest men of his day, was probably led by
vanity to be the first Roman who allowed himself to be represented naked (see
Merivale, i. 160).

i?4 PA VI A.

CHAPTER VIII.
PA VIA,

NO lover of art must leave Milan without making an
excursion to the wonderful Certosa and the curious
old city of Pavia.

(The Del Pozzo at Pavia is a tolerable hotel, but both the Certosa
and Pavia may be visited in a day from Milan. In the spring and
summer months, the best way is to take the train which leaves Milan
at 12. 10 for the Certosa, proceeding to Pavia at 4.25, and returning to
Milan at 8.50. Tickets to Pavia, 4.40 ; 3. 20 ; 2.30.)

The fine church of Chiaravalle (right) is the only object
of interest passed on the way to the Certosa.

The Certosa appears to be close to the station (of La
Certosa), but it is nearly a mile to the entrance, as half the
circuit of the wall of the convent garden has to be made.
Carriages may generally be procured at the station. Ladies
are now admitted to see everything here. The Certosa
stands in the midst of the unvaried Lombard plain, whose
marshy meadows, ever resounding from a chorus of frogs,
produce several crops in the course of the year. Thick
bands of willows and poplars, which follow the ditches and
canals, shut out the view on every side. Here Gian-Gale-
azzo Visconti founded (Sept. 8, 1396) the most magnificent
monastery in the world, as an offering of atonement for the
blood of his uncle and father-in-law Bernabo Visconti and
his family, whom he had sent to be poisoned at the castle
of Trezzo. Since the suppression of monasteries, only eight
monks have been allowed to remain here, barely sufficient
to take care of the monastic buildings, and to show them to
visitors.

THE CERTOSA. 175

The convent gate is covered with fading frescoes by
Luini, and is most picturesque. It forms the entrance to a
large quadrangular court, on the opposite side of which
rises the gorgeous western facade of the church, which is
coated with marble, while the rest of the building is of brick.
This facade, which bears an inscription dedicating it to
* Mary the Virgin — mother, daughter, and bride of God,' is
covered with delicate arabesques, and small bas-reliefs of
Scriptural subjects, often beautiful in themselves, but pro-
ducing, in their general effect, more of richness than of

Gate of the Certosa, Pavia.

grace. The principal bas-reliefs on the right relate to the
foundation of the church, those on the left pourtray the
funeral procession of Giovanni Galeazzo from Melagnano to
the Certosa, on Nov. 9, 1443. The smaller reliefs relate to
the lives of the Virgin, S. John Baptist, S. Ambrose, and S.
Siro, and are described by Cicognara as, ' oltre ogni credere
degni d' admirazione.'

' If we are content, as the Italians were, that the fa9ade of the Certosa
shall be only a frontispiece, suggesting rather than expressing the con-
struction of the church behind it, this is certainly one of the most beau-
tiful designs of the age. It was commenced in the year 1473, from
designs prepared by Borgognone, a Milanese artist, whose works. here
show how much more essentially he was a painter than an architect.
The fa9ade consists of five compartments, divided vertically by buttresses
of bold and appropriate form ; the three central divisions representing
the body of the church, with its aisles, the outer ones the side chapels of

1 76 PA VIA.

the nave. Horizontally it is crossed by two triforium galleries— if that
name can be applied to them— one at the height of the roof of the aisles,
the upper crowning the fa9ade, and reproducing the gallery that was
round the older church under the eaves of the great roof. All these
features are therefore appropriate and well placed, and give relief with
light and shade to the composition, to an extent seldom found in i\ is
age. The greatest defect of the design as an architectural object is the
amount of minute and inappropriate ornament which is spread over the
whole of the lower part of the fa£ade, up to the first gallery.

' The erection of the cupola on the intersection of the nave and tran-
septs was commenced and carried on simultaneously with that of the
facade, and is not only a very beautiful object in itself, but is interesting
as being the only important example of a Renaissance copy of the sort
of dome used by the Italians in the Mediaeval period.' — Fergusson.

The plan of the church is a Latin cross. The nave is
divided from the transepts and chapels by rich bronze gates.
The latter are still shown by a Carthusian monk in his
picturesque white robes. The craze of ' restoration ' has
recently greatly injured the Certosa. The terra-cotta mosaic
pavement in the transepts has been replaced by vulgar
shining white marble, and much of the outer ornamentation
has been painted.

4 1 think it is hardly possible to scan or criticise the architecture of
such a building as this ; it is better to follow the guidance of the cicerone,
and look at the pictures behind the many altars set round with precious
stones, and enclosed within reredoses made of such an infinite variety
of marbles, that, with some degree of envy, one thinks how precious
such an array would be on this side the Alps, even if spread through
fifty churches. ' — Streets ' Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages. '

Making the round of the church, beginning from the
right, we have : —

1st Chapel. Procaccini. S. Veronica. Here, and in most of the
other chapels, the altar is a gorgeous specimen of pietra-dura work.

*2iid Chapel. Madonna and Child, with two Cistercian saints
(Anselmo, and Hygoni, Bishop of Lincoln), by Macrino cTAlba. The
other compartments by Borgognone.

yd Chapel. Carlo Cornara, 1668. S. Benedict seeing the assump-
tion of his sister Scholastica in a vision.

*4/h Chapel. Borgognone. A Crucifixion, with angels floating round
the cross.

*$th Chapel. Borgognone. S. Syrus, Patron and first Bishop of
Pavia.

CERTOSA. 177

6tk Chapel. Giiercino. The Virgin, with SS. Peter and Paul.

>]th Chapel. Procaccinl. The Annunciation, with a beautiful
modern predella of the flight into Egypt, with angels floating in the sun-
set, by Galli da Milano.

Here we enter the South Transept. At the end is a fresco, by
Borgognone, in which Gian-Galeazzo Visconti, on his knees, presents
the church to the Madonna : behind him kneels his son Filippo ; his
sons, Giovanni and Gabriele Maria, are on the opposite side. The
beautiful stained glass window, representing S. Gregory, is by an un-
known master. The magnificent bronze candlesticks are by Fontana.

On the left is the grand tomb of the founder, Gian-Galeazzo Visconti,
begun in 1490 from designs of Galeazzo Pellegrini, but not finished till
1562. The figure of Galeazzo, guarded by angels, lies under a canopy,
surmounted by a statue of the Madonna. Giov. della Porta and Giov,
Cristoforo, whose name appears on one of the architraves, were em-
ployed in the details of this monument. Strange to say, Galeazzo never
benefited by his tomb. It was not finished till 60 years after his death,
and during that time it had become forgotten where his bones were
provisionally deposited !

Continuing, beyond the statue of S. Veronica, we come to a beauti-
ful door decorated with portraits of Bianca Maria, the wife of Galeazzo,
and her family, the Sforzas. Entering the sacristy, on the right of
the high altar, we find the magnificent Lavatoio del Monad, sculptured
in marble by Alberto da Carrara ; over it is a bust said to represent
Heinrich of Gmunden, the architect of the church : near it is a well.
The beautiful stained glass here is by Cristoforo de1 Motis, 1477.
Opposite the Lavatoio is a beautiful fresco of the Virgin and Child,
by B. Luini.

Hence we enter the Choir, approached from the church between
splendid jasper columns. The tabernacle and altar screen are by Fran-
cesco Brioschi. The beautiful decorations to the right and left of the
altar by Stefano da Sesto ; in that on the right S. Peter is administering
the Sacrament to the Virgin. The magnificent candelabra are by
Fontana, The frescoes are by Crespi. The intarsiatura work of the
stalls is by Bartolommeo da Pola, 1486.

Leaving the choir, we enter (right) the Sagrcstia Vecchia, containing
a wonderful ivory altar-piece, with sixty small reliefs and eighty
statuettes. Here (left) is 'a fine picture of S. Augustine, by Borgognone,
Re-entering the church, by a door adorned with medallion portraits of
Galeazzo Sforza and the males of his family, we have, in the North
transept, first a copy of the statue of Christ in the Minerva at Rome;
then, the beautiful figures, by Cristoforo Solari, of Ludovico il Mbro '
and his wife, Beatrice d' Este, who died in child-birth, Jan. 2, 1497.

1 So called, not from his dark complexion, but because he adopted the mulberry-
tree as his device.

VOL. I. N

178 PA VI A.

1 The monument which contained these effigies was set up in the
apse of S. Maria delle Grazie, whence it was removed to one of the side
aisles, and finally, little more than a century after, was broken up and
sold to the highest bidder ; the sepulchral effigies were then purchased
for the Certosa, by Oldrado da Lampugnano, for 38 scudi a-piece.
They are most interesting as faithful portraits, and careful records of
costume. The duchess wears a closely-fitting hood, and her hair is
curled in small, elaborate ringlets, which fall upon her neck and about
her heavy placid face. The lids of her closed eyes are fringed with
thick lashes, sharply cut out in the marble, and her figure is completely
enveloped in the folds of a rich dress covered with a corded net-work,
decorated with jewels and tassels. Her arms are crossed and partially
concealed under her robe, and upon her feet she wears shoes, with
extremely thick soles. The figure of her husband, who is also dressed
in the costume of his time, is worked out in an equally realistic spirit.
While looking at these two statues it is interesting to remember, that
the duke passed the night before his escape from Milan, on the approach
of the army of King Louis XII., in watching by the tomb of his wife.
She had been a support to him in previous hours of danger, and this
was a last and touching proof of the attachment which he had always
shown to her while living, by associating her name with his in all public
acts and inscriptions, and by causing her portrait to be always painted
with his own. Had she lived, he might perhaps have been spared the
loss of his kingdom, and those eight weary years of captivity in the
Castle of Loches, which were closed by his death ; but when he lost her
he was left to follow the dictates of a fluctuaiing and uncertain will, and
daring too much not to have dared more, he committed a series of mis-
takes, which at last threw him into the power of his enemy. Although
accused of some grave crimes, he was in many respects a model sove-
reign, and a distinguished patron of art and letters.' — Perkins's ' Italian
Sc^llptors. '

At the end of the transept is a fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin,
by Borgognone, and a picture of Christ in Judgment— but only with the
good — by Crespi.

In the left aisle we have : —

1st Chapel. Morosini. Madonna del Rosario.

2nd Chapel. Borgognone. S. Ambrogio, with his brother S. Satire,
his sister S. Marcellina, and SS. Nazaro e Celso (in a curious costume
with spurs).

6t& Chapel. Perugino. God the Father encircled with cherubs.
The Virgin and Child below, and the Guardian Angel, are copies of
Perugino ; the Fathers of the Church are by Borgognone.

From the South transept the cloisters may be visited.

HISTORY OF PA VIA. 179

The Chiostro delta Fontana is entered by a beautiful marble
door covered with delicate reliefs, by Amadeo. It is filled
with flowers. The arches surrounding it are exquisite
specimens of terra-cotta ornamentation, and so is the lavatory.
They are left in their natural red colour, and, as the walls
are white-washed, they have a very singular effect. The
Refectory is entered from this cloister ; it has frescoes by
Borgognone* Another door leads to the Great Cloister, 412
feet long by 334 feet wide, now enclosing a corn-field. It is
beautifully ornamented with terra-cotta, and is surrounded
by the cells of the monks — pleasant little houses, with two
rooms below and two above, and delightful little gardens,
each with its flowers, its vines, its stone seats, and a well.
Only three of these are now inhabited.

The Sagrestia Nuova, which is generally shown last (and
where photographs of the buildings are sold by the monks),
contains an Assumption by Bernardo Campi, with saints on
each side, by A. Solari. Over the door is an interesting
picture, by Bart. Montagna, of the Virgin and Child with
S. John Baptist and S. Jerome.

' Erantome raconte qu'apres sa defaite, Frar^ois ier, pris prisonnier
dans le pare de la chartreuse, se fit conduire a 1'eglise pour y faire sa
priere, et que la, le premier objet qui s'offrit a sesyeuxfut cette inscrip-
tion tiree d'un psaume : Bonuni mihi quia humiliasti me, ut discam jus-
tijicationes tuas. C'etait une grande, une touchante Ie9on, que la religion
seule pouvait donner au roi qui avait tout perdu fors rhonneiir."1--
Valery.

Through the rich plain we must now proceed to Pavia.

Pavia, the ancient Ticinum, situated on the left bank of the Ticino,
about 5 m. above its junction with the Po, was originally founded by
the Celtic Laevi and Marsici. It was a considerable town under the
Roman Empire, but was destroyed by Attila. Theodoric raised it from
its ruins, and it became the residence and capital of the Lombard
kings. It was then called by the name of Papia, which was
probably revived from the original name of the Celtic town.. In
A.D. 774 Desiderius, the last of the Lombard kings, was besieged
here by Charlemagne and forced to surrender. From this time
Ticinus ('quae alio nomine Papia appellatur' ') sank to the rank of an

1 Paulus Diaconus, ii. 15.
N 2

iSo PA VIA.

ordinary provincial town. In 924 it was stormed by the Hungarians
under Berengarius ; in 1004 it was destroyed by fire; in 1139 it was
stormed by the Emperor Lothaire ; in 1315 it fell into the hands of the
Visconti. In 1524 it was unsuccessfully though repeatedly stormed by
Francis I. of France with 20,000 men, and Francis I. and Henry II.
of Navarre were made prisoners in the then vast zoological garden of
Pavia which was near the Certosa. In revenge the French plundered
the town in 1527.

Entering the town we follow the Contrada di Porta
Marengo (now called Corso Cavour)— passing, on the right,
an old palace with handsome terra-cotta ornamentation — till
we reach (right) the Contrada S. Giuseppe, which leads to
the Piazza del Duomo.

The Cathedral (dedicated to S. Siro, who was bishop of
Pavia for fifty-six years in the fourth century, and whose
effigy appears on the early coinage) is externally more pic-
turesque than beautiful. It was begun in 1488, but is still
unfinished. Among some earlier portions which are remains
of an ancient Lombard basilica, the principal is a glorious
old doorway between the campanile and the main building.
The model of Cristoforo Roahi for the construction of the
present edifice is preserved in the church. On the left of
the entrance is a pillar brought from some Roman building.
On the left is a good picture, by D. Crespi, of the Virgin
and Child, with S. Syrus and S. Anthony of Padua ; on the
right is the Adoration of the Magi, by G. B. Crespi.

But the great interest of the church is concentrated in
the chapel on the right, which contains the famous Area di
Sanf Agostino, or Tomb of Augustine, which is attributed
to various sculptors. It is surrounded by statues of the
apostles, each holding a scroll inscribed with the article
which he is supposed to have contributed to the Creed.

' The shrine was probably made by Matteo and Bonino da Cam-
pione, the two most remarkable artists formed by Balduccio during his
residence at Milan. Twelve years were employed and four thousand
golden scudi spent in constructing it in the sacristy of San Pietro in
Cielo d' Oro, whence it was removed to its present position in the
Duomo, when that building was demolished. It is enriched with bas-
reliefs, statuettes, and architectural accessories in the pointed style,

S. MARIA DEL CARMINE. 181

which form an ensemble of a most inspiring character. The effigy of the
saint, covered with a winding-sheet held up at the corners and sides by
six angels, lies upon a mortuary couch, seen through the arches which
support its second story. The statuettes of the apostles are placed two
by two in compartments around the basement story, separated from
each other by pilasters, faced by statuettes of the Virtues. Above them
smaller statuettes of saints and prophets stand against the pilasters of
the second story, upon which rest consoles supporting seated figures of
saints and martyrs. A row of pointed gables decorated with crochets
and finials runs round the uppermost story, upon which is a series of
bas-reliefs representing incidents in the life of S. Augustine, separated
from each other by twenty statuettes. The figures, which are very
Pisan in style, have their surfaces highly polished, the borders of their
robes carefully elaborated, and the pupils of their eyes painted black,
according to a common custom of the time.' — Perkins's '•Italian
Scttlptors. '

' The " Area," or shrine, of S. Augustine at Pavia, is attributed by
the best critics to the brothers Jacobello and Pietro Paolo of Venice, and
without a shadow of doubt belongs to the Sienese branch of the Pisan
school. It is rather heavy perhaps, but not the less a most elaborate and
beautiful piece of architectural sculpture. The sarcophagus, on which
the effigy is laid down by angels, the canopy that overshadows it, the
pillars that support the canopy, each and all are covered with bas-reliefs,
delineating the life and miracles of the Saint, and interspersed with
small statues of Apo-tles and Virtues ingeniously allegorised. These
single figures struck me as superior to the bas-reliefs, though even in
them there are many pleasing figures ; the soft contemplative Sienese
expression prevails throughout, and some of the figures have even grace
and dignity. The Area was begun in 1 362.' — Lord Lindsay 's ' Christian
Art:

Proceeding northwards from the Cathedral, the Strada
S. Rocco leads to (left)

S. Maria del Carmine, externally one of the most beau-
tiful brick churches in Italy, built in 1373. It has a tall
and most graceful campanile, and exquisite terra-cotta
ornamentation round the doors and windows of the west
front, where there is a fine rose window. In the interior the
brick pillars are left visible ; upon them are remains of
frescoes ; one of S. Onofrio is very curious.

Beyond this church (right) is the modern Palazzo Mala-
spina, containing a small gallery of indifferent pictures, and
some good engravings.

1 82 PA VI A.

A little further, the street opens on a boulevard near two
old churches— S. Croce, with a good brick campanile, and
S. Pietro in Cielo cfOro, which had a curious octangular
cupola and was full of architectural interest, but has been
rebuilt, 1880-82, into a fagade of new design. It was cele-
brated for the important monuments which it contained,
including that of Boethius. The shrine of S. Augustine
was originally placed here.

' Lo corpo ond' ella fu cacciata giace
Giuso in Cieldauro, . ed essa da martiro
E da esilio venne a questa pace.' — Parad. x. 127.

' Le tombeau de Luitprand, d'abord place a 1'eglise Saint Adrien, fut
clans la suite porte a la basilique de Saint Pierre in del d'atero : il
avait voulu par son testament etre enterre aux pieds de Boece, afin,
disait-il, qu'en cessant de vivre, il ne parut point cesser de lui manquer
son respect. Le cerceuil de ce grand roi, rapporte un erudit pavesan,
e'tait soutenu par quatre petites colonnes de marbre ; au-dessus etait sa
statue en habits royaux. Le concile de Trente fit descendre le cerceniJ,
parce qu'il avait decrete que la sepulture seule des saints pouvait s'elever
au-dessus de terre. Les cendres de Luitprand furent deposees au pied
d'un pilastre du choeur ; 1'ancienne epitaphe, qui rappelait sa religion,
sa vaillance, la sagesse de ses lois, sa conqiute de 1'etat remain, ses
victoires en France sur les Sarrasins quand il accourut au secours de
Charles-Martel, la prise de Ravenne, de Spolete, et de Benevent, tous
ces signes de gloire disparurent, et il ne resta sur cette tombe dechue
que les mots : id sont les os du roi Luitprand, simple inscription qui,
elle-meme, devait etre un jour ignoblement enfouie sous des bottes de
foin, et que je ne pus retrouver.' — Valery.

Near these is the Castello, the old palace of the Visconti,
built 1460-69, and once most richly decorated and filled
with the treasures collected by Gian-Galeazzo. These were
all carried off to France by Louis XII., and little now
remains but the ancient walls with their picturesque towers
at the angles and bold Guelfic machicolations. The interior
is now a barrack.

Following the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, opposite the
castle, we reach a monument erected to ' Payesi caduti per
la patria, 1859-69.'

Opposite this are the buildings of the University, whose
foundation is attributed to Charlemagne the Great in 774.

S. FRANCESCO, S. MICHELE. 183

It was greatly enriched in the i4th century by Gian-
Galeazzo, who appointed Baldus professor of law. Little
remains of the ancient buildings \ the present edifice is
chiefly due to Maria Theresa in 1779, but in some of the
courts are curious monuments of early professors, removed
from desecrated churches.

On the north of the university buildings, the Via Tre
Collegi leads to the

Church of S. Francesco, another beautiful brick church,
well deserving of study, though modernised inside. Beyond
it is the Collegio Ghislieri^ with a bronze statue of Pius V. in
the court in front of it.

From the west door of S. Francesco a street leads south,
passing two very tall brick towers (there are two others a
little to the left) — slightly leaning, and something like those
of Bologna — to the

Church of S. Michele, founded before 66 1, when Unulfus
took sanctuary there from King Grimoaldus. The existing
building is of the twelfth century. It is of stone, finished
with brick. The interior is very handsome, simple, and
beautiful in colour. The cupola is eight-sided. In the
tribune is a fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin.

' The earlier period of Lombard architecture is the more original.
It may be seen in full development on the facade of S. Michele at Pavia
— rude indeed to a degree, but full of fiie and a living record of the
daring race that created it. The archangel trampling down the dragon
appears over the central door, S. George similarly victorious, and Jonah
vomited by the whale, over those to the right and left ; while in the
jambs of the arches and in belts running along the walls, kindred sub-
jects are sculptured in every direction and without the least apparent
connection — dragons, griffins, eagles, snakes, sphinxes, centaurs — the
whole mythological menagerie which our ancestors brought with them
from their native Iran, — and these either righting with each other or
with Lombard warriors, or amicably interlaced with human figures, male
and female, or grinning and ready to fly at you from the grey walls —
interspersed with warriors breaking in horses or following the hounds,
minstrels, and even tumblers, or at least, figures standing on their
heads ; in short, the strong impress everywhere meets you of a wild and
bold equestrian nation, glorying in war, delighting in horses and the
chace, falconry, music and gymnastics — ever in motion, never sitting

1 84 PA VI A.

still — credulous, too, of old wives' stories, and tenacious of whatever of
marvellous and strange had arrested their fancy during their long
pilgrimage from the East— for Zodiacs from Chaldaea, and emblems of
the stirring mythology of Scandinavia, constantly alternate, in these
and similar productions, with the delineation of those pastimes and
pursuits which their peculiar habits induced them to reiterate with such
zest and frequency. They are rude, most rude— I plead only that they
are life-like, and speak with a tongue which those who love the Runic
rhyme and the traditions of the North, and feel kindred blood warm in
their veins, will understand and give ear to. ' — Lord Lindsay* 's ' Christian
Art:

Turning south from S. Michele we reach the picturesque
covered bridge, built by Gian-Galeazzo over the Ticino.
The bridge is of brick with stone quoins. A hundred little

At Pavia.

granite columns support the roof. The waters of the Ticinus
are celebrated by the Latin poets for their clearness and
beauty: —

' Frondentibus humida ripis
Colla levat pulcher Ticinus.'

Claud. De VL Cans. Hon. 194.

* Caeruleas Ticinus aquas, et stagna vacloso
Perspicuus servat turbari nescia fundo,
Ac nitidum viridi lenta trahit amne liquorem.
Vix credas labi : ripis tam mitis opacis,
Argutos inter volucrum certamine cantus
Somniferam ducit lucenti gurgite lympham. '

Sil. Ital. iv. 83.'

1 It was on the banks of the Ticinus that the first action took place (B.C. 218)
between Hannibal and the Romans, but the exact point of their meeting is unknown.

CECIMA. 185

There are pleasant views both of Alps and Apennines
from the ramparts of Pavia.

It is said that Edward II. of England (generally sup-
posed to have been murdered in Berkeley Castle) escaped
by killing the porter and taking his keys, and that, after
various adventures, he died in the castle of Cea'ma, belong-
ing to the bishops of Pavia — the body of the porter having
received royal burial at Gloucester, to deceive Queen
Isabella, and avert her vengeance. This tradition is con-
firmed by a letter discovered in the archives of Herault,
and addressed to Edward III. by Manuele Fieschi, formerly
Canon of York, and at that time notary to the Pope at
Avignon.

1 86 MONZA AND CO MO.

CHAPTER IX.

MONZA AND CO MO.

(Monza may be visited on the way to Como, but the trains are not
always convenient, being at long intervals, and travellers must remember
that the usual Como trains do not set down passengers at Monza, but
only those on the Milano-Lecco line. Those who spend a few day^
at Milan may, therefore, find it more convenient to make Monza an
afternoon's excursion from thence, taking the I -20 train to Monza, and
coming back by one of the return carriages which may generally be
obtained at Monza for 2 or 3 frs.

Inns. Falcone ; Castello — indifferent. I \ hour suffices for seeing
all the curiosities of Monza. )

MONZA was first brought into notice by Theodoric
the Goth, who built a palace there, attracted to the
place by the salubrity of the air. But its real importance
dates from the sixth century, when it was the residence of
the famous Queen Theodolinda, daughter of Garibald, King
of Bavaria. She was married, in 589, to Autharis, King of
the Lombards, who so romantically won her affections, dis-
guised as a follower in the suite of the ambassador he sent
to ask for her hand, that when, from political motives, the
marriage was afterwards broken off, she fled from her
country to join him at Verona, where the wedding was
celebrated with great pomp. As the wife of Autharis,
Theodolinda so gained the esteem of the Lombard people,
that upon his death six years after, by poison, in the palace
of Pavia, they offered her the crown, and promised to
acknowledge as King whomsoever she should choose as her
husband. She selected Agilulf, Duke of Turin, whom she
converted from paganism, and dissuaded from an intended

CATHEDRAL OF MONZA. 187

attack upon Rome, thus securing the gratitude of the pope,
and lasting fame for herself. In gratitude for her husband's
change of religion Theodolinda vowed to build an Oraculum
in honour of the Baptist. A site was pointed out by a
miraculous voice declaring that the church was to be built
where there was only a great tree. As the voice said ' Modo,'
the queen answered ' Etiam,' and thenceforth the place was
called Modoetia.

Emerging from the station, and turning to the right, we
pass (right) the Church of S. Maria in Istrada with a
beautiful Gothic front in terra-cotta.

A little beyond (right) is the Cathedral of S. John
Baptist, founded in 565, by Theodolinda, who employed
the ' Magistri Comacini ' to build it, in memory of the
conversion of her husband Agilulf. It was enlarged in the
1 4th century, under Matheus de Campione. The front is
inlaid with black marble and very rich, but not effective.
In the centre is a porch resting on serpentine columns with
lions, and surmounted by a gilt figure of the Baptist. Over
the door is a very interesting relief of the Baptism of our
Lord, erected by Theodolinda.

'The Holy Spirit is represented in the likeness of a dove, holding a
vase in its mouth, from which water descends upon the head of our
Lord, whose garments are held by an angel, while near Him stand the
Virgin, S. John, S. Peter, and S. Paul. Queen Theodolinda appears
above in the act of offering a gemmed crown to S. John Baptist, with
her daughter Gundiberga, her husband Agilulf, and her son Adaloaldo
beside her; the latter holding a dove in his hand, emblematic of his
extreme youth. The crowns, crosses, vases, &c., which she gave to
the Basilica, are introduced.' — Perkins's ' Tuscan Sculptors*

The great brick campanile was added by Pellegrini in 1606.
The interior is quite spoilt by the paint with which it is
overladen. It contains : —

Right Transept. Ambrogiano da Brescia, an interesting Crucifixion ;
the cross is represented as a tree. On the right wall is a very curious
relief of the coronation of Otho III. in this cathedral, the vessels given
by Theodolinda are represented upon the altar ; the six electors present

1 88 MONZA AND CO MO.

have their names inscribed, the Count of Saxony holds the sword of
state.

Right of Choir. Cappella del Santo CJiiodo. Over the altar, in the
glass centre of a large cross, is preserved the famous Iron Crown of
Lombardy, said to have been given to Theodolinda by Gregory the
Great, containing the rim of iron inside a circle of gold and jewels,
which is supposed to have been beaten out of one of the nails used at
the crucifixion, and found by the Empress Helena. It is only exhibited
on the ist Sunday in September. A representation of it is given on
the tablets which commemorate the coronations of Napoleon I., 180^,
and Ferdinand I., 1838. Henry VII. of Luxemburg was crowned with
the iron crown, but at Milan, in 1311. Frederick Barbarossa was
amongst those who were crowned here. Napoleon I. placed the crown on
his own head with the words ' Dieu me 1'a donne, garea qui latouche.'
Now Monza is neglected, but it is the Rheims of Italy, and king and
archbishop would do well to come hither for the coronations.

Right of High Altar. C. Procaccini. S. Joseph. On the rails of
the choir may seen the arms of Theodolinda, a hen, and seven
chickens for her seven provinces. The silver gilt Paliotto of the high
altar, adorned with reliefs from the life of the Baptist, was given by
Berengarius in the Qth century.

Left of High Altar. Bern. Lnini. S. Gherardo - a very beautiful
figure.

Chapel l>ft of Choir. Troso da Monza ( 1 5th century). The History
of Queen Theodolinda — the vision which urged her to build the churcll
at Monza— greatly injured.

Tomb of Queen Theodolinda.

Lrft Transept. Tomb of Theodolinda— a sarcophagus resting on
four pillars. Here is the entrance to the Sacristy, which contains the
gifts made by Theodolinda to the church and other relics of her — her
crown ; her fan of painted leather ; her comb of gold filigree and
emeralds ; her silver gilt hen and chickens ; her cup, said to be formed
from a sapphire, but of very fine glass, and, above all, the precious
Gospel book and cross given to her by Gregory the Great upon the
baptism of her eldest son Aldoald, in a letter which contains the last

CATHEDRAL OF CO MO. 189

words which he wrote before his death, March 12, 604. Other relics
here are the Sacramentary of King Berengarius, and the Cross used at
the coronations, and hung round the neck of the sovereign.

Left Aisle. The \st Chapel contains the Baptistery, by Pellegrini ;
and, Guercino, The Visitation.

Close by is the very picturesque Gothic Broletto (Town-
hall), and dating from the i3th century. It is raised upon
open arches of stone, two at each end and five at the sides,
with a canopied balcony projecting on brackets in the centre
of the gabled front.

Beyond the town, approached by avenues of trees, is the
Villa Reale built by Piermarini, 1777. It contains nothing
worthy of observation. It was used as an occasional resi-
dence of Victor Emmanuel. The so-called ' English Park '
has nothing English about it.

o 3

(It is 1 1 hour from Milan to Camerlata (5 frs. 45 c. ; 4 frs. ; 2 frs. ^x
85 c.), which is the station for Como, about I mile distant. Here'
omnibuses set travellers down wherever they like (50 c.), and carriages
await the trains.

The sights of Como are the Cathedral, Br.'letto, the Church of S.
Fedele, all close together, and near the harbour, so that they may be
visited in an hour, but the place is pleasant, the hotel excellent, and
those who stay longer may employ their time agreeably. It is also
well to sleep at Como and take the early boat up the lake.

Inns. Hotel Volta, in the piazza by the lake, first-rate. Italia,
opposite.)

Pleasant avenues of trees skirt the descent from Camer-
lata to Como. On the hill upon the left rises the old tower
called Castello Baradello, frequently inhabited by Frederick
Barbarossa. Como is approached by a long suburb, but
retains its old walls and gates.

The Cathedral, begun in 1396 and finished in 1528, is
built entirely of marble, and is one of the finest churches' in
North Italy. The fagade is of later date than the rest of the
building, and was entirely erected in the latter half of the
1 5th century, under Lucchino da Aj.ilano, an architect who
chose the transition style, the greater part of his work being

190 MONZA AND COMO.

pointed, but having three rich round Lombardic portals,
with reliefs of the Nativity, the Coming of the Magi, and the
Circumcision. Ahove the principal door is the Virgin and
Child, with the native saints, Abbondio, Protus, Hyacinth,
&c. ; then— on each side of the beautiful rose window —
the Annunciation. At the sides of the central door, in
beautiful Renaissance niches, by Tommaso and Jacopo
Rodari, 1498, are statues of the two Plinys. Below that of
the elder Pliny is a relief of the Eruption of Vesuvius.
Como claims both the Plinys as her sons, though the elder
was notoriously a native of Verona : the younger Pliny was
probably born at Como in A.D. 61 or 62. Reaching the
whole height of the facade are four chains of Saints. Some
of the figures are very beautiful, especially a bishop on the
first pillar on the right, a pope on the second, and S.
Antonio on the third.

The South Porch (right) by the two Rodari, of 1491, is
very rich and beautiful. The relief represents the Flight
into Egypt. The North Porch, also by the Rodari, and
inscribed with their names, has a relief of the Salutation ;
at the sides are SS. Peter, Paul, Protus, and Hyacinth. In
the frieze above are the prophets. The sculpture of this
door has been thought worthy of the most enthusiastic
praise by Liibke and other authorities. The Interior is
very beautiful and simple in its proportions. The eight-
sided cupola was added by Juvara in 1750. The holy-
water basins rest on ancient marble lions.

Right. Tommaso Rodari (the great sculptor of Como), 1457.
Madonna between S. Peter and S. Catherine ; below, the Baptist, be-
tween S. Protus and S. Hyacinth.

The monument erected by the citizens to the Cardinal Bishop
Tolomeo Gallic, 1860 — 'angelo di luce, apostolo di carita pel povero.'

On either side of some 14th-century reliefs of the Passion, are
pictures of SS. Sebastian and Christopher, by Luini.

The South Door. Above— Christ between the Virgin and S. John.

The Tomb of Bishop Rodigadinus, 1350, with his statue and reliefs.
Above this, the black sarcophagus of Giov. Paolo Turrio.

The Altar of S. Abbondio, a rich work in wood, gilt. At the sides,
Caudenzio Ferrari, Scene on the Flight into Egypt ; Bern.

BROLETTO OF CO MO.

191

the Adoration of the Kings. Then— Luini^ Madonna with saints and
angels, and a predella, in the centre of which is a beautiful figure of the
Baptist.

The Transepts are adorned with admirable figures of saints, of c.
1525. Liibke describes the statue of S. Sebastian as 'beautifully ani-
mated, somewhat like a painting of the Venetian School.'

The Apostles in the Choir are modern works of Ponipeo Marchesi.

Left Aisle (returning). Sarcophagus and bust of Zanino Cigalino.

Marble group of the Lamentation over the dead Christ.

Marchesi, S. Joseph. On the right, Luini, the Nativity ; on the
left, Gaudenzio Ferrari, the Marriage of the Virgin.

A curious sarcophagus adorned with three fishes, a mitre, pastoral
staff, and the lamb with the cross. Above this, the black tomb of
Benedictus Jovius, the historian of Charles V., 1544.

Beyond the South Door, busts of Innocent XI. (Odescalchi of
Como) and Bishop Carolo Rovelli, on either side of some reliefs by the
Rodari.

A fresco of the Madonna, with SS. Peter and Paul ; and a marble
temple as a Baptistery, probably by Bramante.

Joining the cathedral, the great sanctuary of the Church,
is the chief building of the State, the most picturesque

Broletto, Como.

Broletto (Town-hall) of 1215, built in courses of white, black,
and red marble. It is vaulted throughout beneath with
heavy octangular pillars.

192

MONZA AND COMO.

Behind the cathedral is the handsome modern Theatre,
by Cufi, 1813.

In the Corso Vittoria, the street parallel with the west
front of the cathedral, is (right) the old Lombard Church of
S. Fedele, which is exceedingly curious. It was used as the
cathedral, before the present one was built.

In the Borgo S. Annunziata, i m. from the town, is the
interesting Church of S. Abbondio, of the nth century. It
was originally dedicated to S. Carpofero, first Bishop of
Como, but, after the burial within it of the second Bishop,
S. Abbondio, it was called by his name. The interior is

Como. (1866.)

exceedingly stately. The double aisles, with a double
clerestory, and four ranges of pillars ; and the great height
of the apse, are remarkable.

In the same suburb is the gaudy modern Church of II
Crocefisso.

The Lyceum is adorned with busts of all the illustrious
natives of Como, including the Popes Innocent XL
(Odescalchi) and Clement XIII. (Rezzonico).

A few years ago the little Port of Como, crowded with
boats and guarded by twin chapels, was most picturesque.
This has now been filled up, and turned into a common-
place piazza with a fountain, in honour of the experimental
philosopher Volta, ob. 1826— a native of the town.

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF COMO. 193

Those who stay long enough at Como, will ramble along
the mule road which overhangs the eastern shore of the
lake, so often revisited by Dr. Arnold, and will be glad to
read the following extracts on the spot : —

'July 25, 1825. We are on a. mule track that goes from Como
along the eastern shore of the lake, and as the mountains go sheer down
into the water, the mule track is obliged to be cut out of their sides,
like a terrace, half way between their summits and their feet. They
are covered with wood, all chestnut, from top to bottom, except where
patches have been found level enough for houses to stand on, and vines
to grow ; but just where we are it is quite lovely ; I look up to the blue
sky, and down to the blue lake, the one just above me, the other just
below me, and see both through the thick branches of the chestnuts.
Seventeen or eighteen vessels, with their white sails, are enlivening the
lake, and about half a mile on my right, the rock is too steep for any-
thing to grow on it, and goes down a bare cliff. A little beyond, I see
•eome terraces and vines, and bright white houses, and further still,
there is a little low point, running out into the lake, -which just affords
room for a village, close on the water's edge, and a white church tower
rising in the midst of it. The opposite shore is just the same, villages
and mountains, and trees and vines, all one perfect loveliness. '

' May 19, 1827. I am seated nearly in the same spot as in 1825.
And now, seated under its chestnut woods, and looking down upon the
clear water of the lake, it appears as beautiful as ever. Again I see the
white sails specking it, and the cliff running down sheer into it, and the
village of Tomo running out into it on its little peninsula, and Blevio
nearer to me, and the houses sometimes lining the water's edge, and
sometimes clustering up amidst the chestnuts. I feel to be viewing the
inexpressible beauty of these lakes for the last time. And I am fully
satisfied ; for their images will remain for ever in my memory, and one
has something else to do in life than to be for ever running about after
objects to delight the eye or intellect.'

'July 25, 1830. For the third time seated under these delicious
chestnuts, and above this delicious lake, with the blue sky above, and
the green lake beneath, and Monte Rosa and the S. Gothard and the
Simplon rearing their snowy heads in the distance. I see no change in
the scenery since I was last here, and I feel very little, if any, in myself.
Yet for me, " summer is now ebbing." ... It is almost awful to look
at the overwhelming beauty around me, and then think of moral evil ;
it seems as if heaven and hell, instead of being separated by a great gulf
from one another, were absolutely on each other's confines, and indeed
not far from every one of us Might the sense of moral evil be as strong
in me as my delight in external beauty, for in a deep sense of moral evil,
more perhaps than in anything else, abides a saving knowledge of God? '

VOL. I. O

194 MONZA AND COMO.

Como is the best point from which to visit Monte
Generoso. The S. Gothard line of railway (in less than half
an hour) passes Mendrisio at the foot of the mountain,
whence it is an ascent of about 2^ hours to the inn. The
lonely traveller will be guided by the telegraph posts. The
air is delicious, and the wild flowers in the woods are most
beautiful ; indeed, in rare plants, Monte Generoso is probably
the richest mountain in the whole Alpine chain. The Hotel
du Monte Generoso is excellent for a mountain inn, and most
beautifully situated ; travellers are received en pension. The
view is glorious.

' The plain stretching up to the high horizon, where a misty range
of pink cirrus-clouds alone mark the line where earth ends and the sky
begins, is islanded with cities and villages innumerable, basking in the
hazy shimmering heat. Milan, seen through a telescope, displays its
Duomo perfect as a microscopic shell, with all its exquisite fretwork,
and Napoleon's arch of triumph, surmounted by the four tiny horses, as
in a fairy's dream. Far off, long silver lines mark the lazy course of
Po and Ticino, while little lakes like Varese and the lower end of
Maggiore spread themselves out, connecting the mountains with the
plain.' — J. A. Symonds.

It is only a few minutes' walk from the hotel to the edge
of the precipice, which abruptly overhangs the Lake of
Lugano, and an easy though shadeless path leads, in rather
more than an hour, to the summit of the mountain, which
has a magnificent view over the lakes of Lugano, Varese,
Como, and Maggiore. There is an easy descent to Lugano,
with a good inn on the way.

There is a diligence daily from Como to Lecco, by
Erba and Indno, passing through the Brianza, the richest
district in Lombardy. Near the little half-way Lake of
Pusiano, the poet Parini was born (1729) in the village of
Bosisio. There is also a diligence (3 frs.) to Canzo in the
Brianza, from the station of Seregno, half-way between
Monza and Camerlata.

Travellers who are not intending to cross the S. Gothard
may visit Lugano and Bellinzona by railway from Milan or
Como.

195

CHAPTER X.

THE ITALIAN LAKES.

(A portion of the beautiful group known as ' the Italian Lakes' is
really in Switzerland, but as their position south of the Alps, and
their thoroughly Italian character, makes them part of almost every
Italian tour, no work on Italy can be complete which fails to include
the whole of them. The entire Lake of Como, and a considerable dis-
trict to the north of it, including Chiavenna, are in Italy. The Swiss
frontier makes a sudden bend southwards to the west of Como, and em-
braces nearly the whole of the Lake of Lugano and the extreme north
of the Lago Maggiore. The Lakes of Varese and Orta, Varallo, and
Domo d' Ossola, are in Italy.

The best positions for remaining some time upon the lakes are
Bellaggio or Cadenabbia on the Lago di Como, and Baveno or Stresa
on the Lago Maggiore. At all these places are first-rate hotels, where
travellers are received en pension and may make themselves exceedingly
comfortable. There is English Church-Service throughout the season
at Bellaggio, Lugano, and Stresa.

The usual Tour of the Italian Lakes is made in the following order.
Ascending the Lake of Como to Bellaggio, cross thence by steamer to
Menaggio, whence by omnibus to Porlezza on the Lago Lugano. By
steamer from Porlezza to Lugano, whence most travellers take a carriage
to Luino on the eastern shore of the Lago Maggiore, and thence pro-
ceed by steamer to Baveno or Stresa, visiting the Isola Bella on the
way. A more complete tour may be made by taking the steamer at
2.30 from Lugano to Porto, and proceeding thence to Varese, whence
the Sacro Monte may be visited. (If Varallo be seen, omit the Sacro
Monte.) From Varese one may proceed by omnibus or carriage to
Laveno on the Lago Maggiore, and thence by steamer to Stresa,
Baveno, and the Isola Bella, returning to Arona. From either Pallanza
or Arona a detour may be made to the lovely lake of Orta (w<?//-worth
while), and further, to Varallo. Travellers may return to Milan by rail
from Orta or from Arona. In all cases heavy luggage should be left at
an hotel at Milan, as it will be found a terrible incumbrance in travelling
upon the lakes, especially in landing and embarking.

In a leisurely tour of the lakes, the travellers will sleep at, i. Como
O 2

196 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

or Villa d' Este ; 2. Bellaggio ; 3. Lugano ; 4. Varese ; 5. Baveno ;
6. Orta ; 7. Arona. In the quick three days' tour of the lakes alone,
travellers will sleep at Bellaggio and Baveno. )

'HpRAVELLERS who pass straight through Como with-
JL out sleeping, should take a carriage from Camerlata
to the steamer, which will allow time for a hurried visit to
the cathedral and Broletto before embarking. The views
from the harbour, of the still reaches of water girdled by
wooded hills fringed with villas, are most charming.

(The steamer runs three times daily up the lake to Colico, 3! hrs.
Fares, I. 4 frs. ; II. 2 frs. 10 c. There are only piers at Cadenabbia,
Bellaggio, and Menaggio. At the other stations travellers have to land
in a rowing-boat, for which coupons of the steamboat tickets are given,
but the boatmen expect two or three soldi of buona-mano. Those who
embark at the intermediate stations must be sure to provide themselves
with a ticket on the pier, before entering the steamer, to show that they
have done so, or they may be obliged to pay the whole fare from Como.

A Rowing-boat (barca) throughout the lake generally costs I \ fr. to
each rower for the first hour, and I fr. for every hour afterwards. One
rower is sufficient. A boat from Bellaggio to Cadenabbia and back, or
from Bellaggio to Varenna and back, with two rowers, costs 4 frs.)

The Lake of Como was the Lacus Larius of the Romans.
Its size is extolled by Virgil :—

' Anne lacus tantos ? Te, Lari maxima — '

Georg. ii. 159.

It is 30 miles in length, and its greatest width (from Men-
aggio to Varenna) is 2\ miles. The hills which gird it are
seldom of very fine forms, but are beautiful from the rich
forests which clothe them, while the small space left between
the hills and the water is a perpetual garden of the loveliest
shrubs and flowers.

The charms of a voyage up the lake are described by
Claudian : —

( Protinus, umbrosa qua vestit littus oliva
Larius, et dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu,
Parva puppe lacum praetervolat. Ocius inde
Scandit inaccessos brumali sidere montes.'

De Bella Get. 319.

Immediately upon leaving Como we seem to glide

SHORES OF COMO.

197

through a perfect avenue of villas. Among those on the
left bank are the Villa Battaglia, inhabited by Napoleon I.
in 1797, the Villa Odescakhi, and the red Villa Rattazzi,
then :—

Left, Cernobbio. The station for the Villa d'Este, a
large hotel, beautifully situated, joining the gardens of the
villa built by Cardinal Gallic in 1568, and inhabited in 1815
by Queen Caroline, the unhappy wife of George IV. of
England. It has charming green walks and grottoes, close
under the mountain.

Left, Villa Pizzo, which belonged to the Archduke
Rainer, ob. 1853, with a promontory of cypresses rising from
masses of banksia-roses and westeria.

Right, Villa Taglioni, once the property of the famous
dancer ; and, beyond the little town of Blevio, Villa Pasta,
the home of the celebrated singer, ob. 1865.

Left, Villa Taverna.

Right, Villa Pliniana, with a spring mentioned by Pliny,
which daily changes its level.

Right, Nesso, a village in a little bay, with a picturesque
ravine, bridge, and waterfall.

Left, Brienno ; here, on turning the promontory, is the
first view of the snowy Alps.

Left, Sala. Close to this is the only island on the lake,
the Isola Comaccina or S. Giovanni, celebrated as a refuge
in the mediaeval wars.

' The name of Comacine was derived from a body of Italian archi-
tects who built for the Lombards, and who kept alive those art-tradi-
tions, well-nigh smothered under the overwhelming weight of misfortune
which pressed upon the peninsula in every shape after the invasion of
those barbarians. For twenty years after Alboinus and his followers
overran the plains of Lombardy, the Isoletta Comacina, which held out
against their power under Francione, an imperial partisan, contained
numbers of fugitives from all parts of Italy, amongst whom were many
skilled artisans known as the Maestri Comacini, a name afterwards
changed into that of " Casari " or "Casarii,"— builders of houses. After
they had submitted to the invaders, their college or guild was favoured
by the Lombard kings ; its members were affranchised, made citizens,
and allowed certain important privileges, such as that of making

198 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

contracts, which were not, however, conceded to their assistants.' —
Perkins's ' Italian Sculptor -s.'

Left, Campo. Here the beautiful promontory of Lavedo
breaks the lines of the lake ; on its extremity is the Villa
Balbianello, with a colonnade.

Left, Tremezzo. Then the Villa Carlotta, or Sommariva,
with balustraded terraces and gardens of roses. It was pur-
chased in 1843 for the Princess Albrecht of Prussia, from
whose daughter Charlotte, ob. 1855, it received its present
name. It is now the property of her husband, Prince
George of Saxe Meiningen. The interior (i fr.) is shown,
and contains a frieze representing the Triumph of Alexander,
executed for Count Sommariva by Thorwaldsen. In the
same hall are several statues by Canova, in the Billiard-room
a small frieze by Thorwaldsen. In the Garden-Saloon is
Napoleon as Consul, by Lazzarini.

Close to the villa (left), is Cadenabbia (Ca di navia).
Inn. Hotel Bellevue, charmingly situated, with a long terrace
on the lake. There is a good view from the Madonna di
San Martina on the rock behind the town, but the views
from this place are inferior to those from Bellaggio, which is
itself the most conspicuous feature from hence, and not a
beautiful one.

(Travellers for Lecco change steamers at Cadenabbia. The Lecco
arm of the lake is of a more savage character than the rest, and its sides
are much more abrupt. The steamer runs three times a week, some-
times oftener. Lecco (Inns. Albergo cT Italia, Croce di Malta} is de-
scribed in the ' Promessi Sposi ' of Manzoni. It is hardly deserving of a
separate visit, though it may be the object of an excursion for those who
stay long at Bellaggio. )

Right, Bellaggio, on the promontory between the Lecco
and Como arms of the lake.

(Inns. Hotel de la Grande Bretagne, an immense bui'ding, but
quite one of the best hotels in Italy, admirably managed and with large
gardens. More delightful, however, is the succursale of this hotel, the
former Villa Serbelloni, situated high up on the hill-side, in the love'y
grounds which give Bellaggio its principal charm. Pension at both
these, for not less than eight days, is 12 frs , everything included. No

BELLAGGIO. 199

more charming residence can be found for a week than the Villa Ser-
belloni : rooms with a view should of course be insisted upon.

The Hotel Genazzini, close to the lake, is also excellent, and has a
little terrace upon the water, half-smothered in roses. The new Grand
Hotel at the landing-place is comfortable, but very inferior in its
attractions.

Those who stay at the Hotel de la Grande Bretagne should always
remember to ask the landlord for a medal of free admittance to his
grounds of the Villa Serbelloni, otherwise they will either be charged
i fr. or be turned back after a hot walk up the hill.

Carriages are enormously dear at Bellaggio and the charges should
be resisted. )

Bellaggio is altogether one of the most charming places in
Italy, for those who are content to be quiet for a time. But
after having visited the Villa Serbelloni, and enjoyed its
lovely terraces, there is not much to be seen. The Villa
Me!si\ belonging to the Duca di Melsi, and the Villa Giulia,
the property of the King of the Belgians, near the lake, have
pleasant gardens. Behind is an avenue of cypresses and an
old campanile, which artists will probably sketch. Excur-
sions may be made to Varenna, Villa Carlotta, &c. The
view from the windows of the Villa Serbelloni will be recalled
by the lines : —

' Sublime, but neither bleak nor bare,
Nor misty are the mountains there,
Softly sublime — profusely fair,
Up to their summits clothed in green
And fruitful as the vales between,
They lightly rise,
And scale the skies,
And groves and gardens still abound ;
For where no shoot
Could else take root

The peaks are shelved, and terraced round.
Earthward appears in mingled growth

The mulberry and maize, above
The trellis'd vine extends to both

The leafy shade they love.
Looks out the white-wall'd cottage here,
The lowly chapel rises near ;
Far down the foot must roam to reach
The lovely lake and bending beach ;
While chestnut green and olive gray ;
Chequer the steep and winding way.' — Henry Taylor.

200 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

Right, beyond the entrance to the Lake of Lecco,
Varenna (Inn. Albergo Reale — good), beautifully situated.
In the hill above are the ruins of the Torre del Vezio, Some
of the gardens are lovely, and the dark spires of the cypresses
stand out gloriously against the shining water.

The upper part of the Lake of Como is of less interest.
Above Musso (left) is the castle of the Count of that name,
who, after the battle of Pavia, 1525, established an inde-
pendent principality which embraced the whole Lake of
Como. On the left are Dongo and the large village of
Gravedona. Those who are interested in ecclesiastical anti-
quities should not fail to make an excursion to the latter
place. It has a basilica dedicated to S. Vincenzo, which
contains in its sacristy a most glorious 15th-century proces-
sional cross of silver inlaid with gems, a beautiful chalice,
and other precious ornaments of the same date. Close by,
beautifully situated, is a very curious ancient Baptistery,
built of alternate courses of white marble and black lime-
stone. It is only 40 ft. in length, and retains its ancient
frescoes in the interior. A large villa here was built by
Cardinal Gallio.

Colico (Inn. Albergo Piazza Garibaldi — very indifferent)
is in the low land at the head of the lake. From hence
there are diligences to Chiavenna (Inn. Hotel Conradi, ex-
cellent), the ancient Clavenna — from its being the key of
the Alpine passes — most brilliantly situated, with picturesque
campaniles and an old castle of the De Salis family. The
beer of Chiavenna is delicious, and justly celebrated. Here
the ascent of the Splugen begins, through beautiful vine-
yards and chestnut forests. The Swiss frontier is entered
after passing the thoroughly Italian village of Campo
Dolcino.

Those who do not purpose crossing the Splugen may
make a most pleasant excursion from Bellaggio or Menaggio
by sleeping one night at Chiavenna, and it is well worth
while, for the sake of the lovely chestnut forests, which are
more beautiful than anywhere else in Italy. There is also a

CHIAVENNA. 201

very curious old mortuary to be seen, fitted round with
skulls in patterns.

' Chiavenna is certainly amongst the most extraordinary places I ever
beheld. Its situation resembles tha't of Aosta and Bellinzona, and I
think, if possible, it surpasses them both. The mountains by which it
is enclosed are formed of that hard dark rock which is so predominant
in the lower parts of the Alps on the Italian side, and which gives them
so decided a character. Above Chiavenna their height is unusually
great, and their magnificence, both in the ruggedness of their forms and
the steepness of their cliffs, as in the gigantic size of the fragments which
they have thrown down into the valley, and in the luxuriance of their
chestnut woods, is of the very highest degree. The effect, too, is greater,
because the valley is so much narrower than that of the Ticino at Bellin-
zona, or of the Dorea Baltea at Aosta ; in fact, the stream is rather a
torrent than a river, but full and impetuous, and surprisingly clear,
although the snowy Alps from which it takes its source rise at very little
distance ; but their substance apparently is harder than that of the Alps
about Mont Blanc, and the torrents therefore are far purer than the
Dorea or the Arve. In the very midst of the town of Chiavenna, now
covered with terrace walls and vineyards to its very summit, stands an
enormous fragment of rock, once detached from the neighbouring moun-
tains, and rising to the height, I suppose, of seventy or eighty feet. It
was formerly occupied by a fortress built on its top by the Spaniards, in
their wars in the north of Italy ; but it all looks quiet and peaceful
now. ... It is impossible to picture anything more beautiful than a
scramble among these mountains. You are in a wood of the most mag-
nificent trees, shaded from the sun, yet not treading on mouldering
leaves or damp earth, but on a carpet of the freshest spring turf, rich
with all sorts of flowers. You have the softness of an upland meadow
and the richness of an English park, yet you are in the midst of masses
of rock, now rearing their steep sides in bare cliffs, now hung with the
senna and the broom, now carpeted with turf, and only showing their
existence by the infinitely-varied form which they give to the ground,
the numberless deep dells, and green amphitheatres, and deliciously
smooth platforms, all caused by the ruins of the mountains which have
thus broken and studded its surface, and are yet so mellowed by the rich
vegetation which time has given them, that they now only soften its
character.

' We drove a little way up the valley of Chiavenna to see a waterfall,
which is beautiful in itself as all waterfalls must be, but its peculiar
charm was this, that instead of falling amidst copsewood, as the falls in
Wales and England generally do, or amidst mere shattered rocks, like
that fine one in the Valais near Martigny — here, on the contrary, the
water fell over a cliff of black rock into a deep rocky basin, and then as
it flowed down in its torrent it ran beneath a platform of the most

2D2 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

delicious grass, on which the great chestnut trees stood about as finely
as in an English park, and rose almost to a level w.th the top of the fall,
\vhile the turf underneath them was steeped in a perpetual dew from the
sjfray.

' The unrivalled beauty of the chestnut woods was again remarkable
on the road to Isola, on the way to the Splugen, in the valley of the Lima.
It is rather a gorge than a valley, so closely do the mountains approach
one another, while the torrent is one succession of falls. Yet just in one
place, where the road by a succession of zigzags had wound up to the
level of the top of the falls, and where the stream -was running for a
short space as gentle and as limpid as one of the clear rapid chalk
streams of the south of Hampshire, the turf sloped down gently from the
road to the stream, the great chestnut trees spread their branches over
it,, and just on its smooth margin was a li'tle chapel, with those fresco
paintings on its walls which are so constant a remembrance of Italy.
Across the stream there was the same green turf and the same chestnut
shade, and if you did not lift your eyes high into the sky, to notice the
barrier of insurmountable cliff and mountain which surrounded you on
each side, you would have had no other images before you than those of
the softest and most delicate repose, and of almost luxuriant enjoyment. '
— Dr. Arnold's Journals.

Most travellers cross at once from Bellaggio to Menaggio.
Inn. Vittoria.

(Tickets to Lugano may be taken on board the boat (including the
omnibus to Porlezza and the boat from thence), which will save trouble.
A small addition is paid for the difference between Swiss and Italian
money. Omnibuses with coupe (i fr. extra) start soon after the arrival
of the boat.)

It is a drive of about 2 hrs., over a richly wooded ridge
of hills, from Menaggio to Porlezza. The road descends
upon the tiny Lake of Piano, then to Porlezza (Inn. Hotel
del Lago), the harbour at the eastern end of the Lake of
Lugano.

The Lake of Lugano, taken as a whole, is inferior in
beauty to the other lakes. In the Porlezza arm the hills at
the sides, which rise abruptly from the water, have rounded
forms, and only attain the dignity of mountains at the two
ends of the reach. The Monte S. Salvadore above Lugano
is always a striking feature. On the right bank is the very
picturesque village of Sandria, with 'houses rising directly

LUGANO.

203

from the water. On turning the promontory beyond this,
we come in sight of Lugano (which has a station on the
S. Gothard line of railway between Bellinzona and Como).

Inns. Hotel du Pare, an old monastery converted into a comfortable,
reasonable, and excellent hotel, with a pleasant garden. It has a more
delightful succursale in the Villa Beau Sejour (close by), with lovely
gardens and terraces upon the lake. Other hotels are the Washington,
Bellevne, and Couronne.

Lugano is pretty, but has little special attraction, so that
travellers pressed for time will proceed at once to Luino or
Varese, only stopping to visit the Church of S. Maria degli
Angeli (joining the Hotel du Pare — the steamer for Varese
stays long enough to allow of seeing this), which contains
glorious frescoes of Bernardino Luini, 1529, interesting as
being the most northern frescoes of any importance.

(h<er the Chancel Arch. The Passion. The immense crowd of
figures which tell the whole story of the Crucifixion are grouped below
the three crosses, which divide the whole composition. Behind are
seen, the Trial, the Bearing of the Cross, the Burial, and the Unbelief
of Thomas. Still beyond, as in vision, are seen, behind the Trial, the
Agony in the Garden ; behind the picture of the Unbelief, the Ascen-
sion. Beneath are SS. Sebastian and Roch — saints of whose repetition
Italian travellers going south will weary before they leave the country,

Right, \st ChapeL Madonna and Child, with S. John the Baptist
and a lamb — most beautiful.

Right (on pillar). The dead Christ supported by two monks.

Left. The Last Supper, in three fragments.

. In front of this church is a statue of William Tell by
the native sculptor Vincenzo Vela^ surmounting a fountain.
Beyond the Beau Sejour, near the shore, is a bust of
Washington, ' magnum saeculorum decus.' In the Giardini
Ciani is the statue called ' La Desolazione,' by Vela.

The ascent of Monte S. Salvadore is frequently made
from Lugano. It is perfectly easy (no guide needed), mono-
tonous and fatiguing, and occupies about 2\ hrs. to the top.
There is little to be seen till you reach the chapel on the
summit, whence the view is glorious.

It is a drive of about 2\ hrs. from Lugano to Luino
(diligence 2\ frs. ; carnage with 2 horses, 20 frs. ; with i

204 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

horse, 10 frs.) The road passes the little Lake of Muzzano,
and, entering the Italian frontier at Fomasette, descends to
Luino (Inn. Hotel du Simplori). Here Bernardo Luini was
born, 1460. In the principal church are some of his frescoes.

The steamer from Lugano to Porto (i fr. 50 c.) follows
the southern arm of the lake and passes under the railway
bridge of Bissone. Beyond this a gulf of the lake opens on
the left to CapoJago. On the right is the picturesque village
of Morcate, with a church and Lombard campanile well
placed high on the rocks. Here the last arm of the lake,
hitherto quite concealed, turns to the north-west. At the
end of the bay is Porto. At the landing-place is the Italian
Custom- House, and here a public carriage (i^ fr. — or 2 frs.
to the Grand Hotel) is waiting to take passengers to
Varese. It ascends by a pleasant road into wooded up-
lands, passes through the villages of Bisuschio arid Arcisate
and, in about 2 hrs., reaches Varese, a handsome dull town.
(Inns. Europa, Corona, Stella; or, i m. outside the town,
the excellent Grand Hotel de Varese, where there is English
Church-Service during summer.) The older part of the
town has cool, pleasant arcades, but there is not much to
see. The Church of S. Vittore, which has a campanile by
Pellegrino (1516), contains a S. George by Crespi, and a
Magdalen by Morazzone. But it is worth while to visit
Varese, if you stay at the Grand Hotel, and have the magni-
ficent sunset view. In the day one often seems only to look
down over richly planted country to the Lake of Varese,
which is embosomed in low wooded hills, between which
glimpses may be caught of the further miniature Lakes of
Monate and Comabbio. The country seems comparatively
featureless, though of the rich character described by Henry

Taylor—

' I stood beside Varese's Lake,

Mid that redundant growth
Of vines and maize and bower and brake

Which Nature, kind to sloth,
And scarce solicited by human toil,
Pours from the riches of the teeming soil.'

SACRO MONTE DI VARESE. 205

But on fine evenings, as the sun sinks, there is a most
glorious revelation. The Alpine range stands out behind
the lake against the crimson sky — Monte Rosa, Mont
Cervin, and a hundred other peaks, ending with Monte
Vise.

Two excursions should be made from Varese, which
(though in opposite directions) may easily be taken in one
long morning by any one who is pressed for time. j

It is a drive of afyout ^ hr. (carriage from Grand Hotel 3^ /"
frs.) to the foot of the Sacro Monte, about 2^ miles north of
the town. Hence a steep path paved with pebbles leads up
the hill (horse i fr. 50 c. — but it is better to walk, as you
must constantly dismount to see the chapels), pleasantly
shaded by chestnut trees. At every turn of the road is a
chapel, all different, and often of great architectural merit,
containing a terra-cotta group, with life-size figures illustra-
tive of some event of the Sacred History connected with
the different Mysteries of the Rosary. The whole is a sort
of terra-cotta Ober Ammergau-play. The events occur in
the following order : —

i. The Conception.

2- The Annunciation. The homely details of the cottage interior,
the rush-bottomed chairs, pots and pans, &c. , give great reality
to this scene.

3. The Visitation. The donkey and dog, and other by-flay intro-

duced, is very effective.

4. The Nativity.

»V 5- The Circumcision. This chapel is an architectural gem.

i 6. Christ amid the Doctors. Some of the figures are wonderfully

full of character.
^ 7. The Agony in the Garden.

8. The Sepulchre. This is introduced here by the same principle

of < anticipation ' which makes the Roman Catholic Church
celebrate the Burial of Our Lord on Holy Thursday, before
the Crucifixion.

9. The Flagellation.

10. The Crowning with Thorns— some of the faces of the mockers

are quite horrible.

11. The Bearing of the Cross, and the Coming of Scholastica.
i?. The Crucifixion.

13. The Resurrection.

2o5 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

14. The Ascension.

15. The Day of Pentecost.

1 6. The Assumption.

There is a fountain with a colossal statue of Moses, by
Gaetano Monti, at the entrance of the little village for the
sale of medals and other relics. At the summit of the hill
is a picturesque church — La Madonna del Monte, rich in
stucco and colour, and containing terra-cotta groups of the
Adoration of the Magi and the Purification.

' Over the first of the chapels on the ascent is written, " Her founda-
tions are upon the holy hills," and other passages of Scripture upon the
succeeding ones. I confess, the figures in the chapels seemed to me
anything but absurd ; from the solemnity of the place altogether, and
from the goodness of the execution, I looked on them with no disposi-
tion to laugh or to criticise. But what I did not expect was the ex-
ceeding depth and richness of the chestnut shade, through which the
road partially ran, only coming out at every turning to the extreme edge
of the mountain, and so commanding the view on every side. But
when we got to the summit we saw a path leading up to the green edge
of a cliff on the mountain above, and we thought if we could get there
we should probably see Lugano. Accordingly, on we walked ; till just
at sunset we got out to the crown of the ridge, the brow of an almost
precipitous cliff, looking down the whole mountain of S. del Maria Monte,
which on this side presented nothing but a large mass of rock and cliff,
a perfect contrast to the rich wood of its other side. But neither S.
Maiia del Monte, nor the magnificent view of the plain of Lombardy —
one mass of rich verdure, enlivened with its thousand white houses
and church towers — was the object which we most gazed upon. We
looked westward full upon the whole range of mountains, behind
which, in a cloudless sky, the sun had just descended. It is utterly
idle to attempt the description of such a scene. I counted twelve
successive mountain outlines between us and the farthest horizon ; and
the most remote of all, the high peaks of the Alps, were brought out
strong and dark in the glowing sky, behind them, so that their edge
seemed actually to cut it. Immediately below, our eyes plunged into
a depth of chestnut forest, varied as usual with meadows and villages,
and beyond, embosomed amidst the nearer mountains, lay the Lake of
Lugano. As if everything combined to make the scene perfect, the
mountain on which we stood was covered with the Daphne Cneorum.'
— Dr. Arnold's Journals.

It is about i hour's drive (carriage 8 frs.) from Varese to
Castiglione d> Olona, a pleasant village, beautifully situated

CASTIGLIONE &OLONA. 207

in a wooded valley with a clear stream running through it.
Opposite the Piazza del Padre Eterno ( !) is an old palace
with terra-cotta ornaments. The pretty little renaissance
Chiesa di Villa is adorned outside with gigantic stone
statues of SS. Anthony and Christopher. Hence, a steep
path paved with pebbles ascends to the Parrocchia, a noble
brick church, with stone and terra-cotta ornaments. Over
the west door, of 1428, is a relief of the Madonna throned,
with four saints and the founder, Branda, Cardinal of S.
Clemente. On the left of the choir is his beautiful tomb
job. 1443), a sarcophagus with his statue, supported by four
crowned figures. The frescoes of the choir are noble works
of Masolino, the pupil of Masaccio. The six compartments
of the roof are occupied by the Story of the Madonna — The
Annunciation, Coronation, Marriage, Adoration of the Magi,
Assumption, Nativity. In the central medallion is the
Saviour in benediction. On the left wall is the Story of S.
Laurence— his almsgiving, administration of baptism, death.
On the right wall is the Story of S. Stephen, but it has
almost perished.

In the Sacristy is an interesting collection of old church
plate, illuminated choir-books, an ivory casket, and a small
Annunciation by Masolino. The chapel on the right of the
choir contains a curious 15th-century altar, with figures of
the Saviour and the twelve Apostles.

The Baptistery is separated from the church, at the other
end of its little enclosure. It is covered with frescoes by
Masolino, telling the story of the Baptist, some of them
most beautiful.

Right Wall. The Feast of Herod. The daughter of Herodias
bringing the head to her mother.

On the Arch. Six Saints.

Tribune. The Imprisonment. The Preaching. The Baptism of
the Saviour. ' Behold the Lamb of God '—in this
the figure of the Saviour is of exquisite beauty.

On the vault of the 7ribnne is God the Father.

On the vault cf the Baptistery, The Four Evangelists, with the
Lamb.

2o8 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

Varese is connected with Milan by a branch from Galla-
rate on the line which goes by Rlw in 3 hours to Arona, the
pleasantest place at the lower end of the Lago Maggiore.

The Lago Maggiore (the Langensee of the Germans) is
the Lacus Verbanus of the Romans. It is 54 m. long, and
3 m. broad at its greatest breadth. Many will consider this
lake even more delightful than that of Como. Its most beau-
tiful point probably is Baveno. Those who wish to explore
it thoroughly will stay at Arona, Baveno, and Locarno,
and it is only in this way that the lake can be enjoyed, for
the voyage part of the Italian lakes is certainly pleasanter in
recollection than reality ; then you can forget the smoke
and the blacks, the people who ate the greasy cutlets, and the
horrible smells.

Arona (Inns. Albergo Reale, most excellent and reason-
able. Italia, better view) is a dirty little town with narrow
streets, but the hotels are charmingly situated and the neigh-
bourhood lovely. Though at the flat end of the lake, Arona
has a beautiful view towards the mountains, and of the fine
old Castle of Anger a, a fief of the Borromei, which crowns a
wood-crested rock on the other side of the water. In the
Church of S. Maria is a beautiful altar-piece of the Madonna
and Child with saints, by Gaudenzio Vinci.

About i^ mile from the town is the colossal Statue of
S. Carlo Borromeo, modelled by Cerano, from designs of
Crespi, and erected in 1697 at the expense of the inhabitants
and the Borromeo family. The statue is 66 ft. high on a
pedestal of 40 ft. The head, hands, and feet are of bronze,
the rest of copper. Visitors sometimes commit the folly of
ascending into the head.

Carlo Borromeo, born in 1537, was the second son of Count
Borromeo, the representative of one of the noblest families in Lom-
bardy. Dedicated to the Church from infancy, he was created Cardinal
and Archbishop of Milan by his uncle Pope Pius IV. when he was
only in his 23rd year. His life at the papal court was without reproach.
In his 26th year, on the death of his elder brother Federigo, he inherhed

STRESA, ISOLA BELLA. 209

the Borromeo estates, but only made use of their revenues, as well as
of those of the diocese, for charity, living upon bread and water him-
self, and sleeping upon straw. He travelled as a missionary through
all parts of his bishopric, penetrating even to the remotest villages and
knots of shepherds' huts amongst the mountains. His regard for
Church discipline, and the severity with which he enforced morality
upon his priesthood, made him many enemies, and a Franciscan monk
fired at him in his chapel, strangely enough just as he was singing the
evening anthem — ' Non turbetur cor meum neque formidet.' The
bullet glanced aside from the stiff gold embroidery on his cope, and he
lived to show the most wonderful personal devotion to his people
during the plague at Milan in 1575, besides selling his great property
of Oria for 40,000 crowns, for the benefit of the poor and suffering at
that time. Though he constantly exposed his life for others, he failed
to take the infection, but died, Nov. 4, 1584, in his 46th year — breathing
out, in a sort of dying rapture, the words 'Ecce venio.' He was
canonised in 1610 by Paul V., and is still revered throughout his diocese
as ' il buon santo. '

Steamers leave Arona for the ascent of the lake three
times daily, calling at all the principal stations. We may
notice : —

Left, Belgirate, where is the large Hotel Borromeo, in a
very unattractive situation.

Left, Stresa. Hotel des lies Borromees, excellent, im-
mense, and a very good centre, but the situation is inferior
to Baveno.

Nearly opposite Stresa is the Isola Bella (Hotel Delfino, <
very good), the first of the three Borromean Isles, which
should certainly be visited, though every succeeding traveller
will form a different impression as to its beauties, which are
entirely artificial— the earth which covers the slate rock
having all been brought from a distance. Burnet, for in-
stance, calls it ' an enchanted island ' and * the finest sum-
mer residence in the world.' Southey, writing to Landor,
says, * Isola Bella is at once the most costly and the most
absurd effort of bad taste that has ever been produced by
wealth and extravagance,' while Saussure describes it as ' un
magnifique caprice, une pensee grandiose, une espece de
creation.'

There are two ppints to be visited (i fr.)— the Palace,

VOL. i. p

2io THE ITALIAN LAKES.

and the Gardens. Those who have seen few other palaces
may be amused by walking through the rooms, where the old
carved frames are much finer than the pictures, which, for
the most part, are mere daubs, and where the real attraction
lies in the lovely views of the lake from the windows. Im-
mediately beneath the walls, shoals of fish may be seen
swimming in the deep clear water. In the chapel are some
magnificent tombs of the Borromeo family, removed from
the conventual church of S. Francesco at Milan, suppressed
in 1848.

'Two very important monuments by Omodeo (1447-1520) may
be seen in the family chapel of the Borromei. One is that of Giovanni
Borromeo, the other that of an unknown member of the family. Both
were originally erected in the church of S. Pietro in Gessate at Milan.
The knightly statues are dignified and noble, while the bas-reliefs show
the usual skill of Omodeo in composition and delicate chiselling.'—
Perkins's 'Italian Sculptors.''

The present owners of the palace are five brothers, Counts
Borromeo, who only reside here in the autumn.

The Gardens consist of a pyramidal succession of ten
terraces, raised one above another, terminating in a square.
They all have gravel walks, shaded by orange and lemon
trees, and adorned with all the statues and grottoes which
were beloved in the i7th century, and to which age has
given a sort of quaint beauty. The wonders of the vegeta-
tion here have been greatly exaggerated. There is a fine
camphor tree, but of the camellias, bamboos, and almost
all the other plants, better specimens may be seen in the
gardens near Penzance, or even at Torquay, and here,
nearly everything requires protection in the winter. There
is a graceful group of Aleppo pines, and some of the views
are charming.

It is about 20 min. in a boat from hence to the Isola
Madre — which contains another palace, but unfinished and
uninhabited — of which the grounds are more park-like, and
where Nature has been allowed to help herself.

* On debarque ; sur les parois du rebord, des aloes aux feuilles
massives, des figuiers d'Inde aux larges raquettes chauffent au soleil

BAVENO. 2ii

leur vegetation tropicale ; des allees de citronniers tournent le long des
murailles, et leurs fruits verts ou jaunes se collent centre les quartiers
de roche. Quatre etages d'assises vont ainsi se superposant sous leur
parure de plantes precieuses. Au sommet, 1'ile est une touffe de ver-
dure qui bombe au-dessus de 1'eau ses massifs de feuillage, lauriers,
chenes-verts, platanes, grenadiers, arbres exotiques, glycines en fleur,
buissons d'azaleas epanouis. On marche enveloppe de fraicheur et de
parfums ; personne, sauf un gardien ; Pile est deserte et semble attendre
un jeune prince et une jeune fee pour abriter leur fiaru^ailles ; toute
tapissee de fins gazons et d'arbres fleuris, elle n'est plus qu'un beau bou-
quet matinal, rose, blanc, violet, autour duquel voltigent les abeilles ;
ses prairies immaculees sont constellees de primeveres et d'anemones ;
les paons et les faisans y promenent pacifiquement leurs robes d'or
t'toilees d'yeux ou vernissees de pourpre, souverains incontestes dans un
peuple de petits oiseaux qui sautillent et se repondent. ' — Taine.

The third island, Isola del Pescatori, is the most pictur-
esque feature in all the views, and contains a crowded knot
of fishermen's houses. Lodgings may sometimes be obtained
here in summer. The islands may all be visited by boat
in one morning, if the visitor is dropped by one steamer at
Isola Bella, and goes on by the next to —

Baveno. (Inn. Hotel Bellevue, excellent, with pleasant )£•
<er^arden and lovely views ; Beau Rivage ; Grand Hotel. ! )
This is altogether the best point on the lake for a long halt.
Baveno possesses perhaps the most beautiful English church
on the continent, built for Mr. Henfrey by R. P. Pullan.
The plan is octagonal, with a short chancel and two lateral
porches. The roof is supported by eight granite columns, and
the local marbles have been freely used in the interior. The
church is situated in the grounds of Villa Clara, inhabited
by Queen Victoria of England for a few weeks in 1879. The
walks behind the old church and its painted cloister into the
chestnut wood are delightful. A pleasant excursion may
be made by water to the Convent of S. Cater ina, overhanging
the lake on the opposite shore.

(Nearly opposite the Borromean Islands an arm of the
lake opens towards the west, admitting a view of Monte Rosa.

1 Pension, 10 frs. The charges for carriages, of 8 frs. the first hour, and 5 frs. every
hour afterwards, are quite ludicrously extortionate for Italy, and should be made the
subject of constant remonstrance.

P 2

212 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

At the end of this gulf is Gravellona, whence the Simplon
road runs up to Domo d'Ossola (Inn. Postd], a thoroughly
Italian town to those just coming from Switzerland, and de-
voted with frantic enthusiasm to the worship of S. Filo-
mena, a purely imaginary saint of the Catacomb of S.
Priscilla, formed out of the discovery of the fragmentary in-
scription—lumena pax te cum fi— near the skeleton of a
female figure.

On the way to Domo d' Ossola, at Vogogna, a road
diverges upon the left to the Val Anzasca, perhaps the
most beautiful mountain valley either in Switzerland or
Italy. The richest foregrounds of walnuts, chestnuts, and
vines, combine with the most glorious view of Monte Rosa.
Artists will find their most attractive subjects at Castiglione,
at Pante Grande, and at Macugnaga, which is 4,389 ft. above
the sea, and very close beneath the magnificent mass of
Monte Rosa. This may be reached in four or five hours from
Vogogna. At Ponte Grande and Macugnaga are excellent
country inns.)

Opposite Baveno is —

Left, Pallanza, an ugly town, very hot, and with a vieAv
very much inferior to that from Baveno. The Hotel Pallanza
is a vast new building opposite a small island. Continuing
to ascend the lake, we pass —

Left, Infra (Inns. De la Ville, Leone d'Oro], a large,
dull town. The Marchese Pallavicini has a beautiful garden
here.

Right, Laveno (the steamers only stop here twice daily.
Inn. Postd). There is a view from hence of Monte Rosa.

Right, Luino (Inns. Simplon, Vittoria}. The birth-place
(1460) of the painter Bernardo Luini, by whom there is a
fresco in the church. The place has no especial beauty.

Right, Macagno Inferiore, an exceedingly picturesque
village.

Left, Canobbio, i m. inland are the summer baths and
pension of La Salute, with a lovely view.

At the head of the lake is —

LOCARNO.

213

Left, Locarno (Tnns. Grand Hotel, Corona, Svizzero).
There is nothing to see in the village, but good walkers
should not fail to ascend the hill behind to the Convent of
La Madonna del Sasso, founded in 1487. The convent is
not remarkable, but by scrambling round some of the little
paths behind it, a point may be reached — well known to
our water-colour artists — in which it combines with the cliffs
and the deep wooded gorges in the foreground, and the

La Madonna del Sasso.

mountains and still lake behind, in a manner which is truly
enchanting.

It is not generally known that Locarno was one of the
first places to join the Reformation in Italy. Its inhabitants
were required to embrace the Romish faith or submit to
banishment, and. as they preferred the latter, 200 families
were driven from their homes, March 3, 1555, and forced
through the ice-laden Alps, to take refuge in the Grisons.
The papal nuncio had sent officers to seize the principal
lady of Locarno, Barbara di Montalto, on a charge of

214 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

blaspheming the mass, but she escaped by a secret door
leading to the lake, while her pursuers were in the house.

(The Val Maggia is most easily explored from Locarno.
A country omnibus plies daily up the valley to Bignasco,
one of the loveliest spots in the Italian Alps. Beyond this
the Val Lavizzana, a picturesque ravine, leads to Fusio,
where there is a good hotel. The tributary glens of Val
Bavona and Val di Prato are also full of beauty. From S.
Carlo, in the Val di Prato, the pedestrian may cross by the
Passo di Redorta, to the Val Verzasca, for the most part a
wild and narrow cleft in the mountains, which opens upon
Lago Maggiore at the village of Gordola, opposite
Magadino.)

The beautiful Lake of Orta, the ' Lacus Ubartus,' is di-
vided from the Lago Maggiore by the Monte Monterone,
which rises behind Baveno. It is about 6 m. long by i^ m.
broad. At the upper end of the lake is the picturesque but
dirty town of O?negna • at the lower end, on the eastern shore,
is the charming little town of Orta.

(Orta may be reached by carriage — (12 frs. with one horse) in about
2^ hours from Arona — and in about 2\ hours, from Baveno, by Gravel-
lona. It is a walk of 7 hours from Baveno to Orta over the Monte
Monterone.

Travellers coming from Milan or Turin may take the branch -line ot
railway from Novara to Gozzano, whence there is an omnibus (i fr. 25
c. ; coupe I fr. 50 c.) — by Bolzano, which has a castle of the bishops,
•t and Buccione, which has an old castle— to Orta.

Diligence from Gozzano to Omegna 2 frs. 50 c. Coupe 3 frs.)

Orta (Inns. Ronchetti or S. Giulio, and L&MW d^Oro,
both good and delightfully situated) is a delightful little
place, full of colour -and beauty. The lovely lake laps in
close under the windows, and the gardens are smothered in
flowers. Close by rises the Sacro Monte, with its ascent by
22 chapels, with groups in terra-cotta, a miniature of those
at Varallo and Varese. Opposite Orta is the marvellously
picturesque hola di San Giulio, throwing bright reflections
upon the water. It contains a very curious church with a

CRT A, VARALLO.

215

grand old pulpit, and the grave of S. Giulio, who died here
in 379. He is said to have delivered the island from a
monstrous serpent, and the vertebrae of a whale are shown
in proof of this.

Immediately opposite Orta, on the western shore of the
lake (20 min.), is Pella, a village where mules (6 frs.) may be
obtained for crossing the mountain ridge to Varallo, an
excursion of about four hours. The path leads chiefly
through woods, and has some good views of Monte Rosa,
but the scenery has been rather too enthusiastically praised.
There is an exquisitely picturesque chapel, painted by ;
pupils of Gaudenzio Ferrari, where the bridle-path falls into \
the carriage-road near Varallo.

Varallo may also be reached by carriage via Gozzano, Borgomanero,
and Romagnano (where Chevalier Bayard fell, 1524). Those who
come from Milan or Turin would leave the railway at the Borgomanero
station on the Novara-Gozzano line.

Varallo.

Varallo (Inns. Posta, Italia) is a most beautiful place in
the romantic valley of the Sest'a, which rises near the foot of
Monte Rosa, and enters the Po near Vercelli. The town is
embosomed in delicious chestnut woods, and has a lofty

216 THE ITALIAN LAKES.

bridge of three arches, and several old churches, in one of
which, S. Gaudenzio, is an altar-piece, by Gaudenzio Ferrari,
in six compartments.1 On the wall dividing the nave from
the choir of S. Maria delle Grazie, near the foot of the
Sacro Monte, is a series of beautiful frescoes by the same
master, executed 1510-1513, illustrating the principal events
in the life of our Saviour.
^L Varallo is chiefly visited for the sake of ascending the
extraordinary pilgrimage hill of Sacro Monte, which is 50
chapels. The design of this sanctuary first originated with
the monk Bernardino Caimo, who died in 1496, and who
fixed his abode here on his return from Palestine, as being
the place in Italy most like Jerusalem. The visits of S.
Carlo in 1578 and 1584 afterwards gave zest to the work,
and he sent to it Pellegrino Tibaldi, by whom the outer gate
and the chapel of Adam and Eve were built. The winding
ascent through chestnut- woods is very beautiful. Many of
the terra-cotta groups in the chapels are simply fantastic,
others are really beautiful as works of art ; all are wonder-
fully vivid, and of a nature which lays hold of the imagina-
tion of the peasants who visit them, and fixes an impression
for ever. Up to the representation of the Agony in the
Garden, most of the groups are attributed to Giovanni
d* Enrico, and the frescoes to Melchiorre Gilandini, but
Giovanni died in 1644, and other hands continued his work.
The principal subjects are : —

' Adam and Eve— the Fall— as the need for the Coming of Christ.

The Annunciation.
* The Visitation.
^ The Nativity.
** The Circumcision.
/ The Flight into Egypt.

* The Massacre of the Innocents (by Giacomo Bargnola di Valsolda).
/ The Baptism in Jordan.
/ The Temptation.
| The Woman of Samaria.

{The Healing of the Paralytic.
^ The Widow of Nain.

1 For an account of Gaudenzio Ferrari see chap. vi.

VAL DE LYS, VAL MASTELLONE. 217

/ The Transfiguration.
X The Raising of Lazarus.
"*" The Entry into Jerusalem.
The Last Supper.

f The Agony in the Garden.
* The Betrayal.

( The Trial before Caiaphas.
^ The Trial before Pilate,
\ The Trial before Herod.
/" The Buffeting.
/ The Flagellation.
/ The Condemnation.

V^The Cross- Bearing.

— The Nailing to the Cross.

^The Crucifixion (the beautiful frescoes here are by Gaudenzio
Ferrari).

K-The Deposition.
*The Burial.

Between these, other minor subjects, and figures of saints, are occasion-
ally introduced.

At the summit is an imitation of the Scala Santa,
ascended step by step, upon their knees, by the pilgrims,
who kiss each step in advance.

(An excursion may be made from Varallo to the head of
Val Sesia, where, at Alagna, is a good inn. Passes lead
over to Gressoney S. Jean in the Val de Lys, an admirable
starting-point for many mountain excursions, and where
very tolerable accommodation may be found (Hotels. Monte
Rosa, De la Pierre}. In another direction a carriage road leads
through Val Mastdlone, celebrated for its exquisite and
ever-shifting landscapes, to Fobello (good inn). Thence the
easy Barranca mule-pass leads (5 hrs.) to Ponte Grande.

218 BERGAMO AND THE LA GO D'ISEO.

CHAPTER XL

BERGAMO AND THE LA GO D* ISEO.

(By the quick train (8 frs. 35 c. ; 6 frs. 55 c. ) it is only an hour's
journey from Milan to Bergamo. There is nothing to remark upon the
way.)

BERGAMO is a most beautiful place, and must on no
account be unvisited. It consists of an upper and
lower town ; the former, the Citta, being the aristocratic
quarter, surrounded by bastions and gates ; while the latter,
called Borgo and Sottoborgo, are full of gay shops, chiefly
jewellery, and possess some thriving silk-factories.

(The Albergo a" Italia is the best hotel, Albergo di Venezia is toler-
able — both in the lower town. )

Bergamo occupies the site of the ancient Bergonum. Under the
Lombards it was the seat of a Duchy. In the Middle Ages it espoused
the Ghibelline cause and fought on the side of Milan against Lodi
(1335) and Brescia (1337).

In the fourteenth century it was ruled by the Visconti, in the
beginning of the fifteenth by the Suardi, who sold the government to
Pandolfo Malatesta, from whom it passed into the hands of Venice in
1428. After 1814 it shared the fate of the Austro-Lombardic kingdom.

The painter most represented in the churches of Bergamo is Lorenzo
Lotto, one of the leading disciples of Giorgione, wholly Venetian in his
manner. Donizetti, the composer, was born at Bergamo in 1797.

As early as 137°? Fazio degli Uberti wrote of the Bergamaschi as a
people — ' che grosso parla, ed ha sottil il senno.'

It is half-an-hour's drive from the lower town to the
upper, where all the principal objects of interest are collected
in a small space around the Cathedral.

The Lower Town consists chiefly of a long old-fashioned
street, filled with gay shops, and ending in an open space
called the Prato, where a famous fair is held, called the

THE CITTA OF BERGAMO. 219

Fiera di Sant' Alessandro, which begins in the middle of
August, and lasts for a month. It has existed ever since
the loth century, and is greatly resorted to. Close to the
church of S. Chiara is a tall column, evidently once broken
to pieces and the remnant of a pagan temple. An inscrip-
tion on the base records the tradition that it was miracul-
ously broken to pieces by S. Alessandro, the standard-bearer
of the Theban legion, to confound the idolaters, and that it
was afterwards set up again in his honour. An ancient
basilica, dedicated to S. Alessandro, stood on this spot. A

Piazza Maggiore, Bergamo.

steep road leads from hence to the Citta, which is entered
on this side by the Porta S. Giacomo. The bastions, which
are very handsome, are overgrown by sr.apdragon and
scarlet valerian, and are planted with chestnuts, forming a
most delightful promenade all round the walls, with grand
views, on one side over the mountains, on the others over
the immense Lombard plain, which is like a great green sea
from its masses of closely-planted mulberries, and an entire
flat — only the tower of Cremona breaking the long line of
faint distance.

220 BERGAMO AND THE LA GO D'ISEO.

Within the Upper Town, the streets are narrow and very
handsome, of tall stately houses. Here and there a spray
of vine clambers over a terraced pergola, or some bright
flowers relieve a dark balcony, or a bit of sculpture marks a
deserted convent or oratory. Almost all the streets lead in
time to the old Piazza Maggtore (now absurdly called
Piazza Garibaldi), which is wonderfully bright and gay in
its old age. It is a broad space paved with brick, between
which stone pathlets lead up to a fine old fountain sur-
rounded by lions. On one side is the unfinished Doric
Palazzo della Ragione, begun from designs of Scamozzi. On
the front of its left wing is a figure of Bartolommeo
Colleoni. On the other side is the stately old Broletto, with
arches and Gothic windows of grey stone, like an English
abbey. In front of one of its pillars stands a statue of
Torquato Tasso, who always regarded Bergamo as his
native place,1 and spoke of it as ' patria ' in his sonnets :
his father was born here. The upper floor of the Broletto
contains the town library. A grand Ghibelline tower rises
beside it.

* The very position of the Broletto teaches us a lesson. Forming
on one side the boundary of the Piazza Pubblico, on the other it fa«vs,
within a few feet only, the church of S. Maria Maggiore, and abuts at
one end upon the west front of the Duomo ; and to this singularly
clcse -even huddled— grouping, much of the exquisite beauty of the
whole is owing. No doubt S. Maria and the original cathedral were
built first, and then the architect of the Broletto, not fearing— as one
would fear now — to damage what has been done before, boldly throws
his work across in front of them, but upon lofty open arches, through
which glimpses just obtained of the beauties in store beyond make the
gazer even more delighted with the churches when he reaches them
than he would have been had they all been seen from the first. It is,
in fact, a notable example of the difference between ancient grouping
and modern, and one instance only out of hundreds that might be
adduced from our own country and from the Continent of the principle
upon which old architects worked ; and yet people, ignorant of real
principles in art, talk as though somewhat would be gained if we could

1 ' Terra che 1' Sevio lagna.' —Rime, \\. 448.

Also Lett. Ined. Ixxxii. Ixxxvi. cxxxi. When Tasso was imprisoned in S. Anna,
Bergamo sent to the Duke of Este a lapidary inscription he had long desired, with a
petition for the release of the prisoner.

S. MARIA MAGGIORE. 221

pull down S. Margaret's in order to let Westminster Abbey be seen ;
whereas, in truth, the certain result would be, in the fir-t place, a
great loss of scale in the Abbey seen without another building to com-
pare it with and measure it by ; and in the next, the loss of that kind
of intricacy and mystery which is one of the chief evidences of the
Gothic spirit. Let us learn from such examples as this at Bergamo
that buildings do not always require a large open space in front of them
in order to give them real dignity.' — Street's ' Brick and Marble in the
Middle Ages.'

Passing through the arches of the Broletto, we come at
once upon S. Maria Maggiore, the Colleoni Chapel, and the
Duomo.

S. Maria Maggiore is a grand Romanesque church of
black and white marble. It was begun in 1134. The
southern transept was added in 1360. On the north is a
splendid porch, removed hither from the Church of S.
Alessandro in the lower town, and consisting of three stages.
In the lower, the red Verona pillars which support the wide
portico rise from magnificent lions, around which their
whelps are playing. In the second tier is the figure of S.
Alessandro on horseback between two other saints. In the
upper story, which ends in a pyramid, are the Virgin and
Child and two saints. The whole effect is most gorgeous
and quite unique.

' All the shafts except those in the upper division are of red marble :
the highest stage of all is entirely of grey marble : in the middle stage
all the moulded parts are of red, and thetrefoiled arches and their span-
drels of grey marble : the space at the back of the open divisions and
the wall over the main arches of the porch are built in courses of red
and white marble. All the groining is divided into diamond-shaped
panels, composed alternately of black, red, and white marble, and all
the cusping of grey. The construction of the whole is very weak, and
depends altogether for its stability upon iron ties in every direction.

1 The approach to the porch, by seven steps formed alternately of
black and white marble, increases the impressiveness of the grand door-
way in front of which it is built, the whole of which is of whitish
marble, whose carved surfaces and richly moulded and traceried work
have obtained a soft yellow colour by their exposure to the changing
atmosphere, and are relieved by one- the central-shaft being executed
in purest red marble. There are three shafts in each jamb, carved,
twisted, and moulded very beautifully. These shafts are set in square

222 BERGAMO AND THE LA GO D'ISEO.

recesses, ornamented, not with mouldings, but with elaborate flat
carvings, in one place of saints, in another of animals, and with foliage
very flat in character, and mainly founded on the acanthus.

' To the English eye these columns in the doorways are some of the
most charming features of Italian architecture ; but they must be always
looked at as simply ornamental and not as constructional features ; and
perhaps in all doorways the shafts, being really incapable of supporting
any considerable weight, would be better if, by their twisting and
moulding, they were clearly shown by their architect to be meant to be
ornamental only. In the Bergamo doorway the spaces between the
shafts are so strong in their effect, though carved all over their surface,
that any lightness in the shaft is amply atoned for. Such a porch as
this northern porch at Bergamo is indeed a great treat to an ecclesiolo-
gist, teeming as it does with ideas so fresh and new, and in a small
compass giving so much of the radical points of difference between
northern and southern Gothic, and at the same time offering so beautiful
a study of constructional colouring, that it is impossible to tire of gazing
at it.' — Street's ' Brick and Marble Architecture.'1

The Southern Porch is of the same character as this, but
simpler in its details.

The Interior has been greatly modernised, but is very
handsome. In the apse is a picture of the Assumption—
the upper part with the Virgin and Angels, by Cavagna • the
lower, of the Apostles looking into the empty tomb, by
Ercole Procacdni. The inlaid stall- work, begun 1520, is
perhaps the most beautiful known anywhere, and approaches
high pictorial art. The allegorical figures usually displayed,
the arabesques, and the frieze of classical subjects, are by
Alessandro Belli. Outer coverings are removed by the
sacristan, who displays with just pride the wonderful work
within, by Francesco Capo di Ferro da Bergamo. The sculp-
tures in the choir represent the stories of Noah, Abraham,
Lot, Samson, Joab, Amasa, &c. Beneath these, the Wash-
ing of the Feet, the Last Supper, and the Agony in the
Garden, are by Alessandro Belli, from designs of Lorenzo
Lotto. The four large subjects outside the screen — the
Deluge — the Crossing of the Red Sea — Judith and Holo-
fernes (a wonderful effect of moonlight) — and the Story of
David, are by Capo di Ferro. The picturesque effect of the
choir is greatly enhanced by old tapestries suspended from

CAPPELLA COLLEONL 223

the music galleries. A chapel on right of the high-altar has
a beautiful picture of Christ in glory, with two choirs of
adoring angels, and saints beneath, by Antonio Buselli da
Bergamo. The pulpit stair, by Camillo del Capo, 1603, is a
splendid specimen of wrought-iron work. On the north wall
is an immense fresco of the tree of S. Francis, of 1347.
Near the west end of the church is the beautiful tomb of
the excellent Cardinal Longo degli Alessandri, who died at
Avignon in the, reign of John XXII. , removed here from S.
Francesco, with a modern inscription in honour of his
numerous benefactions to the town. Near this is the fine
tomb of Donizetti, the musician, ob. 1855, by the Swiss
sculptor Vela of Lugano — Music is represented weeping for
her loss. Opposite, is the tomb of another musician, Mayr
of Bergamo, ob. 1845.

Adjoining S. Maria is the Cappella Colleont, with a
beautiful front of coloured marbles, delicately wrought in
arabesques, towards the piazza. Pagan and Christian orna-
ments are strangely mingled. Julius Caesar and Trajan are
among the busts : that of Faustina comes next to S. John.
The little reliefs around the windows with scenes from
Genesis, are perfectly lovely, and among the best works of
Antonio Omodeo. The interior is much modernised, and
adorned with frescoes by Tiepoli. Opposite the entrance is
the grand tomb of Bartolommeo Colleoni, the great com-
mander, who served the Venetian Republic, and whose
famous statue stands outside the church of SS. Giovanni e
Paolo at Venice. His chief residence was near this, at
Malpaga, where the old castle, in which he lived with the
utmost splendour, still remains and may be visited. A fresco
in its courtyard by Romanino represents the chieftain being
invested with the baton of command of an army of
Crusaders by Paul II. Bartolommeo died in 1475. . His
magnificent tomb is by Giovanni- Antonio Amadeo, or Omodeo.
It consists of two sarcophagi, of which the lower rests on
'pillars supported by lions, and is adorned with statuettes of
the sons-in-law of the hero as Hercules Mars. &c. Above

224 BERGAMO AND THE LA GO D'ISEO.

are five heroes as watchers. The second sarcophagus,
adorned with statuettes of the sons and daughters of
Colleoni, supports the gilt statue of the knight. On the
lower sarcophagus are beautiful bas-reliefs of the Annun-
ciation, the Nativity, and the Coming of the Magi ; on the
upper, the Bearing of the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the
Deposition.

' Bartolommeo Colleoni was born, 1400, at Solza, in the district of
Bergamo. His father, an eminent Guelf, having been driven out of
Bergamo by Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Milan, took refuge with his
family in the Rocca di Frezzo, a castle on the banks of the river Adda,
where he and his eldest son Antonio were murdered by four of his poor
and exiled kinsmen, to whom he had given hospitality ; while his wife
Riccardona, and his second son Bartolommeo, were detained as prisoners,
and succeeded in escaping, only to be seized by Benzone, tyrant of
Cremona, who imprisoned them for Antonio's debts which they were
unable to pay. When Bartolommeo was at last set free, he became the
page of Filippo d' Arcello, tyrant of Piacenza, and at the age of twenty
commenced his military education under the famous Perugian captain,
Braccio di Montone, and completed it under Jacopo Caldara, Carmag-
nola, and Francesco Gonzaga. His wisdom in council and boldness in
action enabled him to defeat the famous Condottiere Piccinino in a series
of strategic operations, and gained him the reputation of rendering in-
vincible those whom he led to battle, in consequence of which he was
appointed leader of 800 horse by the Venetian Senate, and made com-
mander of Brescia after the death of Gattamelata. Taken prisoner by
Filippo Maria Visconti, and confined at Monza, he effected his escape
to Landriano, where his soldiers received him with the wildest joy, and
served with him in the Milanese army, under Ludovico Sforza, until he
was recalled to Venice on the conclusion of peace. The last eighteen
years of his life were spent at Bergamo, and in his castles of Malpaga,
Romano, and Martinengo, guarded by six hundred veterans who had
grown grey in his service, and surrounded by a company of " savans "
and artists in whose society he delighted. The latest biographer l of
this model Condottiere, who is not surpassed by Cornazzaro or Spina in
admiration for his hero, shows him to have been a pattern of every
Christian and knightly virtue, truthful and disinterested, and though
passionate and impetuous, ever ready to forgive his enemies and to
recognise their good qualities. He proves his piety by enumerating the
chapels, churches, and convents which he built ; and by telling us how
he "transformed Romano into an Escurial, where he divided his time
between pious and military exercises, in the midst of his double troop

1 Rio, Art Chretien, vol. ii.

DUOMO, S. ANDREA. 225

of warriors and monks, his young and old guard, which represented to
him his memories and his hopes. " ' — Perkins's ' Tuscan Sculptors. '

Against the left wall is the beautiful tomb (also by
Omodeo) of Medea Colleoni, ob. 1470, only child of the
commander, brought hither from the church of Basella on
the Sevio in 1842.

' This tomb is one of the most charming works of its kind in Italy.
The simply-disposed recumbent figure of Medea, draped in the folds of
a richly-embroidered robe, lies upon a sarcophagus whose front is
adorned with an Ecce Homo and two mourning angels in relief, above
which are placed statuettes of the Madonna, the Magdalen, and S.
Catherine. A delicate string of jewels encircles her head, which lies
straight upon an ornamented pillow, and a necklace is clasped about
her slender neck. Her face is turned upwards, her eyes are serenely
closed, and her arms peacefully folded upon her bosom.' — Pet kins'1 s
'Italian Sculptors.'

There is a pretty picture of the Holy Family in this
chapel by Angelica Kauffmann.

The Duomo, originally built from designs of Antonio
Filarete, was much altered in the zyth century, and is quite
a secondary church to S. Maria Maggiore. In the 3rd
chapel on the left is a Madonna with saints, by Moretto.

Near this principal group is the richly gilt Church of
S. Grata, with some good mosaic work.

The pedestrian may vary his descent to the lower town
by taking the charming road shaded by horse-chestnuts,
which leads by the Porta S. Agostino. On the hill- side
above this gate is the Church of S. Andrea, where, over the
altar containing the relics of S. Domneone, S. Domnone, and
S. Eusebia, is a fine picture of the Virgin and Child, with .
these saints, by Moretto. Outside the church is a curious
rude stone pedestal with a metal canopy like a crown ; on
the stone is a head, placed there, says the inscription,
in 1623, to incite people to more fervent devotioa to
S. Domneone, who, after his head was cut off, carried it, and
deposited it here with his own hands !

The ruined Church of S. Agostino, with its adjoining
monastery, now used as a barrack, stand on a lofty terrace,

VOL. i. Q

226 BERGAMO AND THE LA GO UISEO.

backed by mountains of exquisite form and colour. The
front of the church has long Gothic windows filled with rich
tracery.

Turning left, beyond the Porta S. Agostino, and passing
a pretty tavern-garden, we reach the Accademia Carrara,
open from 12 to 3. It contains two collections of pictures :
the first bequeathed by Conte Giacomo Carrara in 1796, the
other by Conte Lochis. The pictures are, for the most part,
more curious than beautiful, and they are ill-arranged and
numbered. In the Carrara collection the best are — •

Sala II.

70. Lorenzo Lotto. Marriage of S. Catherine.
92.

93-

105. J- Morone. Portraits.
106.
107.
117. Girolamo Colleoni. Virgin and Child, with saints.

1 20. Morone. S. Jerome.

121. Gandenzio Ferrari. Virgin and Child.

150. Palma Vecchio. Virgin and Child, with saints. _ -- (\

isi. Marco Basaiti. The Resurrection. I? 1 3 -J

^/ r^jX-u^^t/^^

In the room opening of this — /p'X /

195. Beato Giustiniani. Portrait.

198. Bartolommeo Vivarini. S. Peter.

199. Id. Virgin and Child (1422)

'd. S. Michael.

In the adjoining Lochis collection are —
Sala I.

3. Cesare da Sesto. The Four Maries.

4. Giovanni Bellini. The Dead Christ.

8. Galeazzo Rivelli da Cremona. Three Saints.

10. Cima da Conegliano. Madonna and Child.

11. Filippo Lippi. Virgin and Child.
14. Cottignola. Madonna.

17. Jacobello da Fiore. Madonna and Child, and six small pictures

of the Life of Christ.

^25, Gentile da Fabriano. Virgin and Child.
26. Sebastiano Lazzaro. Coronation of the Virgin.

ACCADEMIA CARRARA. 227

Sala II.

85. Viltore Belliniano. Male figure before a Crucifix.
95. Moretto. Holy Family.
224. Francesco da Ponte. Nativity, and Christ crowned with thorns.

Sala III.

104. Francia. Christ bearing his cross.

117. Girolamo Genga. Early Christian Baptism.

128. Cima da Conegliano. Group of Saints.

133. Titian. Virgin and Child.

*I35. Raffaelle. S. Sebastian.

136. Perugino. Nativity.

144. Morone. Portrait.

148. Bernardino Zenale. Virgin and Child.

149. Girolamo da Santa Croce. Virgin and Child throned, with saints.
*I54. Lorenzo Lotto. The Virgin and S. Joseph showing the sleeping

Child to S. Catherine.
156. Palma Vecchio. Holy Family.

173. Correggio. Dead Portrait.

174. Id. Madonna.

183. Vittore Carpaccio. S. Roch.

184. Girolamo Giovenoneda Vercelli (signed 1527). Virgin and Child,

with the donors presented by angels.

187. Altobello Melone (wrongly attributed to Giorgione). Portrait.
189. Titian. Portrait.

191. Sebastian d-l Piombo. Portrait.

192. Andrea Mantegna. Portrait — ' treated in a soft and greatly

blended manner.'

193. Vincenzio Catena, falsely ascribed to Bellini. Portrait of Doge

Leonardo Loredano.
195. Perugino. Virgin and Child. ^_
200. Mantegna. Resurrection.

Those who wish to continue their pictorial studies had
better go on from here to visit the three churches of S.
Bernardino, S. Spirito, arid S. Bartolommeo, all near together
and near this. In S. Spirito is a noble group of saints by
Andrea Previtali, 1515, an important example of the master ;
and in each of the three churches there is a good work of
Lorenzo Lotto, the especial painter of Brescia. These
churches are all in the Sottoborgo di S. Caterina, which is a
mile distant from the Citta, and also from the Borgo, where
the principal shops and hotels are situated.

Q 2

228 BERGAMO AND THE LA GO D'ISEO.

' In the Lorenzo Lotto of S. Bartolommeo, he has bestowed upon
the Virgin and Infant Jesus such varied and contrasted movement, that
they appear to be conversing with the holy bystanders, the one on the
right, and the other on the left. And in that of S. Spirito, sparkling
as it is with grace, we find the figure of S. John the Baptist, represented
as a child, standing at the foot of the throne, embracing a lamb, and ex-
pressing such natural and lively happiness, at once so innocent and so
simple, and with a smile so beautiful, that, as we gaze upon it, we can
scarcely believe that it could have been excelled by RaffaelJe or Cor-
reggio. ' — Lanzi.

Several churches should be visited from Bergamo by
those who are interested in architecture and painting. About
seven miles N., on the top of a hill, is the very curious little
round church of S. Tommaso in Limine, supposed to be of
the seventh century. It has a cupola resting on the walls
themselves, and is surrounded by pillars with fantastically
ca.rved capitals.

About five miles N.E. is Alzano Maggiore, where, in the
parish church, is a very fine picture of the Death of S. Peter
Martyr, attributed to Lorenzo Lotto, but doubtful,1 and in
the sacristy some good sculpture by Andrea Fantoni. In
the church of Olera, about five kils. further on, is an altar-
piece by Cima da Conegliano.

At Trascorre, eight miles E. of Bergamo, is a chapel
covered with frescoes by Lorenzo Lotto (1524), illustrative of
the story of S. Barbara,

From Bergamo all travellers should proceed to the Lago
d'Iseo, which is much less known than the other lakes of
Italy, but which, from the extreme variety of its mountain
forms, and perhaps also from its narrowness, is in many
respects the most beautiful of all.

A small branch line (opened 1875) leads from Palazzolo,
a station about forty minutes from Bergamo, through an
envineyarded country, to Paratico (Sarnico), a pretty village
at the foot of the lake, with an old wooden bridge where the
river Oglio emerges from it. The steamer starts on the

1 Rumohr. Drei Reisen^ p. 320.

LAGO UISEO, LOVERE. 229

arrival of the first train from Milan, and returns to Sarnico
in time for the last train to Milan, which gives the Milanese
from six to eight hours at Lovere. Any waiting time at
Sarnico may be spent at the little Albergo Leone d'Oro,
which is much better than it looks outside.

The water of the Lago d' Iseo (Lacus Sebinus) is wonder-
fully clear. At Sarnico you see all the fish swimming be-
tween you and the white sand at the bottom, and, as you
proceed, all the mountains are reflected in the deep blue.
On the right is Iseo (Inn. Albergo del Leone), whence there

Lovere.

is a road to Brescia. Then we pass the Mezz'-Isola, an
island, two miles long, very near the eastern shore, and
occupied by a mountain, at the foot of which lie the two
fishing villages of Peschiera d'Iseo and Siviano. The view
is most beautiful at Tavernola (left bank), with its vine-hung
pergolas and gaily-painted houses, beyond which the lake
winds like a gulf between great purple precipices. On the
eastern bank a road is cleverly engineered through a suc-
cession of little tunnels under the rock. Passing Riva, we
enter a wide bay, and steam to the right to Pisogne, where
Romanino painted a large cycle of frescoes for the church of

230 BERGAMO AXD THE LA GO D ISEO.

the Madonna in 1534. Then we cross to Lorere, a most
picturesque town, with the overhanging wooden roofs of
Switzerland, united with the heavy stone arcades of Italy,
and beautiful mountain forms all around. From the hills
on the Bergamo road above the town the views are most
exquisite. The walks and drives in this neighbourhood
are lovely, and, were the accommodation better, it would
soon become a favourite resort, but the Inns (S. Antonio —
Leone d' Oro) are very indifferent. The principal church is
handsome, but its pictures second-rate. In the Palazzo
Tadini is a gallery of indifferent pictures, and in its chapel
a monument by Canoi'a. It was at Lovere that Lady Mary
"Wortley Montagu lived from 1746 to 1757, and of which
she wrote — ' It is the most romantically beautiful place I
ever saw in my life.' There is an uninteresting road from
Lovere to Bergamo.

A very beautiful excursion may be made from Lovere
up Val Camonica by Capo di Ponte (a lovely place) and Breno
to Edolo (Inn. Due Mori, bad), a most beautiful place at
the foot of Monte Ai'io, which is a spur of the lofty Adamello
range. It is best to sleep at Breno, where there is a good
inn (Albergo d' Italia). From Edolo the Aprica pass (the
Belvidere, near the summit, has two bedrooms) leads to
Tirana. From the pass there is a magnificent view down
the Valtelline. Tirano itself is a miserable place, near the
sanctuary church of La Madonna di Tirano.

231

CHAPTER XII.
CREMONA.

Cremona may be reached from Milan by the branch-line from
Treviglio (12 frs. 85 c. ; 9 frs. 70 c. ; 6 frs. 15 c.), or by other branch-
lines of railway from Brescia or Piacenza.

Inns. Albergo del Sole, good, though of unprepossessing exterior :
Italia, Rcalc.

REMONA may easily be seen in a day, but should not
be omitted. A hurried traveller may visit the town
by taking a carriage at the station (i fr. 50 c. per hour) and
driving, in turn, to S. Luca, S. Agata, S. Margherita, S.
Agostino, the Cathedral and Torrazzo, and S. Sigismondo.
If he is not especially interested in the works of the brothers
Campi, S. Agostino is the only church much worth seeing
besides the Cathedral ; if he is devoted to that especial
school, he may also visit S. Abbondio and S. Pietro al Po.
The Cathedral and its surroundings form a most interesting
and striking group, and are close to the Albergo del Sole.
Tolemaco Biazzi has a capital curiosity-shop in the Contrada
Corsi.

Ancient Cremona was destroyed in four days by the soldiers of Ves-
pasian.1 The town was rebuilt in the 7th century by order of the Lom-
bard King Agilulf. In the Middle Ages it was continually decimated
either by civil wars or wars with its neighbours, Guelfs and Ghibellines
making its streets a perpetual battle-ground, till, in 1323, it was united
by Galeazzo Visconti with the Duchy of Milan, the city to which up to
that time it had been most opposed.

Cremona has gained a great reputation from the Cremona
Violins^ the manufacture of fiddles having been raised here
to the highest pitch of perfection by members of the families

1 Tacitus, Hist. iii. 30.

232 CREMONA.

of Amati, Guarnerius, and Stradivarius. A Stradivarius
violin is often worth 10,000 frs.

Cremona has its own School of Painting, which was at
the height of its fame in the sixteenth century under the
brothers Campi and their disciples.

The family of Campi consisted of four individuals, who devoted them-
selves without ceasing to art until they reached extreme old age. Giulio
Campi (1500-1572), who may be considered as the head of the
Cremonese school, studied chiefly under Giulio Romano. He educated
his brothers Antonio and Vincenzio, who were considerably his inferiors,
and his cousin Bernar.iino, who in a short time rivalled, and, in the
opinion of many, surpassed his master.

Even the greatest admirers of the Campi will be
oppressed by the infinite multitude of their works in Cre-
mona, and will turn with a sense of relief to the charming
fragments of mediaeval architecture which may be found in
its streets.

' The rich array of buildings in elaborate brickwork is very striking ;
and the campanile of the cathedral, towering up high above the many
other steeples, combines well with them in the general view, and helps
to convert into a fine-looking city what is, perhaps, in its streets and
houses generally, very far from being anything of the kind.'— Street's
' Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages.'

Cremona rises out of the great green plain of Lombardy,
intersected by dykes and often flooded in winter, and
clothed with white mulberries, whose leaves are picked
early in the season for the silk-worms, leaving the trees
prematurely bare. The streets are very wide, but have a
forlorn aspect — in spite of the handsome palaces which
frequently line them — and they are often grass-grown. Here
and there a tall rich tower varies the monotonous outline.
Once there were 87 churches, and there are still 44.

On entering the town from the railway-station by the
Porta Milano, we immediately pass on the left the Church
of S. Luca, with a beautiful porch resting on pillars and
lions of red Verona marble, and a handsome eight-sided
baptistery. Just beyond is the handsome Palazzo Maggi,
with a splendid cinque-cento portal by Bramante Sacchi da

CHURCHES OF CREMONA. 233

Cremona. The whole front of this palace is very rich :
under the roof are curious griffins as water-spouts. On the
same side of the street is the ugly Grecian portico of S.
Agata, concealing a fine brick church and tower of 1495.
The interior is modernised. On the walls of the choir
are the Martyrdom and Burial of S. Agata by Giulio Campi

(1537).

' These are the first works of Giulio, executed in his youth, and are
of such merit that a practised artist could scarcely have done them
better. ' — Vasari.

Diverging from hence to the right, we reach on the left
S. Margherita, filled with some of the last paintings of
Giulio Campi, which were executed when Mario Girolamo
Vida, Bishop of Alba, was prior of the adjoining monastery.
The best are, Christ amongst the Doctors, and the Circum-
cision. A little further, in a square of its own, is the stately
Gothic brick church of S. Agostino, sometimes called S.
Giacomo in Breda, of 1558. The modernised interior is
covered with Campi decorations.

Kight Aisle, 2nd Chapel. Barbarini da Como. Curious stucco
figures of the Passion and Death of Christ.

$th Altar. A beautiful 15th-century picture of the Madonna and
Child throned, an orange hanging above.

6//z Altar. P. Perugino. Madonna throned between SS. Peter and
Antonio Abbate, with the inscription, ' Petrus Perusianus pinxit, 1494.'
This picture was carried off by the French and restored.

High Altar. A. Mainardi, 1590. The Saviour with S. Augustine
and other Saints.

Left Aisle, >jth Chapel. Gervasio Gatti, 1589. The Nativity.

2nd Chapel. Malosso. The Vision of S. Anthony.

Between yd and $th Chapels. Bonifazio Bembo. Very interesting
fresco portraits of Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti,
both kneeling.

Among the other minor churches the most noticeable is
•S*. Abbondio, sometimes called S. Nazzaro, which has a
cupola painted by Giulio Campi and Malosso. In an ante-
chapel is a copy of the Holy House of Loreto : the walls
round it are covered with votive offerings.

The Church of S. Pietro di Po (sometimes called S.

234 CREMONA.

Giorgio], on the other side of the city, built 1549-1570, is
perfectly rilled with pictures of the Campi school, none very
remarkable, also : —

Left Aisle, 2.nd Altar. Bernardino Gatt'i, 1569. A Nativity, with
S. Peter present in his episcopal robes.

Left Aisle, End. An enormous picture of the Murder of S. Thomas
a Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral— very unlike.

The Church of S. Pelagia contains the monument of
Girolamo Vida, the poet, appropriately buried in the church
of a saint to whom he had composed a hymn. He is cele-
brated by Ariosto : —

' II Vida Cremonese,
D' alta facondia inessiccabil vena. '

Or I. Fur. xlvi. 13.
and by Pope :

' A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung :
Immortal Vida, on whose honour'd brow
The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow :
Cremona now shall ever boast thy name,
As next in place to Mantua, next in fame. '

The Cathedral v;2£ begun in 1107, consecrated in 1190.
The transepts were added 1342, the choir in 1479. The
magnificent fagade towards the piazza was begun in 1274, at
which time the great porch and the rose window were built
under Giacomo Porata da Cremona, but the other decora-
tions of red Verona marble were not added till 1491. The
statues and the great marble lions are by Sebastiano da Nani,
1560. The general effect is most picturesque. On the left
of the entrance stands the Torrazzo, on the right the Bap-
tistery. Behind the Baptistery is the Bishop's Palace, of
brick Gothic. The other side of the piazza is occupied by
the Palazzo Pubblico, and another Gothic building of
moulded brick used as a college.

The interior of the cathedral is greatly wanting in archi-
tectural splendour, and the effect of the lofty transepts is
entirely destroyed by the low arches which separate them
from the rest of the church. The building, however, makes
up in colour for what it wants in form, and is so entirely

CATHEDRAL OF CREMONA.

235

covered with frescoes and pictures as to form a perfect
gallery of Cremonese art. Lanzi considers it as a rival to

Porch of Cremona.

the Sistine Chapel in its pictorial magnificence. The
frescoes occur in the following order, beginning on the left
of the nave :

The Meeting of Joachim and Anna,

The Birth of the Virgin.

The Annunciation.

The Salutation.

The Birth of Christ.

The Circumcision.

The Coming of the Magi.

The Purification.

The Massacre of the Inno'cents.

The Flight into Egypt.

Christ disputing in the Temple.

The Last Supper.

The Washing of the Feet.

The Agony in the Garden.

The Betrayal.

Christ before Caiaphas.

\Boccaccio Boccaccino, 1514.

I Francesco Bembo, 1515.

J Altobello Melonc, 1517.

I Boccaccino (turning to the other
i side of the nave).

\Altobello Melons.

236 CREMONA.

Christ before Pilate. i _

Christ bound. I C' Morettl'

Christ before Herod. Romdnino.

Christ bearing the Cross.

Christ falling under the Cross.

Christ nailed to the Cross.

The great Crucifixion (at the west \Pordenom.

end).

The Marys lamenting over the j
body of Christ. /

The Resurrection — very grand. Bernardino Gatti.

On the vault of the Tribune is a grand figure of the Saviour between
the four patron saints of the city (Imerio, Omobuono, Marcellino, and
Pietro, by Boccaccino}, 1506. On the side walls are the Triumphal
Entry to Jerusalem, by Bernardino Campi, and the Healing of the Cen-
turion's Son, by Antonio Campi — the painter is introduced in the fore-
ground. The four modern frescoes are the work of Diotti. Over the
high altar is the Assumption, the last work of Gatti (il Soiaro) ; he had
intended to paint the twelve Apostles beneath, but had a paralytic seizure
when he had only completed three figures. After this he sketched in
three more with his left hand, and then he died (1575).

Following the Chapels, beginning with the left aisle, are —

2nd Chapel. Holy Family, sculptured in wood, by Bertesi da Cre-

mona, 1670.

"$rd Chapel. Gregory XIV. before the Virgin. Luca Cattapane.
At the end of the transept is a beautiful Madonna by Bernardino
Ricca, of the school of Perugino : S. Dominic and S. Jerome stand
before her, S. Anna is behind in shadow. Near this is a curious old
tabernacle, with Christ rising from the grave, and three saints. Close
to the adjoining door, used as a holy- water basin, is a stone vase
in which it is said that S. Albert used to knead bread for the poor.
Beyond the door is a Pieta by Antonio Campi. Then, S. Michael by
Giulio Campi, 1566.

The Chapel on the left of the High Altar contains a kneeling statue
of Bishop Antonio Novasoni — ' chiamato in cielo, 1867 ; ' also —
The Ascension. Malosso.
(Over it} The Baptist. Antonio Campi.
Baptism of Christ. Giulio Campi.
( Over it} Birth of the Baptist. Giulio Campi.
Herodias and her daughter and the Baptist. Antonio Campi.
( Over it} Salome with the head of the Baptist. Giulio Campi.
The Pentecost. Malosso.

The crypt is fine : the pillars in the tribune are twisted. Here are
shrines of all the local saints), and over the high altar that of SS. Mar-
cellino e Pietro, with beautiful bas-reliefs by pupils of the famous Omodeo.

IL TORRAZZO.

237

Antonio Campi.

Tn the Chapel on the right of the High Altar are —
The Supper at Emmaus. Borroni.
The Washing of the Feet and (in>
lunettes) the Multiplication of!
Loaves. \ Giulio Campi.

The Repentance of the Magdalen.
The Raising of Lazarus.
The Last Supper.
The Magdalen in the Garden.

Near this, in the Sacristy, is a wonderful picture of the Descent into
Hades, by Altobello — Adam and Eve are the first to meet the Saviour
and kneel at his feet.

Entering the South Transept, we have, on the left, an Annunciation
of Afalosso, On the south wall, a fine fresco of Christ bound, ATalosso.
The Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, Boccaccino — the figure of Arch-
bishop Sfondrato, the donor, is introduced. On the right wall, the
Salutation, a very fine picture, signed ' Gervasius de Gattis, dictus
Solianus, 1583.'

Over the entrance of this transept is a triple picture representing the
Triumph of Mordecai, the Petition of Esther, and the Death of Haman,
by Antonio Campi. Turning to the right aisle of the nave, in the yd
Chapel, are S. Fermo and S. Jerome before the Cross, by Luca Catta-
pane, 1593. In the 2nd Chapel, St. Eusebius raising a person dead of
the plague to life ; a sculpture in wood by Aright da Cremona ; and,
lastly, in the 1st Chapel, a most beautiful Pordenone of the Madonna,
and saints who are presenting the donor.

The Baptistery was built in 1167. It is a very remark-
able brick edifice, surrounded by ranges of narrow Lombard
arches, and having an unadorned eight-sided cupola. The
porch rests on lions. The font is of red marble.

The Torrazzo was begun in 1283 to celebrate a peace
between Cremona, Brescia, Milan, and Piacenza. It is
396 ft. high, and is said to be the tallest tower in Italy.
' Its design is much like that of all the other brick campa-
niles in this district — a succession of stages of nearly equal
height, divided by arcaded string-courses and marked with
perpendicular lines by small pilasters, and almost without
window

distich :

Unus Petrus est in Roma

Una Turris in Cremona.

1 Street.

238 CREMONA.

'The Emperor Sigismund and Pope John XXIII. went together in
seeming amity to Cremona. There an incident had nearly taken place,
which, by preventing the Council of Constance, might have changed
the fortunes of the world. Gabrino Fondoli, from Podesta, had become
tyrant of Cremona. He entertained his distinguished guests with
sumptuous hospitality. He led them to the top of the tower to survey
the rich and spacious plains of Lombardy. On his death-bed Fondoli
confessed the sin of which he deeply repented, that he resisted the
temptation, and had not hurled Pope and Emperor down, and so secured
himself an immortal name.' — Milmarfs ' Hist, of Latin Christianity.''

Behind the Baptistery, a door (No. 10) admits one to a
courtyard below, where, in a place called the Campo Santo ^
is an extraordinary mosaic pavement, with allegorical figures
of a Centaur, Faith, Cruelty, Piety, and Pity.

The Palazzo Pubblico, of 1 245, is supported by arches and
adorned with two towers. In the interior is a chimney-
piece, brought hither from the Palazzo Raimondi — a work
of Giov. Gasp. Pedoni (in 1502), of whom Cicognara says
that 'he treated the marble like soft wax.' It has richly
decorated Corinthian columns. A small medallion on one
side encloses the likeness of Gian. Giacomo Trivulzio,
governor of Milan. In the great hall are two grand pictures of

The Descent of Manna. Grassio Casaglio, 1589.

The Multiplication of Loaves. Luigi Miradori il Gencrvese.

The best of the other pictures here is a Salutation by A ntonio Campi.
In another chamber is a S. Lorenzo by Gatti, and a curious fresco of
Platina kneeling before Sixtus IV., from the Vatican.

In the plain beyond the walls, i mile from the Porta
Romana, are the deserted convent and the great Church of
S. Sigismondo, built by Francesco Sforza, as a token of
affection to his wife Bianca Maria, heiress of Cremona,
daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, on the site of the old
church in which he received his bride, Oct. 25, 1441.
Those who are not utterly wearied by the Campi school
within the city may obtain a surfeit here. The walls are
entirely covered with paintings by the brothers and their
disciples. The most interesting picture is that by Giulio
Campi, in which Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Vis-

5. SIGISMONDO. 239

conti are presented to the Virgin and Child by S. Sigismimd
and S. Chrysanthus. The .likeness of the artist is introduced
under the figure of the last saint, and that of his mistress as
S. Daria. The paintings round the high altar are by Camilla
Boccaccino.

The Cremonese artists, painting as it were in competition, rendered
S. Sigismondo a noble school for the fine arts. We may here study a
sort of series of these artists, their various merit, their prevailing tastes
in the Correggio manner, their different style of adapting it, and their
peculiar skill in fresco compositions. Camillo Boccaccino was the lead-
ing genius of the school. His most remarkable works are the four
Evangelists, seated, with the exception of S. John, who is standing up
in a bending attitude with an expression of surprise, forming a curved
outline which is opposed to the arch of the ceiling, a figure no less
celebrated for its perspective than its design. It is truly astonishing
how a young artist who had never frequented the school of Correggio,
could so well emulate his taste, and carry it even further within so
short a period ; this work, displaying such a knowledge of perspective
and fore-shortening, having been executed as early as 1537. The two
side pictures are also highly celebrated, representing the Raising of
Lazarus, and the Woman taken in Adultery. In these histories, as
well as in their decorations, the figures are arranged and turned in such
a way as scarcely to leave a single eye in the figures visible, for Camillo
was desirous of thus proving to his rivals that his figures were not, as
they asserted, indebted for their merit to the animated expression of
their eyes, but to the whole composition.

The chapels of S. Sigismondo were all completed by Giulio Campi
and his family. They contain almost every variation of the art, large
pictures, small histories, cameos, stuccos, chiaroscuros, grotesques, fes-
toons of flowers, pilasters, with gold recesses, from which cherubs of
the most graceful form seem to rise with symbols adapted to the saint
of that altar ; in a word, the whole of the paintings and their decora-
tions are the work of the same genius, and sometimes of the same
hand. This adds greatly to their harmony, and in consequence to
their beauty, nothing in fact being truly beautiful that has not perfect
unity.

' As to Bernardino Campi, the church of S. Sigismondo inspires us
with the loftiest ideas of his power. Nothing can be conceived more
simply beautiful, and more consistent with the genius of the best age,
than his picture of S. Cecilia playing upon the organ, while S. Cathe-
rine stands near her, and above them is a group of Angels, apparently
engaged, with the two innocent virgins, in pouring forth strains worthy
of Paradise. This painting, with its surrounding decoration of cherub
figures, displays his mastery in grace. Still he appears to no- less

240 CREMONA.

advantage in point of strength in his figures of the Prophets, grandly
designed, for the same place ; although he seems more anxious to
invest them with dignity of feature and of action, than to give strength
and muscle to their proportions. Above all, he shone with most ad-
vantage in the grand cupola, with which few in Italy will bear a com-
parison, and still fewer can be preferred for the abundance, variety,
distribution, grandeur, and gradation of the figures, and for the
harmony and grand effect of the whole. In this empyrean, the vast
concourse of the blessed, belonging to the Old and New Testament,
there is no figure that may not be recognised by its symbols, and that
is not seen in perfection from its own point of view, whence all appear
of the natural proportion, though they are on a scale of seven braccia in
height. Such a work is t>ne of those rare monuments which serve to
prove, that is possible for a great genius to execute rapidly and well,
for it was wholly conducted by Bernardino in seven months.' — Lanzi.

The fortress called Pizzighettone, on the Po, is interesting
as having been the first prison of Francis I. after his defeat
at Pavia.

241

CHAPTER XIII.
BRESCIA.

(It takes 5 hr. by the quick train from Bergamo to Brescia (7 frs.
15 c. ; 5 frs. 20 c.)

Inns. Albergo (C Italia, very good ; Albergo Reale ; Gambero.
Carriages. The course, 85 c. ; the hour, I fr. 25 c.)

BRESCIA can be seen in a day, but it is a pleasant
place to linger in. The traveller who wishes only to
see the best may take a carriage from the station, and visit,
between two trains, in the following order — S.. Maria dei
Miracoli, S. Francesco (for the picture of S. Margarita), the
Palazzo del Municipio, Piazza del Duomo (for an idea of the
two cathedrals — which recall the two cathedrals of Sala-
manca), the Temple in the Museo Patrio. S. Clemente, the
Raffaelle in the Museo Civico, and S. Afra. This can only
be done before 12 o'clock. All the churches in Brescia
are closed from 12 to 5, and after that there is no good
light for the pictures. There is scarcely anything except
pictures to be seen in Brescia. Travellers coming from the
south will observe that all streets here are ' Contradas,'
not 'Stradas.' Living is exceedingly cheap in Brescia.
Pleasant excursions may be made thence to the lake of Iseo.

Brescia was the ancient Brixia, and as such is spoken of by Catullus
as the mother-town of Verona (' Veronae mater amata meae '). In the
Middle Ages, Brescia was repeatedly taken and retaken by the different
Italian tyrants. In 1258 it fell into the hands of Ezzelino, who punished
those citizens who opposed him by chaining them to a block of stone
(pietra del gallo] in the open field and leaving them to perish of hunger
The tyrant himself died from a wound given by the sword of a Brescian,
1259, at the battle of the Bridge of Cassano. After the fall of the
house of Scala, Brescia fell into the hands of the Visconti, and through
VOL. I. R

242 BRESCIA.

them became the most prosperous province of Venice, After the
town was given up to the French at Cambray, the people rose and
expelled the garrison. It was retaken by Chevalier Bayard (who was
wounded in the assault) and Gaston de Foix. The memoirs of
Bayard speak of 22,000 slain. In 1516 Brescia returned to the
Republic of Venice and remained united to it till 1797. In 1849, a
rising of Brescia against the Austrians was cruelly punished by Marshal
Haynau.

The town of Brescia is a picture-gallery for its native
artists, of whom Moretto and Romanino were the greatest.
The churches are lined with their works, and depend
entirely upon them for their interest, as they have scarcely
any architectural beauty whatever.

' Alessandro Buonvicino of Brescia, commonly called II Moretto di
Brescia (1500-1547) has a style of his own. He adhered at first
closely to Titian's manner, but afterwards adopted much of the Roman
school, and by this means formed a mode of representation distin-
guished for a simple dignity, and tranquil grace and stateliness, which
occasionally developed itself in compositions of the very highest
character. In such cases he evinces so much beauty and purity in his
motives, and so much nobility and sentiment in his characters, that it
is unaccountable how this master should, till within the last few years,
have obtained little more than a local celebrity. He was distinguished
by a child-like piety ; when painting the Holy Virgin he is said to have
prepared himself by prayer and fasting.

' Contemporary with Moretto, in Brescia, flourished Girolamo,
called II Romanino, an artist who likewise confined himself principally
to the style of the Venetian school, but who modified it in a peculiar
manner. While Moretto distinguished himself by simplicity and repose,
Girolamo displays in his compositions a fantastic and lively imagina-
tion ; occasionally also a certain grandeur of pathos, the more striking
from the simple and almost slight treatment of his details.' — Kugler.

' It cannot be denied that in loftiness of idea in his subject and
nobleness of conception Moretto excels all the Venetians, except certain
first-rate works of Titian. His glories are more dignified and majestic,
his Madonnas grander in form and attitude, his saints, too, at times,
very grand in character. ' — Btirckhardt.

An arcaded street at the end of the Corso del Teatro,
which contains the principal hotels, will lead to the Palazzo
del Munitipio, where sight-seeing may begin. The palace
was designed by Bramante, and begun in 1492 by Tommaso
Formentone, who built the first story ; Sansovino executed

PIAZZA DEL DUO MO.

243

the second story, and the finishing touches were given by
Palladia. It is a beautiful specimen of cinque-cento. The
council chamber projects over open arches. The decora-
tions are most delicately finished, the medallions of Roman
emperors are by Gasparo di Milano and Antonio del la Porta.
On the opposite side of the Piazza is the Torre del? Orologio
with a clock marking the 24 hours of Italian reckoning, made
by Lod. Barcella in 1522. Two bronze figures above strike
the hours.

Hence we reach the Piazza del Duomo. The ancient
building at the upper end is the Broletto, the palace of the
Republic, begun in 1187 and finished in 1227. The terra-
cotta mouldings under the cornice are very beautiful.

' A large quadrangle is formed by the buildings, which has a cloister
on two sides, and traces of another cloister on a third side now built up.
The cloister still remaining on the east side is ancient and on a large
scale : it opens to the quadrangle with simp'e pointed arches resting upon
heavy piers, and a row of piers running down the centre divides it into
two portions, so that it will be seen that its size is very considerable. The
groining has transverse and diagonal ribs, the former being very remark-
able, and, as not unfrequently seen in good Italian work, slightly ogeed ;
not, that is to say, regular ogee arches, but ordinary arches with the
slightest suggestion only of an ogee curve in the centre. Of the external
portion of the building the west front is the most perfect, and must always
have been the most striking ; it consists of a building containing in the
upper story five windows, the centre being the largest and probably once
the Ringhiera ; to the south of which rises the great belfry cf rough stone
("Torre del Popolo"), and beyond that a wide building with traces —
but no more — of original windows throughout ; north of the building
with the five windows is a very beautiful composition executed almost
entirely in finely-moulded bricks ; it has an exquisite door with some
traces of fresco in its tympanum, executed mainly in stone, and a mag-
nificent rose-window, above which is a brick cornice, which continues
over the remainder of the west front and along the whole of the north
side.' — Street.

The Duomo Nuovo was begun from designs of Giov.
Battista Lantana in 1604. The dome is the third in Italy
as to size, only coming after S. Peter's and the Cathedral
at Florence. There is little to see in the interior. Over
the 3rd altar of the right aisle is a beautiful marble shrine

R 2

244 BRESCIA.

containing the relics of the two Brescian bishops Apollonius
and Filastrius, removed hither from the crypt of the old
cathedral. The picture over the high altar is an Assumption
by Zoboli.

Close beside the new building rises the quaint Duomo
Vecchio, a round church, dating from the yth century. It is
greatly below the present level of the soil, and is reached
by two lateral staircases. The interior is much modernised.
Near the 2nd altar on the right is the monument of Lam-
bertus, Bishop of Bologna, 1349. At the end of the N.
transept is the red marble tomb of Bishop Berandi, 1308.
Over the high-altar is an Assumption of Moretto, 1526. In
the Chapel of the sacrament are five pictures by Moretto,
three from the Old and two from the New Testament.

Beneath this church, deep as it is, is another, now a crypt,
the Basilica di S. Filastro, with three apses, and an endless
variety of columns and capitals. This crypt shows that the
round church here had once, like the round churches in
England, a contemporary choir, projecting on the east The
old cathedral is used for the six winter months, and the
Duomo Nuovo is closed ; at Pentecost the reign of the new
cathedral begins.

In the piazza before the church is a fountain with an
allegorical statue of the city—' Brescia armata ' — by Caltgari.
Close to the new cathedral is the Bibliottca Quiriniana,
founded by Cardinal Quirini in 1750. It contains a
number of beautiful illuminated manuscripts, some curious
ivories, and the Cross of Galla Placidia, on which there are
miniatures of the Empress and of her children Valentinian
III. and Honoria.

Passing through the Broletto and going straight on, one
reaches, on the left, the

Museo Patrio, arranged as an Antiquarian Museum, to
enclose the remains of a Temple of Hercules, supposed to
have been erected by Vespasian, A.D. 72.

(The Museo is supposed to be open free from n to 3, but there are
two Custodes who each expect a small fee.)

TEMPLE OF HERCULES, S. CLEMENTE. 245

The Temple was excavated in 1820, up to which time
only one Corinthian column, still the only perfect one, was
above-ground. Now, the pediment and portions of many
other columns are laid bare. The inner cella of the temple
is enclosed as a Museum. The central chamber is occupied
by all the Roman inscriptions (some are copies) found within
the province of Brescia, which form an interesting collection.
The right-hand room has mediaeval antiquities, some good
specimens of majolica, and the tomb of Niccolo Orsini,
Count of Pitigliano, a general under the Venetian Republic,
who commanded the Venetian forces during the war which
followed the league of Cambray, and died in consequence
of his fatigues in defending Padua against the imperial
troops. His sarcophagus bears a noble recumbent effigy,
brought hither from his neighbouring castle of Ghedi. In
the left-hand chamber are objects found among the ruins,
six busts, fragments of friezes, &c., and the beautiful bronze
winged Statue of Victory, the noblest ancient statue in Italy
north of Florence. It was found in 1826 ; the shield and
helmet are restorations.

Descending in a direct line from the Museo Patrio, the
fourth street on the left leads to S. Clemente (closed after
9 A.M.), the parish church and burial-place of Alessandro
Buonvicino (Moretto). It may rightly be looked upon as a
gallery for his works, of which it contains five of the finest
specimens : —

Right, 2nd ChafieL The Five great Virgins of the Church. Cecilia
stands in the middle with her organ, and leans over to address Lucia,
who stands on her right, with her eyes in a dish ; on her left is the stately
figure of Barbara looking out of the picture : behind are Agata with her
breasts, and Agnes with her lamb — much repainted.

Left, 1st Chapel. S. Ursula and her companions ; the central figure,
holding a banner in either hand, is most stately and beautiful.

2nd Chapel. S. Paul and S. Jerome adoring the Virgin and Child.
The infant Saviour is espousing S. Catherine, who kneels on the right ;
on the left is S. Chiara— much retouched.

3rd Chapel. Melchizedek bringing bread and wine to Abraham.

JJigh Altar. The Virgin and Child, under arches, beneath which

246 BRESCIA.

S. Clement gives the benediction in presence of S. Dominic, S. Florian,
S. Catherine, and S. M. Magdalen.

The bust of Moretto over the door is by San Giorgio.
A street on the left, towards Porta Torlunga, leads to
S. Maria Calchera, which contains —

Left, 1st Chapel. Moretto. The Magdalen anointing the feet of
the Saviour — much injured.

High Altar. Calista da Lodi. Salutation.

* Next Altar (right). Romanino. S. Apollonius, Bishop of Brescia,
administering the Sacrament to a group of kneeling and most reverent
recipients — a beautiful scene taken from the daily life of Italian
churches.

Little Chapel under pulpit. Moretto. Christ rising from the tomb,
with SS. Jerome and Dorotea.

Very near the Porta Torlunga is S. Giulia, part of a
(suppressed) monastery built by Desiderius, the last king
of the Lombards. It was originally founded in honour of
the Saviour, but Ansa, wife of Desiderius, brought thither
the body of the African virgin S. Giulia from Corsica, upon
which the name was changed. Anselperga, daughter of
Desiderius, was the first abbess. The building contains
three churches. Of these S. Giulia is unimportant, but
S. Maria in Solaria is externally a picturesque square
Romanesque building with an octagon top, and S. Salvatore
is a basilica with two ranges of columns and a crypt.

At the entrance of the Via Tosio is the Museo Civico,
occupying a palace lately bequeathed to the town by Count
Paul Tosio. It contains a precious little Raffaelle and a
few other good pictures, amid many inferior works. Among
the best are —

Entrance Chamber. Romanino. Two frescoes — Mary in the rich
man's house, and the Supper at Emmaus.

Sala I.

5. Viccnzo Viverchio, c. 1480. Angels crowning S. Niccolo da
Tolentino, S. Roch and S. Sebastian at the sides.
8. Calisto da Lodi. Holy Family.

Sala II.

14. Moretto. Herodias' daughter. 4 ^
1 6. Id. Supper at Emmaus.

MUSEO CIVICO, S. AFRA. 247

17. Romanino. Christ bearing his cross.
38. Moretto. Holy Family.

Sala III.

1 8. Moretto. The Pentecost.
20. Cesare da Sesto. A Portrait.

*22. Raffaelle, 1505. 'Paxvobis. ' The risen Saviour, with the crown
of thorns, in the act of benediction.

A passage lined with old prints and etchings, some of
them very curious, leads from these rooms to a gallery of
modern pictures. They are of little importance. There is a
landscape of Massimo d? Azeglio. Among the sculptures are
' Night and Morning,' and ' Ganymede giving drink to the
Swan,' by Thorwaldsen.

In a room opening out of the court below are two fine
pictures, removed from churches where they were ill seen.
Moretto, The Virgin and Child in the clouds, with four
saints below, once in S. Eufemia ; and Romanino, S. Paul
with S. Jerome, S. John Baptist, S. Catherine, and S.
Justina, brought hither from S. Giuseppe, where it was
painted for the altar of the Averoldo family.

Turning at once to the left from the Museum and
descending the street on the left, the closed church of
S. Barnaba is passed on the left, then (left) we reach
S. Afra, one of the oldest ecclesiastical foundations in the
town, erected on the site of a temple of Saturn, but entirely
rebuilt about 1600, and very ugly. The frescoes are by
Pietro Maria Bagnadore and Girolamo Rossi da Brescia,
1583-

Beginning from the right, the 1st Chapel contains, Cesare Aretusio,
the Birth of the Virgin.

2nd Chapel. JSassano, 1530, the Baptism of S. Afra by S. Apollo-
nius, while SS. Faustinus and Jovita administer the Sacrament.

yd Chapel. Passerotto, Assumption.

Chapel at the end of the aisle. Cesare Procaccini, the Virgin with
S. Carlo Borromeo and S. Latinus.

Over the High Altar. Tintoretto, the Transfiguration. At the
sides, Palma Giovane, SS. Faustinus and Jovita.

Over the door at the end of the left aisle, * Titian. The Woman

248 BRESCIA.

taken in Adultery — (there are several replicas in England) — the sacristan
draws a curtain.

' La figure du Christ est pleine de majeste ; elle exprime au plus
haut degre la sagesse divine, incree, si superieure a la raison humaine
et pourtant en si parfaite harmonic avec elle. La femme est de la plus
grande beaute et d'un colons ou le Titien parait s'etre surpasse lui-
meme. Sa contenance est modeste, mais n'exprime ni confusion, ni
repentir ; ce sont ses juges qui 1'ont entrainee devant le Sauveur, et non
pas le cri de sa conscience. A 1 'expression de ce visage, on sent que
1'admirable pardon n'a point etc prononce, et que le miracle de la
conversion attend encore le mi acle de la misericorde. ' — Madame
Siuet chine.

2nd Chapel left. Paolo Veronese. Martyrdom of S. Afra, SS.
Faustinus and Jovita lie with their heads severed in the foreground.
The portrait of Paul Veronese is introduced. The picture is signed,
'Paolo Cagliari, V. F.'

Returning a few steps, the first street on the left leads to

S. Alessandro, which once contained a beautiful Annun-
ciation of Fra Angelico. This is gone, but over the second
altar on the right is a striking picture of saints grouped
around the dead Christ, by some early Umbrian artist un-
known ; the predella, with five scenes from the life of ,the
Virgin, is by Civerchio.

Proceeding some distance, on the left is the large church
of La Madonna delle Grazie^ now generally closed, and many
of its pictures sold and dispersed.

Reaching the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and turning to
the right, the first side-street on the left leads to •S.S'. Nazaro
e Cetse, which contains : —

Over the Side Entrances. Fcppa. The Martyrdoms of the patron
saints. //• *

Right Aisle, jfst Chapel. Moretto. The Transfiguration, with
Moses and Elias. 1541.

High Altar. A great work of Titian in five compartments. In the
centre is the Resurrection ; on the left SS. Nazaro e Celso present
Bishop Altobelli Averoldi to the risen Saviour ; above is the Annuncia-
tion in two compartments ; on the right are S. Sebastian and S. Roch
at the foot of the column to which the former is bound is the signature,
* Ticianus faciebat, MDXXII.'

' The action of the divine Saviour is light, as becomes one who for

MADONNA DEI MIRACOLI, S. FRANCESCO. 249

his own virtue ascends from earth to heaven. Shining with an immortal
radiance, he is seen illuminating a sky, loaded with dark clouds, which
opening here and there, discover some traces of country faintly lighted by
the rising sun. In an attitude becoming people who are awakening
from being struck by sudden fear, are seen near the open sepulchre some
soldiers in black armour, one of whom, placed in front of the picture, is
admirably foreshortened, to make way for others more behind. The
figures in this compartment are of the size of life, and rather less than
those of the two sides, in one of which is S. Sebastian, bound like
Marsyas to the trunk of a tree ; and the rope which ties the right arm
cuts the flesh of it deeply, so tender and delicate is it.' — Northcote's
' Life of Titian. '

Left Aisle> $th Chapel. Morctto. The Nativity, with SS. Nazaro
e Celso.

2nd Chapel. Moretto. The Coronation of the Virgin.

' The Virgin kneeling to the Saviour, who crowns her, is enwreathed
in a halo of clouds and a glory of angels. On the foreground below,
S. Michael treads on the dragon transfixed by his lance, whilst S. Joseph
looks up, S. Francis prays, and S. Nicholas attends in thought. ' —
Crwe and Cavalcaselle. • > s '

V 4/v ' Returning to the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, on the left is
the rich cinque-cento portico of La Madonna del Miracoli,
built in 1480, and the richest church in Brescia. The
decorations of the fagade are by Lod. Beretta. The church
has five cupolas. The internal decorations are quite Venetian
in character.

*Right> 1st Altar. Moretto. S. Nicholas presenting two school-
boys to the Virgin— a most beautiful picture.

' This is an application of the religious character of this saint to por-
traiture and common life, which is highly beautiful and poetical. S.
Nicholas is presenting to the Virgin two orphans, while she looks down
upon them from her throne with a benign air, pointing them out to the
notice of the Infant Saviour, who is seated in her lap. The two boys,
orphans of the noble family of Roncaglia, are richly dressed : one holds
the mitre of the good bishop ; the other, the three balls.' — Jameson's
1 Sacred ArtS "'• 46O-

The next side-street on the left leads to S. Francesco^
founded in 1254, and retaining a Gothic front at the west-
end, with a good rose-window.

Right Aisle (between the 2nd and -$rd Chapels}. An interesting
14th-century fresco (under glass) of the Lamentation over the dead
Christ.

250 BRESCIA.

* yd Altar. Moretto, 1530. S. Margaret between S. Francis and
S. Jerome.

*High Altar. Romanino. S. Francis, S. Anthony of Padua, S.
Buenaventura, and S. Louis of Toulouse, adoring the Virgin and Child,
who are seated in an open archway, the sky being intercepted by a
green cloth sustained by dancing cherubs. This, the most celebrated
work of the artist, was once the centre of a vast triptych, which had
been covered with scenes from the life of S. Francis. It was ordered
by the executors of Fra Sansone, who died general of the Franciscan
order in 1499.

Left Aisle, 1st Altar. Francesco da Prato di Caravaggio, 1547 (a
very rare painter). Marriage of the Virgin.

On the left is *S. Domenico, full of pictures ; over its
high altar the Presentation in the Temple, by Romanino.
Just beyond, on the right, is the Torre della Palata, a fine
machicolated tower, built 1253. At its foot is a fountain,
from designs of Bagnadore, 1596.

Turning right, the first street on the left, leads to S. Gio-
vanni Evangeltsta, which, in its foundation, is the oldest
church in Brescia, having been built by S. Gaudentius in
the fourth century, but rebuilt about 1600. It retains a
Gothic front, and has a projecting porch ; the interior is
quite modern. It is filled with pictures.

*Kight Aisle, yd Altar. Moretto. The Massacre of the Inno-
cents—the saved Saviour-Child appears in the clouds above — a noble
picture, thoroughly Rafifaellesque in treatment.

High Altar. Moretto. Madonna with SS. John the Evangelist,
John the Baptist, Augustine, and Agnes.

The Chapel of the Sacrament at the end of the left aisle is covered
with frescoes of Moretto and Romanino. On the right are, by Moretto :
the Manna in the Wilderness and the Prophet Elijah ; at the angles,
Mark and Luke ; in the lunette above, the Last Supper ; in the
arcades, half-figures of prophets. On the left, by Romanino, are :
Jesus at the Pharisee's house, the Raising of Lazarus ; at the angles,
Matthew and John ; in the lunette above, the Institution of the Sacra-
ment ; in the arcades, Prophets. The little picture over the altar, of
the three Marys lamenting over the dead Christ, is by Giovanni
Bellini.

Baptistery. F. Francia. Saints adoring the Tiinity.

Turning to the right, a broad street leads to S. Faustina
Maggwre.

S. P1ETRO IN O LI VETO. 2 si

Aight Aisle. Gambara. The Nativity.

High Altar. The black and white 17th-century marble tomb by
Carra of SS. Faustinas and Jovita, whose bodies were removed here
in 843.

Cloister. A curious fresco, by Cossa/e, of Faustinus and Jovita
defending Brescia by flinging back the cannon-balls, when the town
was besieged by Niccolo Piccinino.

Returning to the Broletto, a path (inaccessible for
carriages) runs up the heights, immediately below the
Castello, whence Haynau bombarded the town in 1849,
and leads to the fine convent and half-ruined church of S.
Pietro in Oliveto. A lunette here is or was the only fresco
remaining of the Brescian master Floriano Ferramola.
The pictures formerly described as existing in this church
were all removed to the Vescovado in 1848. There is a
picturesque well in the cloister. In the vast and striking
view over the great green plain of Lombardy, the towers of
Cremona and Piacenza may be distinguished.

The Brescians, not content with the innumerable works
of their native artists in the churches, frequently employed
them to paint the outsides of their houses in fresco. In
the Strada del Gambaro, Romanino was employed in this
way, but resigned the commission to Gambara when he gave
him his daughter in marriage. The subjects are classical.
In the Corso Palestra, a number of wall paintings of this
kind remain, attributed to the Cavaliere Sabatti, but time
and dirt have almost effaced the detail, and few will have
patience to make out the subjects, though the general effect
is agreeable and picturesque.

252 THE LAGO DI GARDA.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE LAGO DI GARDA.

(The Lago cli Garcia is not so often visited as the other Italian
Lakes, yet the upper end of it possesses some magnificent scenery
Once or twice a week (the day changes) a morning steamer leaves
Peschiera early, when visitors may ascend the lake in the day and re-
turn, as an excursion from Verona ; but, for those who are not pressed
for time, the pleasantest way is to take the afternoon steamer at 4.15
from Desenzano to Riva, sleep one or two nights at Riva, and return
from thence to Peschiera, which will enable the traveller to see both
shores of the lake.

It is \ hour by rail, quick train (4 frs. 5 c. ; 2 frs. 95 c.), from
Brescia to Desenzano (omnibus 50 c., luggage 25 c.), Hotel Mayer.}

DESENZANO is a rather dismal-looking village in the
low ground at the end of the lake. Those who
sleep here will employ their time very well in making an
excursion by boat to the promontory of Sermione^ the Sirmio
of Catullus.

4 Peninsularum, Sirmio, insularumque

Ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis

Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus,

Quam te libenter, quamque laetus inviso !

Vix mi ipse credens Thyniam atque Bithynos

Liquisse campos, et videre te in tuto.

O quid solutis est beatius curis ?

Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino

Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,

Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto.

Hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.

Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque hero gaude :

Gaudete, vosque o Libuae lacus undae :

Ridete quidquid est domi cachinnorum. ' — xxxi.

Just where the almost-island of Sermione is connected

LA CO Dl CARD A.

253

with the mainland, is the fine old Castel Nuovo, built in the
1 4th century by Alboino della Scala, and a famous subject
artistically. Near the centre of the promontory, which is
almost covered with olive-gardens, is the old Church of S.
Pietro, with 14th-century frescoes ; at the northern end,
whence there is a grand view up the lake, and in a most
charming situation, are the Roman walls and vaults called
Le Grotte di Catullo.

A second excursion may be made from Desenzano to the
Battle-field of Solferino (carriages with 2 horses to go and
return, 15 to 20 frs. At the Inn at Solferino there is a Guide
for the battle-field), marked from a great distance by the
high Scaligeran tower called ' La Spia d1 Italia' The battle
began at about 5 A.M. on the 24th of June, 1859, and was
fought with varying success till 4 P.M., when the French
succeeded in carrying Solferino, and repulsing the Austrians
under Marshal Benedek.

The Lago di Garda is the Benacus of the Romans, and
marbles are still found on its shores on which one may read
the word * Benacenses.' It is the largest of the Italian
lakes, being 37 m. long, and nearly 14 m. wide at its widest
point. Its water is beautifully clear. The river Mincio
passes through it, now called the Sarca before it enters the
lake.

' Hinc quoque quingentos in se Mezentius arinat,
Quos patre Benaco, velatus arundine glauca,
Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu. '

Virgil, Aen, x. 204.

* Undique concurrunt volucres, quaecumque frementem
Permulcent Athesin cantu, quas Larius audit,
Quas Benacus alit, quas excipit amne quieto
Mincius. ' Clandian, Epith. Pal. et Cel.

On account of its straight course from N.N.E. to S.S.W.
the lake has always been notorious for its storms, which rise
and abate with equal suddenness, sweeping down it from the
Alps with unbroken force, and often imparting the miseries
of a sea-voyage to those upon the lake. One of its promon-
tories is called ' delle tempeste.'

254 THE LA GO DI CARD A.

' Anne lacus tantos ? te, Lari maxime ; teque
Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens, Benace, marine. ' l

Gcorg. ii. 158.

An old Italian proverb says — ' Lago di Garda e Bocca
de Calina porta spesso la rovina.'

The lake abounds in fish. According to their Italian
names those found here include, Anguila, Aola, Barbio,
Boza, Bulbero, Carpione, Cavazzino, Dorata, Faraguada,
Gambero, Luzzo, Majarone, Majella, Roncone, Sardella,
Scardova, Strega, Ternalo, Tinea, Trotta, Varone.

The residents on the Lago di Garda have their own
names for the winds. That which blows from Riva to
Desenzano is called Sover, as coming from above ; that
which blows from Desenzano to Riva, Ander, as coming
from below. The winds which are most beneficial to the
vegetation are the Montese. The Vinezza (a corruption of
Venezia) is a damp injurious wind.

In ascending the lake from Desenzano, we pass the little
island of Lecchio, generally called Isola dei Frati, where S.
Francis founded a convent in 1220 on the site of a temple
of Jupiter. It now belongs to the Marchese Scotti of
Bergamo. This is at the entrance of the beautiful bay of
Salo (Inn. Gambero, good), which is charmingly sitated at
the foot of Monte Pennine. In the Church of the Annun-
ziata are frescoes by Pietro Vecchio. It was at Salo that
Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciana, husband of the
infamous Vittoria Accoramboni, died (Nov. 10, 1585), it is
supposed, of poison. Here we begin to skirt gardens of
orange and lemon trees, which are more luxuriant than
anything of the kind short of Sorrento. The pergolas which
fringe the lake near the villages are covered with perfect
cascades of roses, and brilliant scarlet geraniums cover the
whole face of the houses, while large tufts of oleander wave
their pink plumes near the water's edge. The ranges of tall
white pillars of brick, often 20 ft. high, which are used to

1 ' Here vex'd by winter storms Benacus raves,
Confused with working sands and rolling waves ;
Rough and tumultuous like a sea it lies,
So loud the tempest roars, so high the billows rise.' — Adc'.iton.

RIVA. 255

support a protection for the lemons in winter, have a strange
effect. The fruit here is more bitter than that of the south,
but keeps longer. Its price varies, according to the season,
from 3 to 10 frs. per hundred. Many of the villages are
exceedingly picturesque. Maderno (Maternum) nestles at
the foot of Monte Pizzocolo, with the ruins of a castle ;
Campionc is buried in lemon-groves. In the church of
Toscolano (Tusculanum) are pictures by Ceksti, 1668, and,
in its sacristy, a fine work of Dom. Brusasorzi. It is here
that most ancient inscriptions have been found. Cervo is a
large fishing village.

Rwa.

After passing Gargnano (Albergo del Cervo} the character
of the lake changes. The space between the mountains and
the shore disappears, and the mountains themselves, no
longer clothed with olives, descend in savage precipices to
the water, only opening to admit the lovely lemon-gardens
of Limone. As we approach in the evening, the lamps of
Riva cast long streams of light upon the dark water, and the
precipices are unspeakably grand.

Riva (Inns. Hotel du Lac, most excellent ; with lovely
gardens ; Sole d> Oro, charmingly situated and close to the
lake, but rather dear ; Giardino) is in Austria, so that a little
custom-house awaits travellers on landing, and if they are
only going thither for a day or two and returning, it may be

256 THE LA GO DI CARD A.

as well for them to leave their luggage at the other end of
the lake. It is also as well to take a little money in gold.
Riva is a very picturesque little town, with open colonnades
and an old clock-tower, and has an exceedingly mild winter-
climate, in spite of the brief presence of the sun, which dis-
appears behind the mountains at 2 P.M. The little garden of
the Sole d' Oro, with its meals alfresco, is very bewitching.

No one should visit Riva without walking or driving
along the western shore of the lake to the Ponal-bruckt
(about i hr.). A wonderful road winds along the face of
the mountains, and hangs in mid-air amid the tremendous
precipices over the lake. The flowers are most beautiful,
and many very rare plants are found here. The Bridge
itself only spans a small mountain brook, but there is a
delightfully wild walk above it, and the gorge should be
followed for some distance by the road which leads to
Brescia, and passes the little Lago d1 Idro.

No place in the Italian lakes excels Riva as a centre for
easy excursions. At Arco is the old castle of its counts.
There is a charming drive by the Lago di Ledro and the
Lago d' Idro to Sale. The Baths of Comano may be reached
either by Tenno or Le Sarche : then Stenico, with an old
castle and a glorious situation, may be visited, and the return
made by Tione and the Lago di Ledro — 'a Cumberland tarn,
girt round with all the warmth and colour of Italy.' ! From
Tione, a good carriage road leads to Pinzolo, where there is
a good country inn, a centre for lovely walks and for the
excursion up the Val di Geneva. Artists will sketch the
romantically situated chapel of S. Stefano, decorated with
frescoes of the Dance of Death, and containing a curious
fresco of Charlemagne assisting a Pope to baptize. a heathen.
From Pinzolo we may proceed to Campiglio^ 5,000 ft, where
there is an old hospice converted into an Alpine pension,
beautifully situated. The mountain passes of the Val di
Brenta are indescribably grand and beautiful.

(It is a drive of 10 m. from Riva to the station of Mori,
on the line from Verona to the Tyrol, and those who dread

1 Freshfield.

GARDA, PESCHIERA. 257

the lake voyage may take this way of seeing Riva. There
is an omnibus twice daily by the harbour of Torbole,
the heights of Nago, and the Lake of Loppio. Those who
go as far as Mori will miss much if they fail to visit Trent
(Austrian), a most picturesque place, and of great historic
interest from the Council of 1545-1563.)

In descending the lake to Peschiera, artists will long to
stop at Malcesine, where there is an intensely picturesque
old castle upon an overhanging rock, said to have been built
by Charlemagne. Goethe narrates how, while sketching
here, he was nearly arrested as a spy by the Austrian govern-
ment. In the church is a Deposition by Giolfino. On the
two islands of Isolotto and Tremellone there are ruins.

Garda has a picture of S. Stephen by Farinati in the
Church of S. Stefano, and the palace and garden of Count
Albertini of Verona. It was in the castle called La Rocca
di Garda that Adelaida da Savoia was imprisoned by
Berengarius II., because she refused to marry his son
Adalbert. With the help of a priest she escaped in a man's
dress, and eventually married the Emperor Otho I.

Peschiera (several small and very poor Inns in the town,
nothing but coffee at the station buffet) is almost invisible
until we enter the bastions which protect its harbour.
Partly situated on an island formed by the Mincio where it
issues from the lake, it has been strongly fortified by each
succeeding government in Lombardy. In 1848 it was taken
by the Piedmontese after a brave defence by the Austrian
general Rath. Two-thirds of the buildings in the miserable
town are barracks. There is no beauty in Peschiera.

' Siede Peschiera, bello e forte arnese
Da fronteggiar Bresciani e Bergamaschi
Ove la riva intorno piu discese.'

Inferno, xx. 70.

(Near Pozzolengo, the station between Desenzano- and
Peschiera, is the Battle-field of S. Martino, where the Pied-
montese routed the right wing of the Austrian army, June
24, 1859.)

VOL. i. s

VERONA.

CHAPTER XV.

VERONA.

ERONA is reached by rail in little more than \ hr.
from Peschiera. — 3 frs. 75 c. • 2 frs. 45 c.

(Inns. Due Torri. Piazza S. Anastasia, admirably situated. Di
Londra, Corso, also very near S. Anastasia. Aqnila Nera, Piazza delle
Erbe. Rainier, or Gran Parigi. Coloniba d1 Oro.

Carriages. To or from the stations, 65 c., each piece of luggage
20 c. (Omnibus 30 c.) Course of not more than \ hour, 60 c. ; night,
75 c. ; one hour, i^ fr. ; each following hour, I fr. 25 c.

Stations. There are two stations at Verona, at which all the trains
stop. Porta Ntiova is on the side of Mantua and Milan ; Porta Ve co-
rile on the side of Botzen (Germany) and Venice. It is therefore
necessary not to leave luggage at the station at Verona, unless you mean
to depart from the same station.)

' Come, go with me. Go, sirrah, trudge about
Through fair Verona. ' — Romeo and Juliet ^ i. 2.

The situation of Verona 'La Degna' is most beautiful, and
the cypresses and tall campaniles which rise amid the lower
buildings, give it a southern aspect.

' I remember a city, more nobly placed even than Edinburgh, which,
instead of the valley now filled by lines of railroad, has a broad and
rushing river of blue water sweeping through the heart of it ; which,
for the dark and solitary rock which bears the castle, has an amphi-
theatre of cliffs crested with cypresses and olive ; which, for the two
masses of Arthur's Seat and the ranges of the Pentlands, has a chain of
blue mountains higher than the haughtiest peaks of the Highlands ; and
which, for the far-away Ben Lodi and Ben More, has the great central
chain of the St. Gothard Alps ; and yet as you go out of the gates,
and walk in the suburban streets of that city — I mean Verona — the eye
never seeks to rest on that external scenery, however gorgeous ; it does
not look for the gaps between the houses : it may for a few moments
follow the broken line of the great Alpine battlements ; but it is only

CHARACTERISTICS OF VERONA. 259

when they form a background for other battlements, built by the hand
of man. There is no necessity felt to dwell on the blue river or the
burning hills. The heart and eye have enough to do in the streets of
the city itself ; they are contented there ; nay, they sometimes turn from
the natural scenery, as if too savage and solitary, to dwell with a deeper
interest on the palace walls that cast their shade upon the streets, and
the crowd of towers that rise out of that shadow, into the depths of the
sky. That is a city to be proud of indeed.' — Ruskin, ' Lectures on
Architecture and Painting.'1

' Pleasant Verona ! With its beautiful old palaces, and charming
country in the distance, seen from terrace walks, and stately balustraded
galleries. With its Roman gates, still spanning the fair street, and
casting on the sunlight of to-day the shade of fifteen hundred years ago.
With its marble-faced churches, lofty towers, rich architecture, and quaint
old quiet thoroughfares, where shouts of Montagues and Capulets once
resounded,

And made Verona's ancient citizens

Cast by their grave, beseeming ornaments,

To wield old partizans.

With its fast-rushing river, picturesque old bridge, great castle, waving
cypresses, and prospect so delightful, and so cheerful ! Pleasant
Verona ! ' — Dickens.

Verona was an important town of Gallia Transpadana,
and belonged either to the Cenomani or the Euganei, but
very little is known of its early history. It has always pre-
served its ancient name unchanged. Of the Roman period
the amphitheatre and the gateways remain. It was here
that Theodoric gained his victory over Odoacer, and for a
time Theodoric made it his residence ; his palace is de-
stroyed, but memorials of him remain in the reliefs in the
faQade of S. Zeno, while the rock-chapel behind SS. Nazzaro
and Celso dates from the time of the Ostrogoths. In the
palace of Theodoric afterwards lived Alboin, the founder of
the Lombard kingdom, who was murdered in 574. Here
also the famous Theodolinda was married to her first husband
Autharis. In the beginning of the i3th century, the contests
of the house of Este with the Ezzelini and Montecchi began
at Verona the wars of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. As the
Ghibellines gained the upper hand, Ezzelino da Romano
became almost absolute sovereign of Verona, Vicenza, and

s 2

260 VERONA.

Treviso, and maintained his power by wholesale murder and
cruelty. Being wounded in battle at the bridge of Casciano,
he was imprisoned at Castel Solano, wrhere he hastened his
death by tearing the bandages from his wounds. After the
fall of the Hohenstaufens, Mastino della Scala l was chosen
Podesta of Verona, and became so popular that in 1262 he
was made * Signore perpetuo.' From this time, for 1 27 years,
the condition of Verona reflected the virtues and vices of
the Scaligers. They were succeeded for a short time by
Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, after whose
death, in 1405, Verona was united to Venice, and has since
shared its fate.

Verona is a place to linger at, and there are few places
in Italy where so many different periods of history are still
illustrated, or where more various branches of study may be
pursued.

' Verona e vma terra bella e buona,
E cieco e sordo e chi nol vede e sente.'

Berni.

' At Verona, of all places I have seen in Italy, would I fix a resi-
dence.'— John Evelyn, 1646.

' If I were asked to lay my ringer, in the map of the world, on the
spot of the world's surface which contained at this moment the most
singular concentration of art-teaching and art-treasure, I should lay it
on the name of Verona.' — Ruskirfs ' Political Economy of Art.''

But for the benefit of those who can only give one whole
day to Verona, we will take the Piazza S. Anastasia (near
which the traveller is almost certain to have selected his
hotel) as a centre, and make an excursion from thence which
will embrace the principal objects of interest.

The points which even the most cursory pilgrim must
not omit are: — S. Anastasia, the Piazza dei Signori, Piazza
delle Erbe, Tombs of the Scaligers, Amphitheatre (S. Ber-
nardino ?), S. Zenone, Porta Borsari (S. Eufemia ?), Duomo,
the Giusti Gardens— quite enchanting towards sunset, the
Pinacoteca, and S. Fermo Maggiore.

1 The family name was originally Villani — they obtained the name of Scala from
the fortune made by one of their family, a merchant of Montagna, who sold ladders.

5. ANASTASIA. 261

The pictures in the Churches and Gallery would not,
with a few exceptions, be of any great importance out of
Verona, but are exceedingly interesting here, being almost
entirely by native artists. Of these, perhaps the most
important have been Liberale da Verona (1451-1536),
Girolamo dei Libri (1474-1556), and Francesco Morone
(1474-1529) of the earlier period ; and, following them,
Caroto (1470-1546), and Cavazzola (Paolo Morando, 1486-
1522). The works of Francesco Torbido, called ' II Moro,'
a scholar of Giorgione, of Niccolo Giolfino (1486-1518), and
of Domenico Riccio, called II Brusasorci (1494-1567), also
always deserve notice.

' In Verona two painters more particularly represent the golden
period — Gianfrancesco Carotto, pupil of Mantegna, and Paolo Morandi,
named Cavazzola, pupil of Francesco Morone ; to whom we may add
Giolfino. ' — Burckhardt.

More than its pictures, we should study in Verona the
works of its great architect Michele Sanmicheli (1484-1558),
whose palaces and churches are still the chief modern orna-
ments of the city.

' Sanmicheli was a man of a most orderly and upright life, highly
honourable in all its actions ; he was of a cheerful disposition, yet grave
withal; a man who feared God, and was so rigidly attentive to his
religious duties, that he would on no account have commenced any work
in the morning till he had heard mass devoutly, and repeated his prayers.
On the first beginning any work of importance, moreover, he would
cause the Mass of the Spirito Santo, or that of the Madonna, to be
solemnly sung before any other thing was attempted. He was of an
exceedingly liberal disposition, and so obliging towards his friends, that
they were as much masters of all he possessed as he was himself. ' —
Vasari. ,

The Corso ends in the fascinating little piazza which is
closed by the glorious Church of S. Anastasia, one of the
most perfectly beautiful Gothic buildings in Italy. It was
built by the Dominicans in the i3th century — the time of
the Scaligers. The fagade is still unfinished, but noble in
its proportions.

' The Church of S. Anastasia looks so beautiful at the end of the
narrow street, whose dark shade contrasts with the bright sunshine which

262

VERONA.

plays upon its lofty arched marble doorway and frescoed tympanum,
and lights up by some kind of magic the rough brickwork with which
the unfinished church has been left, so brightly, that, as you gaze, thoughts
pass across your mind of portions of some lovely painting or some
sweeter dream ; you feel as though Fra Angelico might have painted
such a door in Paradise, and as though it were too fair to be real.
There, however, it is, rich and delicate in colour, shining with all the
delicate tints of the marbles of Verona, pure and simple in its softly-
shadowed mouldings, beautiful in its proportions, and on a nearer ap-
proach revealing through the dark shade of its opening, and over and
beyond the people who early and late throng in and out, the vague and
misty forms of the solemn interior. ' — Streefs ' Brick and Marble in the
Middle Ages. '

Tomb of the Count of Castelbarco.

On the left of the church, over a gateway, is the beau-
tiful Tomb of Count Guglielmo di Castelbarco^ who died in
1320.

' In this case the monument is supported on a large slab of stone
corbelled forward and balanced upon the top of a thin wall. Four
shafts with sculptured capitals, resting on the angles of this slab, sup-
port four trefoiled arches, those at the ends wider than the others, and
almost destitute of moulding save that the outer line of the arch has a
broad band of delicate sculpture all round it. The arch terminates in a
kind of small cross, and above on each side is a very flat pediment,
moulded and finished on the under side with one of the favourite Italian
arcaded corbel-tables ; the finish is a heavy pyramidal mass of stone

S. ANASTASIA. 263

rising from behind the pediments. The four bearing-shafts are of white
marble, all the rest of the monument of red. Within the four supporting
shafts stands a kind of sarcophagus, supported on the backs of couchant
lions, very plain, but ornamented at the angles in very classic fashion
and bearing a recumbent effigy.' — Street,

Within the little court, over the entrance of which rests
the Count of Castelbarco, are three other beautiful mediaeval
tombs. Close by is the little Gothic Church of S. Pietro
Mar tire, of 1350.

The Interior of S. Anastasia is 300 ft. long and 75 ft.
wide. The colour is subdued and beautiful. The nave is
separated from narrow aisles by six pointed arches. Near
the entrance are curious holy-water basins, supported on
crouching figures — ' I Gobbi.' They are full of quaint
character ; that on the left is by Gabriele Cagliari, father of
Paul Veronese.

Right, 1st Chapel. The 1st altar is also the tomb of Giano Fregoso
— early Renaissance — by Danese Cataneo, the Tuscan poet and sculptor.

4//z Altar (Pindemonte). Francesco Caroto. S. Martin — quite mag-
nificent in colour.

Right Transept. Gir. del Libri (also attributed to Fr. Morone}.
Madonna between SS. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, with the donors
— a very beautiful picture.

' Has strong reminiscences of Mantegna's altar-picture in S. Zeno.'
—Ktigkr.

Right of Choir, \st Chapel. Tomb of Federigo de Caballis, and
above it, in fresco, by an unknown master, an excellent votive picture.

2nd Chapel. Tombs of the Pellegrini family, and two good frescoes
— Madonnas enthroned.

High Attar. Francesco Torelli. S. Peter Martyr. The splendid
tomb of Cortesia Serego, 1432, brother-in-law and general of Antonio
della Scala. The frescoes are by Pisanello.

Left of Choir. Tomb of the Lavagnoli family, with frescoes pro-
bably by Pisanello, 1452-1455.

Saciisty (Outside, over door}. Falcieri. The Council of Trent —
curious as almost contemporary.

(Inside} Paolo Aforando—(Ca.vazzola.). S. Paul and other
The Madonna carried up by angels. v

Cappella del Rosario. In the altar-piece Mastino II. della Scala,
and his wife Taddea Carrara, kneel before the Virgin.

Left Aisle ind Chapel. Ciolfuio. The Saviour in glory, with saints
below;— S. George, standing in armour, points upwards with one

264 VERONA.

hand, and in the other holds an inscription—' Quid bono retribua
Duo. '

Tomb of Gerardo Bolderio, 1500.

A short distance down the Corso (left, behind the Hotel
Torre di Londra) is the Piazza del Signori, with a statue of
Dante by Zannoni (1865) in the centre, and surrounded by
the most interesting mediaeval buildings. The Piazza is
entered from the west, on which side are the Palazzo del
Consiglio and the remains of the Palaces of Mastino I. and
Alberto della Scala. At the south-west corner is the pas-
sage towards the Piazza delle Erbe, called II Volto Barbaro,
where Mastino I. was assassinated by one Scaramello, above
which there is now a statue of Scipione Maffei, the historian
of Verona. From the east of the Piazza a street leads to
the Piazza Navona, having on the right the Palazzo della
Ragione, on the left the Cortile Tribunale. From the north
a passage leads to the Tombs of the Scaligers.

The marvellously beautiful Palazzo del Consiglio, a
model of the grace, elegance, and power of the 1 5th century
(elaborately restored), is the work of Fra Giocondo (archi-
tect of the Pont Notre Dame at Paris, and of Chateau
Gaillon), who was born at Verona in 1430 (ob. 1514). The
bronze Annunciation in the front is by Giovanni Campagna.
The parapet is surmounted by statues of those whom Verona
boasts as her citizens : — Pliny the younger, Cornelius Nepos,
Emilius Macer, L. Vitruvius Cerdo (more probably a native
of Formiae), and Catullus, the especial poet of Verona as
Virgil was of Mantua.

' Mantua Virgilio gaudet, Verona Catullo. '

Ovid, Amor, iii. 15, 7.

' Tantum magna suo debet Verona Catullo,
Quantum parva suo Mantua Virgilio.'

Martial, xiv. ep. 195.

Modern times are represented by Scipione Maffei and
the poet Fracastoro. Over the entrance are the words —
* Pro summa fide sumus amor MDXCII ' — an encomium of
Venice upon Verona.

PALAZZO DELLA RAGIONE, S. MARIA ANTIC A. 265

In the palace are preserved several pictures illustrative of
Veronese history, especially : — •

Titian. The recognition of the Lordship of Venice by Verona on
the Piazza S. Marco, 1505 — most of the heads probably by Bonifazio.

1 The Doge is represented on a throne, on each side of which are the
Senators in red costume ; on the right, the Sclavonian guard ; on the
left, in white silk habiliments, the councillors of Verona, delivering up
the banner and keys of their city to the Doge. Above, in the clouds, is
the Virgin, with S. Mark, and S. Zeno, the patron saint of Venice and
Verona. In some parts of the picture (the figures of the saints, for in-
stance) the hand of an inferior artist is easily to be recognised. The
portrait-heads are, however, very excellent, and full of life. ' — Jtugler.

The Palazzo della Ragione incloses the courtyard of the
Mercato Vecchio, surrounded by Lombard arcades, and with
one of the most beautiful Gothic outside staircases imaginable.
The magnificent brick Campanile is nearly 300 ft. high.

' This wonderfully simple and grand erection rises out of a large
pile of buildings, and for a short distance above their roofs is built in
alternate courses of brick and a very warm-coloured stone, and then
entirely in brick, pierced with only one or two small openings, and ter-
minating with a most glorious simple belfry stage ; the belfry windows,
with their arches formed without mouldings and with the sharp edges
only of brick and stone used alternately, are divided into three lights
by coupled shafts of shining marble ; the shafts, being coupled one
behind the other, and thus giving strength with great lightness, are very
striking in their effect. They have, too, remarkably large balconies, but
without balustrading of any kind. The upper and octangular stage of
the campanile is I think comparatively modern, but perhaps rather im-
proves the whole effect. ' — Street's '•Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages. ' >-

Passing under the arch at the north of the piazza we
reach the Church of S. Maria Antica, the court-chapel of
the Scaligers, now only remarkable for its tiny graveyard
surrounded by an exquisite trellis of wrought-iron, which
contains their tombs. The Scaligers or Delia Scalas existed
in Verona as early as 1035. In 1257 the brothers Bonifazio
and Federigo della Scala were beheaded by Eccelino da
Romano. Upon the death of Eccelino, Mastino della
Scala was chosen as ' Capitano del Popolo.' After a wise
and prosperous rule of 15 years, he was murdered 1277, in
the archway called // Volto Barbara, on the other side of

265 VERONA.

the Piazza dei Signori. His tomb is the first which we find
here — a plain sarcophagus with a cross ; it once had a
canopy, which has been removed.

Mastino I. was succeeded by his brother Alberto I., ob.
1301, who ruled wisely for 24 years and was greatly beloved.
His remains are believed to rest in a sarcophagus which
stands on the ground, decorated with his figure, riding, with
his sword in his hand.

He was succeeded by his son Bartolommeo, who also
ruled wisely for three years and died in 1304. His was
the time of Romeo (dei Montecchi) and Juliet (Giulietta
de' Capelli). A nameless sarcophagus is attributed to
Bartolommeo.

Bartolommeo was succeeded in 1304 by Alboino, who
shared the government with his more celebrated brother
Francesco, the famous Ghibelline Can Grande (the Great
Dog) della Scala. With these two chieftains Dante sought a
refuge, and in the ' Divina Commedia ' he represents Caccia-
guida as foretelling his retreat : —

' Lo primo tuo rifugio, e il primo ostello
Sara la cortesia del gran Lombardo,
Che 'n su la Scala porta il santo uccello ;

Ch' avra in te si benigno riguardo,
Che del fare e del chieder, tra voi due,
Fia primo quel che tra gli altri e piu tardo,

Con lui vedrai colui che impresso fue,
Nascendo, si da questa Stella forte,
Che notabili fien 1' opere sue.

Non se ne sono ancor le genti accorte,
Per la novella eta ; che pur nove anni
Son queste ruote intorno di lui torte.

Ma pria che '1 Guasco 1' alto Arrigo inganni
Parran faville della sua virtute
In non curar d' argento, ne d' afianni.

Le sue magnificenze conosciute
Saranno ancora si, che i suoi nemici
Non ne potran tener le lingue mute.

A lui t' aspetta ed a' suoi benefici ;
Per lui fia trasmutata molta gente,
Cambiando condizion ricchi e mendici.'

Par. xvii.

TOMBS OF THE SCALIGERS. 267

' Can Grande, le plus illustre cles Scaliger, faisait de son palais un
refuge et un asile pour tous ceux que les revolutions politiques avaient
bannis de leur patrie. Soignant les imaginations des proscrits dont il
recueillait 1'infortune. il avait fait representer dans les divers apparte-
ments qui leur etaient reserves divers symboles analogues a leur destinee :
pour les poe'tes les Muses, Mercure pour les artistes, le paradis pour les
predicateurs, pour tous 1'inconstante Fortune.

' Une courtoisie aussi delicate envers le malheur et le talent fait hon-
neur a cette famille heroique et barbare, dont 1'histoire est pleine de
crimes et de grandes actions, comme celle des autres petits souverains
italiens de la meme epoque. Les noms singulierement vulgaires des
Scaliger semblent annoncer des mceurs brutales et sauvages. II est
curieux de trouver une recherche d'hospitalite pareille chez des princes
qui s'appellent Matin premier, Matin second, le Grand Chien (Can
Grande). Ces Matins de Verone, comme les Mauvaises-Tetes (Ma-
latesta) de Rimini, devancaient glorieusement le role dont on a trop ex-
clusivement fait honneur aux Medicis. ' — Ampere, ' Voyage Dantescpie. '

Can Grande died in 1329, and his tomb surmounts the
entrance to the church.

'As early as about the year 1335, the consummate form of the
Gothic tomb occurs in the monument of Can Grande della Scala. It
is set over the portal of the chapel anciently belonging to the family.
The sarcophagus is sculptured with shallow bas-reliefs, representing the
principal achievements of the warrior's life, especially the siege of
Vicenza and battle of Piacenza ; these sculptures, however, form little
more than a chased and roughened groundwork for the fully relieved
statues representing the Annunciation, projecting boldly from the front
of the sarcophagus. Above, the Lord of Verona is laid in his long robe
of civic dignity, wearing the simple bonnet, consisting merely of a fillet
bound round the brow, knotted and falling on the shoulder. He is laid
as asleep, his arms crossed upon his body, and his sword by his side.
Above him, a bold arched canopy is sustained by two projecting shafts,
and on the pinnacle of its roof is the statue of the knight on his war-
horse : his helmet, dragon-winged and crested with the dog's head,
tossed back behind his shoulders, and the broad and blazened drapery
floating back from his horse's breast, — so truly drawn by the old work-
man from the life, that it seems to wave in the wind, and the knight's
spear to shake, and his 'marble horse to be evermore quickening its
pace, and starting with heavier and hastier charge, as the silver clouds
float past behind it in the sky.

' . . . . Though beautiful, the tomb is so little conspicuous or in-
trusive, that it serves only to decorate the portal of the little chapel, and
is hardly regarded by the traveller as he enters. When it is examined,
the history of the acts of the dead is found subdued into dim and

268 VERONA.

minute ornament upon his coffin ; and the principal aim of the monu-
ment is to direct the thoughts to his image as it lies in death, and to
the expression of his hope of resurrection ; while, as seen by the
memory, far away, diminished in the brightness of the sky, there is set
the likeness of his armed youth, stately, as it stood of old in the front
of battle, and meet to be thus recorded for us, that we may now be
able to remember the dignity of the frame, of which those who once
looked upon it hardly remembered that it was dust.' — Ruskin, ' Stones
of Venice S iii. 72.

The successor of Can Grande was his nephew Alberto II.,
who was succeeded by Mastino II. . In his reign Parma,
Reggio, Lucca, Bassano, Brescia, Vicenza, Treviso, and
eventually Padua, acknowledged the rule of the Scaligers ;
yet, owing to his vanity and to his abandonment of .Ghibel-
line for Guelfic politics, the decline of his family began with
him. He died in 1351, and his tomb occupies one corner
of the cemetery.

The tomb which stands beside that of Can Grande, nearest it in
the little field of sleep, already shows the traces of erring ambition.
It is the tomb of Mastino the second, in whose reign began the de-
cline of his family. It is altogether exquisite as a work of art ; and the
evidence of a less wise or noble feeling in its design is found only in
this, that the image of a virtue, Fortitude, as belonging to the dead, is
placed on the extremity of the sarcophagus, opposite to the Crucifixion.
But for this slight circumstance, the monument of Can Mastino would
have been as perfect as its decoration is refined. It consisted, like
that of Can Grande, of a raised sarcophagus, bearing the recumbent
statue, protected by a noble four-square canopy, sculptured with
ancient Scripture history. On one side of the sarcophagus is Christ
enthroned, with Can Mastino kneeling before Him ; on the other,
Christ is represented in the mystical form, half- rising from the tomb,
meant, I believe, to be at once typical of His passion and resurrection.
The lateral panels are occupied by statues of saints. At one extremity of
the sarcophagus is the Crucifixion ; at the other, a noble statue of Forti-
tude, with a lion's skin thrown over her shoulders, its head forming a
shield upon her breast, her flowing hair bound with a narrow fillet,
and a three-edged sword in her gauntleted right hand, drawn back
sternly behind her thigh, while, in her left, she bears high the shield of
the Scalas.' — Ritskin.

The successor of Mastino II. was Can Grande II., who
built the Castel Vecchio and the bridge near it. He died
in 1359, but it is scarcely likely that he was murdered by

TOMBS OF THE SCALIGERS. 269

his brother (as stated by many authorities), as that brother
was only n years old at the time. He was, however, suc-
ceeded by his brother Can Signorio, who, on his death-bed
in 1375, commanded the execution of another brother, Paolo
Alboino, from fear that he might endanger the succession
of his own sons. His tomb is by the Milanese sculptor,
floninius a Compigliono^ or Da Campione.

' This monument is the stateliest and most sumptuous of the three ;
it arrests the eye of the stranger, and long detains it — a many-pin-
nacled pile, surrounded by niches with statues of warrior saints.

' It is beautiful, for it still belongs to the noble time, the latter part
of the fourteenth century ; but its work is coarser than that of the
other, and its pride may well prepare us to learn that it was built for
himself, in his own lifetime, by the man whose statue crowns it, Can
Signorio della Scala. Now observe, for this is infinitely significant.
Can Mastino was feeble and wicked, and began the ruin of his house :
his sarcophagus is the first which bears upon it the image of a Virtue,
but he lays claim only to Fortitude. Can Signorio was twice a fratri-
cide, the last time when he lay upon his death-bed : his tomb bears
upon its gables the images of six virtues —Faith, Hope, Charity, Pru-
dence, and (I believe) Justice and Fortitude.' — Rnskin.

Can Signorio was succeeded by his son Bartolommeo II.,
who was also murdered, 1381, by his half-brother, Antonio.

' After this, the iniquities of the family could no longer be endured,
Antonio endeavoured to fasten his own crime on the brothers Mala-
spina and others. The accused fled to Milan, and persuaded its Duke,
Visconti, to attack Antonio. Antonio was easily defeated, and
banished from Verona. His son Guglielmo, and his grandson Brunoro,
received the appointment of Vicar Imperial of Verona from the Em-
peror, but were never able to gain admittance to the city. The virtues
of the early Scaligers had raised them to power : the vices of their
descendants terminated their reign. The Veronese, disgusted with the
Scaligers, voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Venetians in 1405.'
— Golly Knight.

Nothing can be more picturesque than the whole group
of monuments, standing as they do, close together, under
the open sky, and in the midst of the busy town.

' Avant de quitter Verone, j'y ai fait le soir une promenade qui me
laissera un long souvenir. Je suis alle contempler le chateau-fort bati
par les Scaliger. . . . Puis je suis venu de la forteresse des Scaliger
vers leur tombeau. Les pyramides de sculptures et de colonnes etaient

270 VERONA.

plongees dans la nuit, tandis que les figures equestres, blanchis par la
lune, semblaient planer dans les airs comme le coursier-spectre de
Lenore ou comme le cheval blanc de la Mort dans PApocalypse.

' La tradition sanglante m'est revenue a la memoire en regardant
scintiller les etoiles au-de?sus de ces cavaliers de marbre ; il m'a semble
qu'ils se mettaient en mouvement et que le fratricide poursuivait son
frere a travers les airs dans le silence de la nuit. Bientot 1'illusion a
cesse, et j'ai senti que tout, dans ce lieu funebre, etait immobile et
froid, 1'image des morts comme leur cendre, la pierre de leur armure
comme la pierre de leur tombeau. ' — Ampere.

' The small burial-ground of S. Maria 1' Antica is fenced from the
busy thoroughfares, which on two sides bound it, by an iron railing of
most exquisite design, divided at intervals by piers of stone on whose
summits stand gazing upwards as in prayer, or downwards as in warning
to those who pass below, a beautiful series of saintly figures. Within,
a glorious assemblage of monuments meets the eye— one over the
entrance doorway, the others either towering up in picturesque confusion
above the railing which has been their guardian from all damage for so
many centuries, or meekly hiding their humility behind the larger
masses of their companions.

' The monuments are all to the members of one family — the Scali-
geri — who seem to have risen to power in the thirteenth century, and
to have held sway in Verona until almost the end of the fourteenth. In
this space of time it was, therefore, that these monuments were erected,
and they are consequently of singular interest, not only for the excessive
beauty of the group of marble and stone which, in the busiest highway
of the city, among tall houses and crowds of people, has made this
churchyard, for some five hundred years, the central point of architec-
tural interest, but because they give us dated examples of the last
pointed work during nearly the whole time of its prevalence in Verona.
In the monument of the first Duke we see the elements of that beauty
which, after ascending to perfection in that of another, again descends
surely and certainly in the monument of Can Signorio, the largest and
most elaborate of all, and, therefore. I am afraid, the most commonly
admired, but the one which shows most evidence of the rise of the Re-
naissance spirit, and the fall of true art. Nor is it, I think, to be for-
gotten, as an evidence of the kind of moral turpitude which so often
precedes or accompanies the fall of art, that this Can Signorio first
murdered his own brother Can Grande II. that he might obtain his
inheritance (?), and then, before he died, erected his own monument,
and adorned it with effigies of SS. Quirinus, Valentine, Martin, George,
Sigismund, and Louis, together with allegorical figures of the Virtues
with whom he of all men had least right to associate himself in death,
when in life he had ever despised them ; and the inscription, which
records the name of the architect on this monument, does but record
the vanity of him who was content thus to pander to the wretched Can

PIAZZA DELLE ERBE. 271

Signorio's desire to excuse the memory of his atrocious life by the sight
of an immense cenotaph.

'The situation of the monuments, rather huddled together, with the
old church behind them, the archway into the Piazza dei Signori on the
other side, and the beautiful iron grille which surrounds them, the
number of saintly and warlike figures, and the confused mass of pinnacle
and shaft, half obscured by the railing, do, I verily believe, make the
cemetery of S. Maria 1' Antica one of the most striking spots in the
world for the study of Christian art in perfection. What either Cologne
Cathedral, or Ratisbon, or the Wiesen Kirche at Soest is to Germany,
the Choir of Westminster Abbey or the Chapter House at Southwell to
England, Amiens Cathedral or the Sainte Chapelle of Paris to France,
that is the Cemetery of the Scaligeri in Verona to Italy — the spot, i. e.
where at a glance the whole essence of the system of a school of artists
may be comprehended, lavished on a small but most stately effort of
their genius. ' — Streets ' Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages. '

Recrossing the Piazza dei Signori, let us enter the
Piazza delle Erbe, the ancient Forum, now crowded with
the huge white umbrellas of the market-women. On the
side towards the Corso, in front of the Palazzo MafTei, is a
marble Pillar, erected 1524 by the Venetians as a pedestal
for the lion of S. Mark, which was thrown down in 1799,
when the Venetian republic came to an end. Over the
Fountain is a statue of Verona, with a scroll inscribed —
' Est justi latrix urbs haec et laudis amatrix.' This is due
to Can Signorio (1368), who also built the tower at the end
of the square and adorned it with the first clock (now re-
moved) which had been seen in Verona. At the corner of
the Via Pelliciai is the Casa dei Mercanti, built by Alberto
della Scala in 1301, and adorned with a statue of the Virgin
by Campagna. The small quadrangular canopied space and
the Gothic market-cross marks the site of one more ancient,
where the newly appointed Capitano del Popolo was pub-
licly invested with his office and then addressed the people.
The sentences of condemned criminals were delivered from
hence. Most of the houses in this piazza were decorated
with frescoes by Liberale and other masters, of which many
fragments still remain.

From the east end of the piazza, the Via Nuova (passing

272 VERONA.

on the left a good Gothic house — No. 19) leads to the
Piazza Bra (now Vittorio Emanuele !) which contains the
famous Amphitheatre, called the Arena (entrance by the 5th
arch marked — ' Ingresso all' Anfiteatro dell' Arena ').

It is believed that the Amphitheatre was built under
Diocletian. It is 106 ft. high, 546 long, 436 wide, and 492
yards in circumference. The interior is wonderfully perfect,
and its 45 tiers of seats (18 inches high, 22 wide) have been
carefully kept in repair by immemorial custom. The num-
bers sculptured on the outer arches to guide the spectators
where to present their tickets are still in many cases quite
legible. The arcades are let as shops to dealers in all kinds
of wares, but the interior is still often used as an open-air
theatre. An inscription commemorates the presence of the
Emperor Joseph II. at one of these displays.

' In the midst of Verona, in the Piazza di Bra — a spirit of old time
among the familiar realities of the passing hour — is the great Roman
Amphitheatre. So well preserved, and carefully maintained, that every
row of seats is there, unbroken. Over certain of the arches, the old
Roman numerals may yet be seen, and there are corridors, and stair-
cases, and subterranean passages for beasts, and winding ways, above-
ground and below, as when the fierce thousands hurried in and out, in-
tent upon the bloody shows of the arena. Nestling in some of the
shadows and hollow places of the walls, now, are smiths with their
forges, and a few small dealers of one kind or other ; and there are
green weeds, and leaves, and grass, upon the parapet. But little else
is greatly changed. ' — Dickens.

Near the Amphitheatre, in the Piazza Bra, is the Palazzo
della Guardia, built by Andrea Midano, a pupil of San-
micheli. On the other side of the Portone della Bra are
the Accademia Filarmonica and the Museo Lapidario, not of
much importance.

Passing these, we come into the end of the Corso, oppo-
site the Castel Vecchio, built, together with the noble battle-
mented bridge over the Adige, adjoining it, by Can Grande II.
in 1355. The main arch of the bridge is said to be 160
ft. wide, and instead of being in the centre, it is on the side
next the castle, and from it the other arches slope away to
the north bank.

CAPPELLA PELLEGRINI. 273

(The continuation of the Corso leads to the Porta Stuppa
or del Palio, one of the noblest works of Sanmicheli.

' In this gate and the neighbouring Porta Nuova the Venetian
Signori may be said, through this architect's genius, to have equalled
the buildings of the ancient Romans. The gate of the Palio is of the
Doric order, with columns of immense height and girth, and these
columns, which are in all eight, are placed in pairs . . . The front is
exceedingly wide and is entirely of rustic work, deeply cut, and having
each projection not rough, but polished, the whole enriched, moreover,
with decorations of great beauty ; the passage of the gate retaining the
quadrangular form, but of an architecture which is new, fanciful, and
very beautiful. On the inner front is a magnificent Doric loggia, and
at the summit a Doric cornice richly carved. This was the last marvel
performed by Michele Sanmicheli, for he had only just completed
the first range of columns when he finished the course of his life.' —
Vasari. )

Close to the Castello, the Via S. Bernardino leads (left)
to the handsome cloister and brick Church of S. Bernar-
dino of 1499. Hence opens the celebrated Cappella Pelle-
grini, the masterpiece of Sanmicheli. It was begun by
Margaretta Pellegrini, who died in 1557, before it was com-
pleted, recommending her heirs to finish the work, but they,
from avaricious motives, took it out of the hands of San-
micheli, and the details were finished by inferior architects in
1793. However, Carlo Pellegrini carried out the full design
of Sanmicheli in 1793.

' It is a circular building in the manner of our ancient temples of
the Corinthian order, the material being that hard white stone, which
in Verona, from the sound rendered by it while in the process of work-
ing, is called bronzo. . . . Sanmicheli has given the circular form to
the whole structure, insomuch that the three altars which are within its
circle, with their pediments, cornices, &c., all turn in a perfect round,
as does the opening space of the door. Above the first range of
columns, Sanmicheli also constructed a gallery which is continued
entirely round the chapel, the columns and capitals of the same being
enriched with exquisite carvings, and every part in effect being deco-
rated with foliage, grottcsche, and other ornaments, all sculptured with
indescribable care and pains. The door, a very beautiful one, has a
quadrangular form outside, resembling, as Sanmicheli averred, an
antique example which he had seen in some building at Rome.' —
Vasari.

VOL. I. T

274 VERONA.

Hence, the Vicolo Lunga S. Bernardino leads to the
magnificent Church of S. Zeno Maggiore or San Zenone.

The original building on this site was erected in the pth
century by Bishop Rotaldus. The present church was built
1138-1178. Within, it is a simple Latin basilica. The
western faQade, in the Lombard style, has a single lofty-
gable, with a lean-to on either side. There is only one
portal, with a canopy resting on pillars supported by lions.
Above, is a great round window by one Briolottus, evidently-
intended as typical of the wheel of fortune, as is evinced by
the outer inscription : —

En ego fortuna moderor mortalibus una :
Elevo, depono, bona cunctis, vel mala dono.

And the inner : — -

Induo nudatos, Denude veste paratos.
In me confidit si quis, derisus abibit.

The bas-reliefs at the sides of the door are most curious.
Below those illustrative of the Old and New Testament, on
the left, are two warriors charging one another with lances,
and a figure running another through with a sword. On the
right is what is called the Chase of King Theodoric — ' the
Dietrich of the Hildebrand-lay and the Helden-buch.' The
dogs have seized upon the stag, and a demon waits for the
huntsman, probably because he was an Arian. ' In these
sculptures the character and habitual associations of the
Lombards may be distinctly read.'1 Maffei quotes this as
the first piece of sculpture in which the horseman rides in
stirrups. The ancient bronze doors themselves are covered
with reliefs.

The beautiful Campanile of S. Zenone is quite detached
from the church. Begun by the Abbot Alberic in 1145, it
was finished 1178. It is built of alternate courses of brick
and marble.

' The proportions of S. Zeno are so very grand, and its detail gener-
ally so perfect, that I think it may be regarded as, on the whole, the
noblest example of its class ; indeed, except the very best Gothic work
1 Lindsay's Christian Art.

S. ZENONE. 27 $

of the best period, I doubt whether any work of the Middle Ages so
much commands respect and admiration as this Lombard work. There
is a breadth and simplicity about it, and an expression of such deep
thought in the arrangement of materials and in the delicate sculpture,
which with a sparing hand is introduced, that one cannot sufficiently
admire the men who planned and executed it. Beyond this, the con-
structive science was so excellent and so careful, that with ordinary
care such a church as San Zenone would seem still likely to last for
ages. ' — Street.

The Interior, entered by descending 13 steps, is grand
in its proportions. The nave is separated from the aisles by
alternate piers and columns. The wooden and painted roof
is very curious. The choir, which was rebuilt in the i5th
century, is approached by two lofty flights of steps, which
allow space for the crypt. On the right of the entrance is
the ancient font by Brioloitus, and opposite it a curious
vase for holy-water called ' Coppa di San Zenone' On the
choir screen are ancient statues of Christ and the Apostles,
much alike in type, but full of solemn expression. The
second altar on the right has a canopy supported by columns
banded together, and resting on a lion and a stag.

' The interior of S. Zenone preserves the basilica form complete,
and is remarkable for the two triumphal arches which span the nave, a
third, as usual, admitting to the sanctuary — as well as for the splendour
of the crypt, supported by forty-eight slender columns, clustered, round
and polygonal, surrounding the tomb, and for the three noble flights of
steps, one of them leading down to the crypt, the other two, to the right
and left, ascending to the presbytery — the former occupying the breadth
of the nave, the latter that of the aisles. ' — Lindsay 's ' Christian Art. '

Aloft, in the choir, is seated the African S. Zeno, Bishop
of Verona in the 4th century, said to have been martyred
under Julian the Apostate, April 12, 380. His curious
wooden statue sits in his episcopal chair, with a fish hanging
from his rod, referring, not, as local tradition says, to his
passion for fishing in the Adige, but to the Christian symbol
of baptism. Right of the High- Altar is the great picture
of—

* Andrea Manie°na. The Madonna and Child throned, between
SS. Peter, Paul, and John and SS. John Baptist, Laurence, and

T 2

276 VERONA.

Benedict. The predellas are scattered, but preserved in the galleries
at Paris and Tours.

' Rich architecture, adorned in front with festoons of fruit, surrounds
the composition. The Madonna, on whose lap the infant is standing,
is unaffected, dignified, and sweet. Some of the saints also have
admirable heads, and are grandly draped. A lower series of subjects,
which, since carried off by the French, have never been recovered,
contained the Mount of Olives, the Crucifixion, and the Ascension.' ' —
Jtugler.

Of the frescoes scattered over the church, the best per-
haps is an Annunciation on the triumphal arch, and the
Virgin and Child, receiving a whole family, presented by
their patron saints, on one of the walls of the presbytery,
dated 1490 — probably by Stefano da Verona.

The Crypt is supported by forty-eight pillars. It contains
the stone sarcophagus of S. Zeno and many other tombs of
early bishops of Verona. Through the Sacristy one reaches
the beautiful brick Cloister. Its arches on the east and west
sides are pointed, on the north and south are round. The
coupled columns of red marble which support them are
banded together at the centre. Amongst the tombs here
are those of Giuseppe della Scala, and of Ubertino della
Scala, who was Prior of the adjoining monastery. From the
northern side of the cloister, the lavatory of the monks pro-
jects into the court.

On the right, facing the church, in front of a tomb of one
of the Vico family, is a stone which is shown as the public
Measure of Roman times. In the adjoining cemetery is a
curious vault inclosing a sarcophagus ; a worthless modern
inscription declares it to be that of King Pepin, who died at
Milan, 810. The battlemented tower on the left of the
church dates from the Qth century, and is believed to have
been part of the palace of Pepin.

Returning to the Castello by the Rigesta di San Zenone,
we pass on the right the picturesque Oratorio di San Zenone^
a charming * artist's bit.' Following the Corso, we shall pass
several of Sanmicheli's celebrated palaces. Such are, on the

1 Copies of these are now here ; the originals are at Paris and Tours.

PORTA DEI BORSARI, S. EUFEMIA. 277

left, the Palazzo Canossa, built for Ludovico Canossa, Bishop
of Bayeux ; and, on the right, the fagade of the Palazzo
Bevilacqua. Just beyond the Canossa is the Ionic Palazzo
Portalupi, of the i8th century.

A little beyond this, the Corso is spanned by the fine
double Roman Arch called Porta del Borsari, which is
believed to have been erected under Gallienus, c. 265. The
existing remains are only one wall of the original structure.
A fragment of the other wall may be seen in the next side
street. To the right of the gate is the House of Giolfino,
covered with faded frescoes by him.

The next street on the left leads to the Church of S.
Eitfemia, a fine brick building dating from the thirteenth
century, but entirely modernised internally. Over the side
door is a faded fresco of S. Augustine in glory by Stefano da
Zevw, c. 1433, and, near it, a handsome tomb of one of the

Verita family, by Sanmicheli. The church contains :

•

Right i yd Altar. Britsasorci. Virgin and Child with Saints.

(At the end of R-ight Aisle. ) Cappella del Spolvcrini. Caroto.

' There is a small side-chapel in S. Eufemia dedicated to S.
Raphael. The walls are painted with frescoes from the story of Tobit ;
and over the altar is that masterpiece of Caroto, representing the three
archangels as three graceful spirit-like figures without wings. The altar
being dedicated to Raphael, he is here the principal figure ; he alone
has the glory encircling his head, and takes precedence of the others ;
he stands in the centre leading Tobias, and looking down on him with
an air of such saintly and benign protection, that one feels inclined to
say or sing in the words of the Litany, " Sancte Raphael, adolescentium
pudicitiae defensor, ora pro nobis ! " Even more divine is the S.
Michael who stands on the right, with one hand gathering up the folds
of his crimson robe, the other leaning on his great two-handed sword ;
but such a head, such a countenance looking out upon us — so earnest,
powerful, and serious ! — we recognise the Lord of Souls, the Angel of
Judgment. To the left of Raphael stands Gabriel, the Angel of Re-
demption ; he holds the lily, and looks up to heaven adoring : this is
the least expressive of the three heads, but still beautiful. The colour-
ing in its glowing depth is like that of Giorgione. Vasari tells us, that
this picture, painted when Caroto was young (about A.D. 1495), was
criticised because the limbs of the angels were too slender ; to which
Caroto, famous for his repartee, replied, "Then they will fly the
better ! " The drawing, however, it must be conceded, is not the best
part of the picture. ' — Jameson's ' Sacred Art. '

278 VERONA.

• Left Transept. The fine tomb of Pietro Guarienti, 1404, removed
from the centre of the pavement.

Left, 1st Chapel. Morctto. The Virgin and Child, with SS. Ono-
frio and Anthony.

The street at the back of S. Eufemia leads to the
Duomo — S. Maria Matricolare, which stands near the Adige
between the Ponte Garibaldi and the Ponte Pietra.

The Cathedral is said to be founded on the site of a
temple of Minerva. The original church on this site was
repaired by the Archdeacon Pacifico, as is shown by his
epitaph, before 846, which was the year of his death. In
806, when the Bishop's palace near S. Zenone was burnt,
the episcopal throne had been removed hither by Bishop
Rotaldus.1 The then existing cathedral was re-consecrated
by Urban III. in 1187. The vaulting, begun in 1402, was
not finished till 1514. The magnificent Porch is of the
twelfth century. Its canopy is supported by pillars resting
on noble griffins. The figures of Roland and Oliver at the
entrance commemorate a groundless tradition that the
church was built by Charlemagne. Roland (on the left)
holds his famous sword inscribed Du-rin-dar-da, and Oliver
holds a staff with a ball suspended from it, such as, till
lately, was shown as his in the monastery of Roncesvalles.
Above the door is a relief — once coloured — of the Adoration
of the Magi, with Faith, Hope, and Charity beneath. The
small Southern Porch is also of great beauty.

The Interior with its giant-like procession of red Verona
columns is singularly beautiful and impressive.2 Much
of it was re-arranged by Sanmicheli, the choir by Giulio
Romano.

Right, 2nd Altar. Andrea del Fino. Pieta. The Adoration of
the Magi and saints beneath are by Liberal*.

End of Right Aisle. The beautiful Gothic shrine and tomb of S.
Agata, of red and white marble.

Choir. Francesco Torbido, called // Moro. The frescoes of the

1 The first cathedral was S. Stefano, whence the Bishops were expelled by Theo
doric, who was an Arian. They then made S. Pietro in Castello the cathedral, but
returned to S. Stefano in 801, and remained there for five years.

8 See Lord Lindsay's Christian Art.

BIBLIOTECA CAPITOLARE, S. ELENA. 279

Life of the Virgin in the semi-dome and on the upper walls. ' Not
entirely due to Torbido, but executed after designs by Giulio Romano,
who was then under Correggio's influence, and was striving to bring the
realisation of space of the latter into harmony with his own style in a
manner worthy to be observed. ' — Burckhardt.

* Left, 1st Chapel. Titian. The Assumption. — * The way in which
the single figure of the Virgin is borne up on the clouds without any
attendant angels is here very beautiful. ' — Kugler.

1 The Apostles at the empty grave look upwards, full of emotion and
adoration, to her who is soaring aloft alone. ' — BurckJiardt.

In one of the Apostles, Titian has portrayed Michele Sanmicheli,
the Veronese architect, who was a great friend of his.

Opposite the Cathedral is the little Gothic chapel of S.
Pietro in Cathedra, with his seated statue. The Baptistery,
or Church of S. Giovanni in Fonte, contains a huge font of
red Verona marble, decorated with rude sculptures from
the New Testament history. Through the Cloister we may
enter the Biblioteca Capitolare, which was founded by the
Archdeacon Pacificus. It contains much that is very curious,
especially a Palimpsest of a fourth-century Virgil, under a
Commentary on the Book of Job of the eighth century ; and
the famous Palimpsest of the ' Institutes of Caius,' which
was known to be the foundation of the ' Institutes of Jus-
tinian,' and which was discovered by Niebuhr, in 1816,
beneath the Homilies of S. Jerome ! x Among later
curiosities preserved here is the baptismal certificate of
Prince Charles Edward Stuart — 'Roma, Ultima Decemb.
1720.'

Adjoining the Baptistery, approached by a. cloister with
quaint capitals, is the Church of S. Elena, which contains
some curious tombs, and some pictures by early Veronese
masters.

. Liberali. Madonna and Child.
Falconetto. Christ at the Tomb.
Moretto. Madonna and Child.

The Vescovado (Bishop's Palace) contains a number of
imaginary portraits of early bishops by Brusasorci, and

1 These, with all other known Palimpsests, came from the monastery of Bobbio.

280

VERONA.

large Crucifixion by Jacopo Bellini, father of Gentile and
Giovanni — a very important example of the master. In the
courtyard is a statue by Alessandro Vittoria. The columns
of the portico have some curious capitals, fit CUJit

We must now cross the Adige by the Ponte Pietra of
Roman origin, from which a flight of steps leads up the hill
to the Castel S. Pietro (now a barrack). It occupies the
site of the Palace of Theodoric, which was a magnificent
building surmounted by an equestrian statue of the Em-
peror Zeno, of such size that ' birds flew in and out of the

Verona, on the Adige.

distended nostrils of the horse, and built their nests in his
belly.' * Theodoric lived alternately here and at Ravenna,
and while here embellished Verona with many noble
buildings. In the same palace lived afterwards, Alboin,
who founded the Lombard kingdom, and here he forced his
miserable wife Rosmunda to drink from the skull of her
father, whom he had killed with his own hand. Alfieri makes
Rosmunda say —

' e di vivande e vino

Carco, nol veggio (ahi fera orrida vista !)
Bere a sorsi lentissimi nel teschio
DelP ucciso mio padre ? inde inviarmi

1 Agnelli. Liber Pontificalis, pt. II. ch. ii. The palace is represented on a town
seal.

S. STEFANO. 281

D' abborrita bevanda ridondante

L' orrida tazza ? E negli orecchi sempre

Quel sanguinoso derisor suo invito

A me non suona ? Ampio ei dicea : ' Col padre

"Bevi, Rosmunda ! " ' — Tragcdie, Rosinnnda.

Here also, in 905, the Emperor Louis III. was seized by
the mercenaries of Berengarius, and his eyes were put out.
Berengarius himself was assassinated here, and his remains
were said to be preserved in a sarcophagus at the foot of
the steps leading to the terrace of the new castle. From
this and from the further fortress, Castel S. Felice, there is
a very fine view.

Left of the bridge is the Church of S. Stefano, once the
Cathedral of Verona and the burial-place of its bishops
The church dates from the sixth century, but is modernised
The central tower is octagonal. In the interior a great
flight of steps leading to the choir leaves space for the
crypt, where many of the early bishops were originally
buried. In a chapel on the right of the nave are two modern
tombs to five bishops and forty martyrs ! The sarcophagus,
once in the crypt, of Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III.
and Eudoxia, and wife of Olibrius, Emperor of the East,
with that attributed to the patrician Marcian (A.D. 427),
are now inclosed in modern altars, for, as the custode
explains, ' In Verona se venerano questi come santi.'
Behind the high altar is the stone chair of the bishops. On
the left, at the top of the steps, is a curious statue of S.
Peter, brought hither by the Austrians from the old church
of S. Pietro in Castello : it is proposed to remove this to the
Museum. Many curious fragments of frescoes were laid
bare in 1848. Among the pictures are : —

Right Transept. Giovanni Caroto. Virgin and Child, with SS.
Peter and Andrew.

Left, yd Chapel. Titian. Virgin and Child, with four saints.

Beyond S. Stefano is the Church of S. Giorgio in Braida^
built 1477 by Sanmicheli. It contains : —
Over Entrance. Tintoretto. Baptism of Christ.

282 VERONA.

Right, yd Altar. Id. Descent of the Holy Ghost.

*4//j Altar. Brucasorci. The Three Archangels.

High Altar. Paul Veronese. S. George — a magiiiticent work of
the master. Ory^*/so^CCo

^'^' 5^ 'f #<"' (under the organ), KjHH&nmo, I^Q. The Glory
of the Virgin, with SS. Cecilia, Agnes, Agatha, and Lucy.

*Left, Ajh Altar. Girolamo dai Libri. Madonna under a lemon
tree, between SS. Zeno and Lorenzo Giustiniani — exceedingly beautiful.

Returning past the Ponte Pietra, on the left, under the
hill of S. Pietro, is the site of the Roman Theatre. It was
already so dilapidated in 895 that King Berengarius issued
a decree allowing any one who pleased to carry off portions
of the ruins. Enough, however, existed in the sixteenth cen-
tury for the painter Caroto to delight in sketching it. Now
nothing remains but a few fragments inserted into walls.
Built apparently out of the Theatre, and in the time of
Berengarius, but quite modernised, is the little Church of S.
Siro. An inscription says that the first mass in Verona was
said here.

(Beyond this, the Via Redentore leads (left) up the hill
to the Church of Giovanni in Valle, with a crypt containing
two curious early Christian sarcophagi. One is decorated
with the usual subjects from the New Testament, to which
the figures of two monks (perhaps the discoverers) have
been added. The other has a husband and wife, between
SS. Peter and Paul.)

Near the river (right) . is the Church of S. Maria in
Organo, built on the site of an ancient building called the
Organum, of unknown intention. The church was begun
1481 by Sanmicheli. The campanile, of 1533, is by Fra
Giovanni da Verona.

Right Transept. Guercino. S. Francesca Romana.

Chapel Right of High Altar. Frescoes by Giolfino.

Choir. Pictures by Paolo Farinati. Stall work of wonderful
beauty, also a candelabrum in walnut-wood by Fra Giovanni da Verona.

Sacristy. A beautiful picture of the Virgin and Child with SS.
Stefano and Tecla (?) by Girolamo del Libri (who has introduced his
favourite lemon-tree). Wood-carving by Fra Giovanni, and frescoes
by Morone and others.

S. TOMMASO, GIUSTI GARDENS. 283

' The masterpieces of Francesco Morone are in the sacristy of S.
Maria in Organo, where the walls and ceilings are filled with incidents
freely adapted from Mantegna's in the Camera degli Sposi at Mantua.
The room is quadrangular, and divided into sections with lunettes like
Peruzzi's in the Farnesina ; the centre compartment of the ceiling repre-
senting a well-opening with a balustrade in perspective from which
angels look down, whilst the Saviour in benediction floats in the heaven,
the lunettes and the course beneath them containing half-lengths of
popes,' Olivetan monks, and female saints. This sacristy is one of the
grand monuments of local art in the Venetian provinces, second only to
Mantegna's creations in the display of perspective and foreshortening,
and i i the geometrical distribution of the space. There is ground for
believing that this beautiful sacristy was finished in the first years of the
sixteenth century.' — Crowe and Cavalcasdle.

Left, 2nd A liar. Morone. Madonna, with SS. Agostino and
Lorenzo Giustiniani.

Right, from this church, is the Island in the Adige,
formerly united on the other side to the city by the beautiful
bridge of Sanmicheli called Ponte Nuovo, which was destroyed
by the floods of 1882. In the centre of the island is the
fine brick Church of S. Tommaso Cantuariense, which con-
tains the tomb of Giovan' Battista Beket Fabriano, who
claimed to be of the family of Thomas a Becket. We may
also notice : —

Right, 4/// Altar. Girolamo dai Libri. SS. Roch, Sebastian, and
Giobbe.

* Sacristy. Garafalo. The Virgin and Child with S. John — an ex-
quisitely lovely picture. The group are seated in a meadow with a
beautiful distant landscape, backed by a sunset sky. The Virgin looks
clown with graceful sweetness upon the children who are playing with
the cross of S. John. In the grass, on the right, grows the pink which
serves as the signature of the master.

In a Reliquary are preserved three teeth and the frontal bone of S.
Thomas a Becket.

Behind the High Altar. L'Orbetto (some say by Caroto). Madonna
and Qhild. In front, S. Luke painting the Virgin. Right, S. Thomas
of Villanuova and S. John Baptist. Left, S. Thomas a Becket and S.
Francis.

From the Ponte Acqua Morta, which connects the island
with the left bank of the Adige, a street leads to the Palazzo *
Giusti^ behind which are the famous Giusti Gardens,
perhaps the most beautiful spot in Verona. The main walk

284 VERONA.

is girded by gigantic cypresses, and above rise terraces,
each presenting a view more beautiful than the last, of
the town, its churches and bridges, and tall campaniles
standing out against the soft distances of plain and the
blue hills.

' The Giusti garden is beautifully situated, and contains monstrous
cypresses, pointing like spikes into the air. A tree whose branches, the
oldest as well as the youngest, are striving to reach heaven— a tree
which will last its three hundred years, is well worthy of veneration.
Judging from the time when this garden was laid out. these trees have
already attained that venerable age. ' — Goethe.

Beyond the Palazzo Giusti, the Via Muro Padre leads to
the Church of SS. Nazzaro e Celso, partly designed by San-

micheli. It is rich in pictures : —

•

Right, 2nd Altar. Paolo Farinati. The Annunciation. The
fresco of Adam and Eve in the lunette above, also by Farinati) is con-
sidered the best work of this master.

Right Transept. Monlagna. Pieta and SS. Biagio and Giuliana.
The Saviour in His tomb, supported by angels, is considered the master-
piece of the artist.

Sacristy. Britsasorci. Madonna with SS. Peter and Paul. The
chamber was designed and adorned in fresco by Gio. Maria Falconctto.

Choir, frescoes by Paolo Farinati.

Left Transept. The Chapel of S. Biagio covered with frescoes.
Those near the altar are by Montagna ; the Annunciation over the
entrance by Cavazzola ; the rest by Falconctto. The altar-piece by Fr.
Buonsignori represents the Martyrdom of SS. Sebastiano and Biagio.
The predella, with scenes from the lives of SS. Biagio, Sebastiano, and
Giuliana, is by Gir. dai Libri. On the left is a beautiful Virgin and
Child, with saints, by Moceto. Beneath this picture, is the entrance to
a passage containing a fresco of the Baptism of Christ, by Cavazzola.

Left Aisle, 1st Chapel. Montagna. Two noble pictures of Saints.

Behind this church is a private garden (which once
belonged to the monastery) backed by abrupt cliffs, in which
is a most interesting caverned Chapel of the earliest Chris-
tian Art in the north, adorned with rude frescoes much like
those in the Roman catacombs. From the outer cave a
roughly-hewn passage leads into this tiny sanctuary ; both
retain their ancient mosaic pavements. Over the centre of
the vault is the Saviour in benediction ; over the altar, S.

PINACOTECA. 285

Michael between SS. Nazzaro and Celso ; on the left is a
tomb which has never been opened. The proprietor kindly
allows the chapel to be visited on application at the house
adjoining the church.

' The most ancient pictorial remains in the Venetian territory, I be-
lieve to be in a subterraneous part of the nunnery of SS. Nazzaro e Celso
at Verona. In this, which was formerly the Chapel of the Faithful, are
represented several mysteries of our redemption ; some apostles, some
holy martyrs, and in particular the transit of righteous souls from this
life, assisted by S. Michael the Archangel. Here the symbols, the
workmanship, the attitudes, the drapery of the figures, united with the
characters, do not permit us to doubt that the painting must be much
earlier than the revival of the arts in Italy. ' — Lanzi.

Returning by the Via Porta Vescovo and the Strada
Vicentina to the river, a little to the left, on the Rigosta
Porta Vittoria, is the Palazzo Pompei, one of the earliest
works of Sanmicheli) used since 1854 as the Museo Civico.
On the ground floor is the clock erected by Can Signorio in
the Piazza delle Erbe. On the upper floor is the Pinacoteca,
which was entirely re-arranged in 1875, owing to Cav. Ber-
nasconi, a former Conservatorio, having bequeathed all his
collections to it : they occupy the first three rooms, and
include some of the best pictures.

(Open daily for a small buona-mano to the Custode.)

ist Hall :

12. M. A. Caravaggio. Joseph's coat brought to Jacob.

22. Bonifazio. Last Supper.

28. Schidone. Adoration of the Shepherds.

31. Paid Veronese. Baptism of Christ.

34. Perngino. Holy Family and Angels.

52. Titian. Holy Family.

68. Bonifazio. Noah and his sons.

74. Bassano. Adoration of the Shepherds.

2nd Hall :

86. Giovanni Bellini. Presentation in the Temple.

87. Raffaelle. (?) Adoration of the Magi.
138. Fr. Morone. Four pictures of Saints.
141. Parmigianino. Holy Family.

151. Fr. Francia. Madonna and Child with Saints.

286 VERONA.

tfh Hall :

351. Francesco Carolo. SS. Francis, Antonio, Bernardino, and
Chiara.

The works of this master (1470-1546) are rare out of Verona, and
should be studied here. ' Caroto may be compared to Razzi in the
general tendency of his style, and the success with which he followed it
up ; like the Veronese painter, too, he is less known than he deserves.
He was educated in the school of Andrea Mantegna, but has little in
common with him ; he inclines much more to the manner of Leonardo,
and must have derived his peculiar taste from the influence of that
master : in his later works, however, there is an evident approach to
Raffaelle's style. The warm and well-blended colouring of this artist
forms a peculiar contrast to the severe style of his drawing. ' — Kugler.

351. Giolf.no. Madonna and Child.
364. Girohutio dai Libri. Baptism of Christ.
367. Id. Virgin and Child between S. Sebastian and S. Roch.
Paul Veronese. Count Pace Guarienti.

5/7* Hall\

393. Girolamo dai Libri. The Virgin with SS. J. Baptist, Jerome,
and Joseph, adoring the Infant Saviour. Two rabbits in the
foreground.

375. Id. Madonna throned. S. Raphael presents the young Tobias.

376. Id. Madonna and Saints.

392. Id. Madonna and Child, with Saints.

6th Hall :

418,419,420. Paolo Morando delta Cavazzola. The Passion. These
and a number of pictures of Saints in the last room formed one
large altar-piece in the convent of S. Chiara.

' A marvellous transition from the realism of the I5th century to the
noble free character of the i6th, not to an empty idealism.' — Burck-
hardt.

428. Carlo Crivelli. Madonna and Child. Children present the
emblems of the Passion. In the distant landscape the whole
story of the Passion is prefigured — a very curious picture in the
primitive manner of the master, from the Barbini-Bragan/i
collection. Signed 'opus Karoli Crivelli Veneti.'

431. Francesco Bcnaglio, 1487. Madonna and Child with two Bishops
and Angels, from S. Silvestro. This may be observed as a
specimen of the master, who lived in a weak period of art at
Bologna. There are many of his pictures here.

433. Cimabtie (?). Thirty small pictures from the life of Christ.

S. FERMO MAGGIORE. 287

435. Vittore Pisano or Pisantllo (ob. 1451). Madonna seated in a
garden of flowers with Saints and Angels. The halo round the
Virgin's head is adorned with peacock's feathers, a quail hops
upon her robe, and peacocks strut past. A good specimen of
Pisanello, whose chief power lay in his birds and quadrupeds,
and who painted in such detail that Guerino says he ' could
represent the sweat on a labourer's brow, or the neighing of
his horses.'

438. Jacopo Bellini (father of Giovanni and Gentile). The Cruci-
fixion—tempera.

446. Giov. Maria Falconetto. Augustus and the Sibyl who foretold
the birth of the Saviour. This picture is often attributed to
Squat clone, 1394-1474.

i3//z Hall-.

220. Paolo Farinati. Victory of the Lombards over Frederick Bar-

barossa, 1164.
224. Felice Brusasorci. Victory of the Veronese over the Brescians,

849.

We must now cross the bridge opposite the Museo —the
Ponte delle Navi, designed by Fra Giocondo, which was so
injured by the autumn floods of 1882 as to be threatened
with demolition. In 1757, when the then bridge was
destroyed by a flood, this was the scene of the valiant deed
of the ' Brave Man of Pojano,' who saved, at the peril of his
life, the toll-keeper, his wife, and child, who lived in a
cottage on the centre of the bridge. The feat was described
ten years after in the poems of Gottfried Burger. A fresco
on the neighbouring Casa Cipolla shows the original form
of the bridge. Another street fresco of great beauty bears
the date 1515, and is the work of Francesco Morone.

On the other side of the bridge is the grand Church of
S. Fermo Maggwre, founded as early as 751, though the ear-
liesl part of the existing building, the crypt, only dates from
1065. The church is of brick with layers of marble intro-
duced. Against the f^ade is raised the canopied sarcophagus
of Aventino Fracastoro, physician in ordinary of Can Grande.
The apse is very picturesque, and the north porch is very
fine ; the jambs of its doorway are of black, white, and red
marble alternated.

288 VERONA.

The Interior (1313-1332) has a single wide nave with
a curious wrooden roof. It contains : —

Over the Entrance. Turonc. (?) A fresao of the Crucifixion with
Saints standing round.

Right. The pulpit corbelled out of the south wall, and exceedingly
picturesque, is by Modani da Morena.^ On the sides are heads of pro-
phets and others in fresco, and the inscription ' Opus Martini.' In the
neighbouring chapel is a beautiful tomb to one of the Morani.
yd Altar. Francesco Torbido. Madonna and Saints.
South Transept. Urns of Pietro and Ludovico Alighieri, erected by
their brother Francesco, the last male descendant of Dante. His
daughter married into the Veronese family of Serego, which, as Serego-
Alighieri, still represents the poet.

' II n'y a pour 1'imagination qu'un Dante Alighieri ; pourtant il y en a
eu plusieurs dans la realite. La famille du poete se fixa a Verone et s'y
maintint pendant deux ou trois generations. Le dernier rejeton de la
ligne masculine qui pro.venait du grand poete a fait clever deux monu-
ments a deux fils de Dante. Sur Tun des tombeauxon lit : "A Pierre
Alighieri Dante III., savant dans le grec et le latin, epoux incom-
parable :"— sur 1'autre : " A Louis Alighieri Dante IV., jurisconsulte
orne de toutes les vertus. " Malgre ces pompeuses epitaphes, et bien que
1'un des deux freres fut un epoux incomparable, titre auquel son pere
n'eut peut-etre ose pretendre, on n'est pas fache de savoir que la famille
a fini avec ces savants homines, et qu'on n'est pas expose a rencontrer le
signore Dante enseignant les racines grecques ou les Institutes. Une
seule chose me plait dans les inscriptions funeraires que je viens de
rapporter, c'est le chiffre place apres le nom illustre : Dante III.,
Dante IV. ; on dirait une dynastic.' — Ampere.

Choir. Bronze Crucifix by Baltista da Verona. On the outer wall
of the choir, a fresco, attributed to Pisanello, introduces the two
founders of the church, Fra Daniele Guzman and the Count of Castel-
barco.

Chapel left of Choir. Liberale. S. Anthony.

Chapel opening from North Transept. Tomb of Girolamo and
Marc-Antonio della Torre (father and son), decorated with bronzes by
Andrea Rtccio, the architect of S. Giustina of Padua. The best have
been stolen by the French, and are still at the LoWe, those here being
copies.

Chapel of the Sacrament. Caroto. 'The Madonna with S. Anne
floats ona cloud above four Saints in strong action, who are rather given
like portraits than as ideal figures ' — Burckhardt.

Over the side door, in a Gothic arch, is a Crucifixion of the end of
the 1 4th century.

1 As colour, this bit of church interior is most beautiful, and the artist will find no
better subject in Italy — morning light.

ROMEO AND JULIET. 289

Left of principal Entrance, Tomb of the Brenzoni (i5th cent.) by
Giovanni Russi. Over this are frescoes by Fisanello — an Annunciation,
&c.

Left, from S. Fermo, the Via Filippini leads to the
Garden of the Orfanotrofio (Vicolo delle Franceschine),
where is a trough of Verona marble, pointed out as the tomb
of Juliet. It may be visited out of pure sentiment. The
tomb which was shown here in the last century was all
chopped up long ago by relic hunters, and French and
English ladies are wearing it in bracelets. In returning
(past S. Fermo again) we may observe, in the Via Leone,
the picturesque Roman fragment called Arco dei Leant, and
in the Via S. Sebastiano, formerly Cappello, an Inn called
the Osteria del Cappello, which is supposed to be a remnant
of the Palace of the Capulets. That these * Cappelletti '
were really an illustrious and formidable family, we learn
from Dante : —

' Vieni a veder Montecchi e Capelletti
Monaldi e Filippeschi, uom senza cura,
Color gia tristi, e costor con sospetti.'

Purgatorio, vi. 107.

The love-story of Romeo and Juliet which has been
popularised throughout all Italy by Verdi, is said to have
occurred in 1302, the reign of Bartolommeo della Scala, but
only one chronicler, Girolamo della Corte, mentions the
story as an historical fact. Many such tragedies may have
grown out of the contentions of great families who were
such close neighbours as the Montecchi and Cappelletti.
Shakspeare tells the story in the introductory lines of his
tragedy—

' Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life ;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do, with their death, bury their parents' strife.'

VOL. I. U

290 VERONA.

1 Les Capuletti et les Montecchi pourraient encore se quereller dans
les rues de Verone, et Tybalt y tuer Mercutio ; la decoration n'est pas
changee : la tragedie de Shakspeare est merveilleusement exacte. A
Verone, comme dans une ville espagnole, il n'y a pas une maison sans
balcon, et 1'echelle de soie n'a qu'a choisir. Peu de villes ont mieux
conserve le cachet moyen age : les arcades ogivales, les fenetres en
trefles, les balcons decoupes, les maisons a piliers, les coins de rue
sculptes, les grands hotels aux marteaux de bronze, aux grilles ouvragees,
oil 1'entablement couronne de statues brille de details d'architecture que
le crayon seul peut rendre, vous reportent aux temps passes, et 1'on est
tout etonne de voir circuler dans les rues des gens habilles a la
moderne.' — Theophile Gautier.

The fortifications of Verona must not pass unnoticed.
They are of five different periods, i. The walls of Galli-
enus, of which only a few vestiges remain — some in the
Piazza Bra, behind the Amphitheatre. 2. The walls of
Theodoric. 3. The walls on the left of the Adige, attributed
to Charlemagne. 4. The walls of the Scaligers, built in
great measure upon those of Theodoric. 5. The walls of
Sanmicheli, who was the first to introduce triangular and
pentangular bastions.

A short distance beyond the Porta Vescovile (near SS.
Nazzaro and Celso) is the village of S. Michele, where the
famous architect, Michele Sanmicheli was born 1484. The
Church of La Madonna di Campagna was built from his
designs. Its best pictures have been removed to the
Pinacoteca.

' Verona, qui te viderit,

Et non amarit protinus,
Amore perditissimo,

Is, credo, se ipsum non amat,

Caretque amandi sensibus,

Et odit omnes gratias.' — Cotta.

An excursion should be made from Verona for the day
to Quinto, where the Church of S. Maria della Stella has a
most curious crypt, with a clear stream flowing through it.
In the hills beyond this, at the head of the Val Pantena, is
the extraordinary natural arch, 150 ft. in span, called Ponte

SLOVINO DI S. MARCO.

291

della Veja, over a small cascade. It is said to have served
Dante as a model for his bridges in the Inferno. North of
this, in the Val Lunella, rises the Monte di Bolca, exceed-
ingly interesting to geologists.

Lovers of Dante should visit Gargagnano, where he is
supposed to have written the Purgatorio, and where he
possessed some property. Also, in the valley of the Adige,
between Ala and Roveredo (accessible by the railway to
Trent and visible from the line), the extraordinary chaos of
rocks and stones called the Slovino di San Marco, said to
have been an avalanche from the mountain- side, which over-
whelmed a town on this site in 845, and which is described
by Dante to give an idea of one of the barriers of hell : —

' Era lo loco, ove a scencler la riva
Venimmo, alpestro, e per quel civ ivi er' anco,
Tal, ch' ogni vista ne sarebbe schiva.

Qual' e quella ruina che nel fianco
Di qua da Trento 1' Aclice percosse,
O per tremuoto o per sostegno manco ;

Che da cima del monte, onde si mosse,
Al piano e si la roccia discoscesa,
Ch' alcuna via darebbe a chi su fosse.' — Inf. xii.

u 2

292 MANTUA.

CHAPTER XVI.

MANTUA.

It is 22 miles from Verona to Mantua, and the railway journey occu-
pies rather more than an hour from the Porta Nnova Station at Verona.
I. 4 frs. 40 c. II. 3 frs. 20 c. III. 2 frs. 30 c. We pass :

J7ILLAFRANCA Station. Here the treaty of Villa-
y franca was concluded, July n, 1859, between the
Emperors of France and Austria, by which Lombardy was
given back to the Italians. The great ruined Castle is of
the 1 4th century. In the old church is a Madonna of
Brusasorri. The new church is a copy of the Redentore at
Venice.

A little to the right is Custozza, where Radetzky gained
(July 25, 1848) his victory over the Piedmontese, and
where (June 25, 1866) the Archduke Albert also defeated
the Italians.

(It is about i hour's drive (carriage 5 frs.) from hence to
Valeggio, a small town situated beneath one of the finest
ruined castles in this district, which has five smaller towers
grouped around its tall keep. The valley beneath the
castle is crossed by a curious low fortified causeway, built
by Giov. Galeazzo Visconti in 1393. It is defended by a
succession of towers now half-buried in shrubs and ivy, and,
in the centre, are two larger, more massive towers, guarding
the (now broken) bridge over the (here) swift-flowing Mincio.
All this sounds like a beautiful artist's subject, but, somehow,
it fails in the composition.)

' Was the way to Mantua as beautiful, when Romeo was banished
thither, I wonder ! Did it wind through pasture land as green, bright

HISTORY OF MANTUA. 293

-"with the same glancing streams, and dotted with fresh clumps of grace-
ful trees ! Those purple mountains lay on the horizon, then, for
certain ; and the dresses of these peasant girls, who wear a great,
knobbed, silver pin through their hair behind, can hardly be much
changed. Mantua itself must have broken on him in the prospect,
with its towers, and walls, and water, as it does now. He made the
same sharp twists and turns, perhaps, over the rumbling drawbridges ;
passed through the like long, covered, wooden bridge ; and leaving
the marshy water behind, approached the rusty gate of stagnant
Mantua. ' — Dickens.

(Inns. Aquila d' Oro, best ; Croce Verde.

Carriages. The course 60 c., the hour \\ fr., each hour after,
I fr. ; for the afternoon to the Palazzo del Te and S. Maria delle
Grazie, 5 frs.)

Mantua, of Etruscan origin, became known to the world in very
early times, through the verses of Virgil, who acknowledges it as his
fatherland, and says that it derives its name from the prophetic nymph
Manto, the daughter of Tiresias.

' Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris,
Fatidicae Mantus et Tusci filius amnis,
Qui muros matrisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen ;
Mantua, dives avis : sed non genus omnibus unuin ;
Gens ille triplex, populi sub gente quaterni ;
Ipsa caput populis : Tusco de sanguine vires.' — Aen. x. 198.

After the fall of the Western Empire, Mantua fell into the posses-
sion of various rulers of Upper Italy. Alboin conquered it in .509.
The Exarchate took' it from Autharis in 590, in 603 Alboin reunited it
to the Lombard Kingdom. Charlemagne is said to have fortified the
town. The Emperor Otho II. gave it as a fief to Tebaldo, Count of
Canossa, and thus it came to his granddaughter the famous Matilda of
Tuscany. When Henry IV. entered Italy it fell into his hands, but
was reconquered by Matilda after his death. In 1 167 it joined the Lom-
bard League and was ruled by its own consuls. In 1183 the two great
bridges were built, and the 12 mills on the Ponte S. Giorgio were
erected. In the thirteenth century a succession of rulers of the Buona-
colsi family seized the government by force ; under Guido, surnamed
Bottigella, the building of the afterwards Ducal Palace was begun in
1302. His successor Rinaldo Buonacolsi, being a zealous Ghibelline,
obtained from Henry VII. the title of Imperial Vicar, with Mantua
as a fief. His exactions in favour of the Emperor led to an insurrection
of the people under Luigi Gonzaga, who was chosen Signore in his
place, and in 1329 received the title of Imperial Vicar from the Em-
peror Louis the Bavarian. He was the founder of a dynasty, and of a
family whose members intermarried with the principal royal families of

294 MANTUA.

Europe. In the time of Luigi Gonzaga, Mantua had 28,000 inhabit-
ants, and an immense jurisdiction. Guido, son of Luigi, was a friend
of Petrarch. Mantua continued to prosper under the rule of the Gon-
zagas. Under Lodovico (1444-1478), called 'II Turco ' on account of
his long beard, S. Andrea was built by the celebrated architect Alberti,
the Palazzo Belvidere and the Great Hospital were erected, and a
printing-press established, where Boccaccio's Decameron was published
in 1472. Under Luigi Bodomonte, son of Lodovico, the friend and
companion of Charles V., -the Museum was founded. The eighth
Gonzaga, Gian-Francesco III. (1484-1519) was a great patron of
literature, and Bembo, Ariosto, and the father of Tasso, sent their
works to his court, which was the most distinguished in Italy after the
dissolution of that of Urbino in 1518. His wife, Isabella d' Este, was
one of the greatest connoisseurs in art of her time. Of his younger
sons, Ercole was cardinal and governor of Monferrat, and in 1559 Pre-
sident of the Council of Trent ; Ferrante was the founder of the line of
Guastalla. His successor Federigo (1519-1540) was created first Duke
of Mantua, because of his fidelity to Charles VI., who visited the town
in 1530. Federigo was the builder of the Palazzo del Te, and the
great patron of Giulio Romano, but in his reign (1528) the plague swept
away two-thirds of the population.

Under the nth Gonzaga the town increased again to 40,000 in-
habitants. He built the costly summer palace. Vincenzo (1589-1612)
squandered the treasures of the state in the utmost extravagance. His
three sons by Eleonora dei Medici all came to the throne, but left no
descendants.

The refusal of the Emperor Francis to recognise the next heir,
Charles, Duke of Nevers, whose cause was espoused by Fiance, led to
the ' war of the succession of Mantua,' in which the town was cruelly
plundered by the Imperial troops. In 1631 Charles at length obtained
an investiture of Mantua from Ferdinand II., who was in need of his
troops. The last Gonzaga was Ferdinand X. (1605-1707), whose life
wag the most foolish and inglorious of modern times. He fled to
France during the war of the Spanish succession, and in 1785 the
Duchy was united with Austrian Lombardy. The town was taken by
the French in 1797 after a siege of eight months, and retaken in the
same year by the Austrians, after three months' blockade and four days'
bombardment. In the peace of Villafranca (1859) it fell to Venice as a
river fortress of the first rank, in the celebrated quadrangle of fortresses
— Peschiera, Mantua, Verona, and Legnano. Mantua became part of
the kingdom of Victor Emmanuel in 1866.

In art Mantua owed everything to the house of Gonzaga. It did
not possess any great artists of its own, but Leon Battista Alberti and
Andrea Mantegna (head of the Paduan school of painters) were drawn
into the service of Duke Lodovico, and Giulio Romano into that of
Duke Federigo. The town is full of the works of Giulio, and it is

APPROACH TO MANTUA. 295

only in Mantua that one can become really acquainted with him. The
death-blow to art in Mantua was given by the death of Giulio (1546),
concerning whom Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga wrote to his brother : —
' We have lost our Giulio Romano, so greatly to my grief that I feel
as if I had lost my right hand. To see the good in the evil, I feel that
the death of so rare a character will at least cure me of my longing after
buildings, plate, pictures, &c. , for 1 shall never have courage to under-
take anything without the guiding power of that great genius. '

The railway to Modena now passes through Mantua, and
crosses the lagoon just behind the bridge of the Argine del
Mulino, with a station in the modern town. But the
romance of the approach is thus totally destroyed, and all
good pedestrians who have time before them would do well
to leave the train at the old station of S. Antonio. The
approach to the town in this way is most picturesque. The
long lines of grey buildings, broken here and there by a tall
campanile, rise abruptly from the lagoons which surround
them. The fishing vessels flap their red sails close beneath
the windows of the houses. In the shallower parts of the
marsh masses of reeds rustle and sigh in the wind — the very
reeds described by Virgil as a characteristic feature of his
native place. Indeed the scenery constantly reminds one
of Virgil, especially in the stealthy flow of the winding
Mincio : —

' tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat
Mincius, et tenera praetexit arundine ripas. ' l

Georg. iii. 14.

We pass through the fortifications of the Citadel. Here
Andrew Hofer, the brave chief of the Tyrolese insurgents,
having been betrayed in his refuge at Passeyr by a priest
named Douay, was brought to trial, and, though the majority
of his judges voted against it, was shot in obedience to a
telegraph from Milan, February 20, 1810. Beyond this we
enter the extraordinary covered bridge called Argine del
Mutiiio by a fortified gateway. The bridge divides the
part .of the Lagoon (left) called Lago di Mezzo from that

1 ' Here wanton Mincius wirds along the meads,

And shades his happy banks with bending reeds.' — Dryden.

296

MANTUA.

(right) called Logo Superiore. The water above, being on a
higher level, turns the wheels of the twelve mills which join
the bridge, and which bear the names of the twelve apostles.
Near the Porta Mulina is a little mill which was built in the
beginning of the i5th century.

As you enter Mantua on this side you feel as if you had
left the outer world altogether. The bridge is a preparation
— and the vast lagoon with the wind waving its miles upon
miles of bulrushes.

But when you tread the deserted and silent streets in the
older town, and the five squares of the deserted palace, so
solemn in their utterly decaying and mouldering splendour,

Mantua.

you feel as it you were dead — as if this were some strange
intermediate state, in which all things were patiently waiting.
All is placid stagnant decay. Nothing looks as if it were
ever put into repair. The buildings seem to stand by their
own indestructible mightiness and magnitude. Grass grows
on the parapets, grass grows on the roofs, grass grows in the
streets. All is damp, and mossy, and mouldy. When a
human figure comes stealthily round a corner it startles you
that anything can be living here besides yourself. And yet,
when the sky is blue, and when the long shadows fall crisp
and clear on the old brick piazzas, and the vast lagoon
glistens like a silver mirror, and the endless arches of the

MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA. 297

bridge lengthen out their shadows in the still shallow water,
Mantua is unspeakably beautiful !

The centre of past life and present death in Mantua is
the Piazza S. Pietro, where nearly all that was once most
important in Mantova la Gloriosa, stands grouped around a
desolate square. On the right (as we stand with our backs
towards the town) is the vast Castello di Corte, the palace
of the Gonzaga, into which several later palaces have in the
lapse of centuries been incorporated. On the left are the

Piazza S. Pietro, Mantua.

Duomo, the Palazzo Castiglione, and the tall tower called
Torre del la Gabbia, with the iron cage hanging from it in
which criminals used to be exposed for three hours on three
successive days. Close to this is the Torre del Zuccaro^ and
behind soars the graceful dome of S. Andrea.

Of the ancient Duomo di S. Pietro, there is very, little
remaining except one of the side-walls and the unfinished
tower. The church, as it now stands, is the work of Giulio
Romano. The pillars are Corinthian, and the wooden roof
very richly gill The Cappella dell' Incoronata is by L. B.

298 MANTUA.

Alberti. The only picture which is even worth notice, is
a fresco in the chapel of the Crocefisso, now covered with
glass, attributed to Mantegna. At the end of the left aisle
is an ancient marble sarcophagus appropriated as the tomb
of S. Giovanni Boni, 1248.

The Palazzo .Ducale, sadly spoilt by recent white-wash
(entrance by the second door on the right), was begun in 1302
by Guido Bnonacolsi, third sovereign lord of Mantua. The
front is of his time, and most of the side towards the Corte
di Pallone, but the interior was transformed by Giulio
Romano, and has become quite a museum of the precious
thoughts, both pictorial and architectural, of that artist and
his followers.

Giulio Romano considered it mere amusement to adorn the Palace
of Mantua and the great suburban Palazzo del Te. So many chambers
with gilded entablatures ; such a variety of beautiful stucco work ; so
many stories and capricci finely conceived and connected with one an-
other, besides such a diversity of colours adapted to different places
and subjects, altogether form a collection of wonders, the honours of
which Giulio divided with no other artist. For he himself conceived,
composed, and completed these vast undertakings. '—Lanzi.

The Ufficio di Custodia, formerly the Scalcheria, has fres-
coes of Giulio Romano, representing the Chase of Diana ;
over the chimney-piece is Venus in the Workshop of Vulcan ;
on the ceiling, Apollo.

The rest of the apartments are shown in the following
order : —

The rooms, with modern decorations, prepared for Maria Louisa,
widow of Napoleon I.

The Sala dei Flume, with frescoes of the rivers in the Mantoyan
territory.

The Camera del Zodiaco, with paintings of the signs of the Zodiac by
Lorenzo Costa, who was a native of Mantua.

The Camere degli Arazzi, once hung with tapestries from the designs
of Raffaelle — carried off by the Austrians.

The Galleria dei Quadri, filled with indifferent pictures. Two good
busts of members of the Pico family.

The Galleria degli Specchi, a very handsome room decorated by the
pupils of Giulio.

(On right] The Camere Vicercali, prepared for Prince Eugene Beau-

PALAZZO DUG ALE. 299

harnais. The Camere Ducale, with splendid ceilings, especially that of
the Labyrinth Room (copied at Ford Castle in England), with the
inscription, Torse che si, forse che no,' often repeated, put up by
Duke Vincenzo in time of war, when doubtful of his success.

The rooms called // Paradiso, prepared for Isabella d' Este, wife of
Francesco III., Marquis of Mantua.

From the end of the Galleria del Speech! we pass, by long
corridors, to the older parts of the palace, and enter the —

Sala dei Marmi, or di Mantegna, with beautiful arabesque designs
from his hand, some of them of quite extraordinary loveliness. In the
medallions of the ceiling are groups of cherubs.

The adjoining Sala di Troja is painted entirely by Gitdio Romano
himself with scenes from the story of the Trojan war. but they are very
unequal in execution, and very inferior to his works at the Palazzo
del Te.

On leaving the Sala dei Marmi, from a loggia, you look down upon
a court designed by Gitilio. In the time of the Dukes this was almost
entirely inclosed with glass.

A number of old rooms succeed, which are in the
Castello di Corte, the ancient castle of the Gonzagas, built
by Bertolino Novara for Francesco Gonzaga IV. between
1393 and 1406. It is the part of the palace nearest the
Ponte S. Giorgio, and looks out over the Lago di Mezzo.
These rooms should be especially asked for, otherwise they
are not shown. They have magnificent decaying ceilings.
The Sala di Primaticcio has lovely decorations from his
designs, in stucco. Camera degli Sposi has frescoes by
Mantegna, authenticated by his signature.

' The northern side is almost completely filled with paintings ; above
the door leading to the suite of ducal apartments now occupied by the
Mantuan records, a flight of winged angels in a landscape supports a
tablet with an inscription alluding to the Marquis Lodovico, his wife
Barbara, and Mantegna, and dated 1474. To the left of the door a
groom holds the Marquis's charger, and servants a brood of large
white hounds in leashes. To the right the Marquis, accompanied
by his children, meets his son the boy cardinal, Francesco Gonzaga,
near Rome ; the followers of both being arranged in a formal, but not
ill-conceived group. On the western face a shield is supported by four
children. The northern wall is bare. On the eastern, above the
chimney, Lodovico, in an arm-chair, receives a message from his
chamberlain in a garden decorated with a classic temple. He is sur-

300 MANTUA.

rounded by Barbara of Hohenzollern, her daughter, and a female dwarf,
and a suite of persons of both sexes. In a neighbouring compartment
is a reception of guests on a staircase— all the figures over life-size.
The ceiling of this apartment is carved and broken into groinings ; in
the sections above the lunettes are scenes from the fables of Hercules,
of Orpheus, and Apollo, on gold ground ; in those above the corbels
medallions of emperors, eight in number. The centre imitates a
circular opening looking out to the sky, and protected by a parapet in
perspective, at which laughing women stand, and cupids sport. ''—Cro'we
and Cavalcaselle.

One room is filled with portraits of the Gonzaga family and
of that of Pico, to which they were related. The Gabinettini
al Raffaellesco have exquisite arabesques by Giulio Romano ;
they look down upon the Corte di Cant, where the Gonzaga
dogs were kept. The Sala della Storia Naturale has
decorations by Primaticdo.

Opposite the Palazzo Uucale are three Palaces. Nearest
the cathedral is the Palazzo Bianchi, with a sculptured
portal ; then the Gothic Palace of Castiglione, who wrote ' II
Cortegiano : ' nearest to the Torre della Gabbia, the Palazzo
Guerrieri. The road which passes round the corner of the
Palazzo Ducale by the Castello di Corte, leads to the Ponte
S. Giorgio, an immense bridge across the lake, 2,500 ft.
long, built in 1401.

Close to the Palazzo Ducale, in the Contrada della SS.
Trinita, is the Museo, containing a number of fragments of
ancient sculpture : the best : —

198. Torso of Venus.

210. Apollo and a bay tree, round which twists the serpent, the
symbol of wisdom.

287. Bust of Homer — the nose a restoration.

In the same building is the Public Library.

The Contrada del Vescovado, between the Palazzo
Bianchi and the Cathedral, lead to the Piazza called
Virgiliana, in honour of Virgil.

' Mantua mittenda certavit pube Cremonae :
Mantua Musarum domus, atque ad sidera cantu
Evecta Aonio, et Smyrnaeis aemula plectris. ' — Sil. Ital. viii. 594.

PIAZZA DELLE ERSE, 5. ANDREA. 301

The actual birthplace of the poet, however, was a village
called Andes in the Mantuan territory,1 which is supposed
to be identical with Pietola, about 3 miles distant. It is
extolled by Dante : —

' E quell' ombra gentil, per cui si noma
Pietola piu che villa Mantovana. ' — Purg. xviii.

Returning through the Piazza S. Pietro, the Via Broletto
leads to the Piazza Dante, decorated with a statue of the
poet in 1871. Here is a noble gateway of brick and stone
mixed (restored 1874), and, on the left, under a beautiful
Gothic canopy, a seated figure of Virgil with a book, pro-
bably of the 1 4th century.

Just beyond is the Piazza delle Erbe, containing the
Palazzo della Ragione, built 1198-1250 : it has a campanile
with a Dondi clock. At the angle of the piazza is a house
with most admirable terra-cotta ornaments. On the right
is the noble Church of S. Andrea, built from designs of
Leon Battista Alberti. It was begun in 1732, but not
finished till 1781. The cupola was added by Juvara. The
fagade is exceedingly simple, with one noble triumphal arch,
with a deeply recessed portico and four Corinthian columns
sustaining a gabled front.

' S. Andrea, the work of Alberti, is interesting in a historical point
of view, as being the type of all those churches which, from S. Peter's
downwards, have been erected in Italy and in most parts of Europe
during the last three centuries. . . . The dimensions of the church are
considerable, being 317 ft. long internally, and the nave and transepts
are each 53 ft. wide by 95 in height, but owing to the simplicity of the
parts it appears even larger than it really is. The great charm, how-
ever, is the beauty of its proportions, the extreme elegance of every
part, and the appropriateness of the modes in which Classical details
are used, without the least violence or straining. The exterior never
was finished, except the entrance front, and this is worthy of the.
interior. Nothing in the style is grander than the great central arch,
well supported on either side, and crowned by a simple unbroken pedi-
ment. ' — Fergusson.

The noble brick campanile is a remnant of the basilica
of 1472-1494.

1 Donatus, Vit. Virg. i.

302 MANTUA.

' The detail of this is throughout very fine. The tracery is all of a
kind of plate tracery, consisting, that is to say, of cusped circles pierced
in a tympanum within an enclosing arch ; the shafts between the lights
are of polished marble, and coupled one behind the other. ' — Street.

The church contains : —

Right, 1st ChapeL Giulio Arrivabcne. S. Anthony admonishing
Ezzelino.

yd ChapeL A sarcophagus supposed to contain the remains of S.
Longinus, the Roman centurion, who stood by the cross and pierced
the side of our Saviour. The frescoes are from designs of Giulio
Romano. They represent the Crucifixion and the bringing of the
miraculous blood of our Saviour to Mantua by S. Longinus.

South Transept. Tomb of Bishop Andreasi, 1549, by Prospe.ro
dementi. Tombs of the Donati family, 1581.

Apse of Choir. Anselmi. Fresco of the martyrdom of S. Andrew.
A kneeling statue of Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga, founder of the church.
The frescoes of the cupola are by Campi.

North Transept. Tombs of Pietro Strozzi, 1529, and of Count
Andreasi, from designs of Giulio Romano.

1st Chapel left of Entrance. Tomb of Andrea Mantegna (who died
at Mantua, 1 506, in great pecuniary difficulties), with a bronze bust by
Sperandio, erected in 1560, by Andrea, nephew of the artist. Under
the bust is inscribed, ' Esse parem hunc noris, si non praeponis Apelli,
Eneae Mantinae, qui simulacra vides. '

Giovanni Santi places Mantegna at the head of painters of
his time because of his skill in perspective and fore-shorten-
ing.

' Perche de tucti i membri de tale arte
Lo integro e chiaro corpo lui possede
Piii che huom de Italia o dele externe parte. '

Hence, following the Via S. Sebastiano, we pass (right)
the Church of S. Sebastiano, now desecrated, but a good
work of L. B. Alberti of 1460 ; and (right) the Casa di
Mantegna, given to him by the Gonzagas.

Here is the Porta Pusterla, a little beyond which, in a
grove of plane-trees, is the famous Palazzo del Te (sometimes
written The, and probably an abbreviation from Theyetto or
Taglietto).

' Mounted on a horse which was presented to him by the Marquis,
Giulio Romano rode forth in his company to a spot without the walls,

PALAZZO DEL TE. 303

where his Excellency had a place with some stables, called the T,
situated in the midst of meadows, and where he kept his breeding
stud. Here, the Marquis announced that, without destroying the old
•walls, he would like to have a small building arranged to which he
might sometimes resort for amusement.

' Giulio availed himself of the old walls, and in the principal space
at his disposal, erected the first hall which is seen on entering, with the
chambers on each side of it, and as there is no stone in the place, nor
any quarries whence it could be excavated, he contented himself with
bricks and other substitutes, which he covered with stucco, and out of
these materials made columns, bases, capitals, cornices, doors, and
windows, all in the most perfect proportion and beautifully deco-
rated. . . . All which induced the Marquis to change his purpose, and,
from a small beginning, he determined that the whole edifice should be
arranged as a great palace.

' Giulio thereupon constructed a most beautiful model, the outer
walls, as also the interior towards the courtyard, being in the rustic
manner. The building is a rectangle with an open court in the centre,
which is rather like a meadow or public square, into which four ways
open in the form of a cross ; one conducts into a very wide loggia,
whence another entrance leads to the gardens, while two others open
into various apartments, all of which are decorated with stucco-work
and paintings. '— Vasari.

From the ante-chamber on the left we enter : —

I. Camera del Cavalli. Portraits of the horses of the Marquis
Federigo Gonzaga, designed by G. Romano, and executed in fresco by
his pupils Benedetto Pagni and Rinaldo da Mantova. It was the
success of this room which decided the Gonzaga to build a palace
instead of a hunting-lodge.

II. Camera di Psiche. Wonderfully gay and rich in colour. The
walls are covered with the story of Psyche in fresco. In the centre of
the vaulting is the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. The lunettes which
are in oil are considerably blackened. Some of the scenes are ex-
ceedingly erotic. The whole are by Rinaldo da Mantova and Benedetto
da Peseta, from designs of G. Romano.

' Here, with a very few graceful groups, we find an almost total in-
difference to beautiful and noble forms, as well as to pure colouring ;
and these faults cannot be altogether laid to the charge of the assistants :
a coarseness of conception is visible throughout, which, in some of the
pictures (that of Olimpia, for example), can hardly be carried further. '
— Kugler.

III. Camera del Zodiaco, by the scholars of Giulio.

IV. Camera di Faetonte—'a. beautiful little chamber; the Fall of
Phaeton is represented in oil upon the ceiling by Giulio Romano.

304 MANTUA.

V. Loggia di Davide, an open hall, with five reliefs from the life of
David. The ornaments by Primatucio.

VI. Sala degli Stucchi, with friezes by PrimaticciowcA Giambattista
Mantovano from designs of G. Romano. They represent the triumphal
entrance of the Emperor Sigismund into Mantua in 1433. In the year
before he had created Gian Francesco Gonzaga Marquis of Mantua.

VII. Camera del Cesari. In the centre of the ceiling Julius Caesar
is burning the letters of his enemies. In the two lunettes in fresco, by
Giulio Romano, Alexander discovers a chest containing the writings
of Homer, and restores the wife of Mardonius.

VIII. Sala del Giganti.

' Original and ingenious as he was, Giulio desired here to display all
his resources ; and determined to construct an apartment where the
masonry should be adapted to the requirements of the painting, in order
more effectually to deceive the eye of the spectator. Having first there-
fore secured this angle of the palace, which is on a marshy soil, by means
of double foundations of great depth, he caused a large circular chamber
to be erected, giving extraordinary thickness to the walls, to the end
that the four external angles of the same might have all the strength
required for the support of a double vaulting, which he proposed to
make in a round form, like that of a furnace. This done, he caused
the doors, windows, and mantelpiece of the room to be formed in rustic
masonry, purposely constructed so much out of square, and set together
in so disjointed and distorted a fashion, that they appeared to be really
leaning on one side, and as if they must necessarily fall into the room.
The apartment being thus strangely constructed, Giulio began to paint
it with the most extraordinary conceptions he could devise. The subject
he chose was Jupiter hurling his thunderbolt at the Giants, and having
caused the vaulting to represent the Olympic heaven, he placed there
the throne of Jove, foreshortened as seen from below. . . . Lower down
he has depicted Jupiter in anger hurling his thunderbolt at the Giants,
with Juno still further down, who is assisting him. Around them are
the Winds, represented by the most extraordinary faces, blowing towards
the earth, while the goddess Ops turns away with her lions at the terri-
ble roar of the thunders, as do the other gods and goddesses, especially
Venus, who is at the side of Mars, and Momus, who with extended
arms, seems to be anticipating that heaven itself will fall asunder, but
stands nevertheless immoveable, waiting for the end.

' The Graces also are filled with dread, and indeed all the gods,
seized with terror, 'are taking to flight, each in his chariot. The Moon,
Saturn, and Janus, turn to that part of the heaven which is least over-
whelmed with darkness, as if to flee as far as possible from such horri-
ble tumult and confusion, and also Neptune, who, with his dolphins,
seems striving to stay himself upon his trident, while Pallas, with the
nine Muses, stands watching the awful catastrophe which is taking place
as if questioning what so dreadful an event may portend. Pan embraces,

PALAZZO DEL TE. 305

with supporting arms, a nymph who is trembling with fear, and seems
anxious to shelter her from the flashes of lightning and fire with which
the heavens are filled. Bacchus and Silenus, with the Satyrs and
Nymphs, show the utmost terror and anxiety, Vulcan with his huge
hammer on his shoulder looks towards Hercules, who is speaking with
Mercury of the crisis which is occurring : near these is Pomona with
terror-stricken aspect, and the same feeling is evinced by Vertumnus
and the other gods, who are dispersed through the heaven.

' In the lower part, that is to say upon the walls, are the Giants,
some of whom, those who are nearest to Jupiter, have mountains and
enormous rocks upon their backs, which they support upon their power-
ful shoulders, intending to make a pale wherewith to scale the heavens,
where their ruin is preparing, where Jupiter is thundering, where all the
denizens of heaven are kindled with anger against them, and where the
whole assembly appears not only to have a sense of terror at the rash
presumption of those Giants, on whom it is casting mountains, but as if
apprehensive that the whole world was in confusion and coming to an
end. In this lower part of the painting, Giulio has also depicted
Briareus in a dark cavern almost covered with enormous masses of rock,
with other Giants lying crushed and some dead beneath the ruins of the
mountains. Through the cleft of another dark cave, moreover, which
is managed with infinite skill, other Giants are seen in full flight ; struck
by the thunderbolts of Jove, they seem also on the point of being
crushed, as the others are. In another part of the picture are still other
Giants, upon whom temples, columns, and other fragments are falling,,
with immense slaughter and destruction of those proud assailants of the
gods. It is amidst these falling ruins that the fire-place of the apart-
ment is placed, and when the fire is lighted there, the Giants seem to be
burning in the flames. Here the master has pourtrayed Pluto in his
chariot ; drawn by meagre bare-boned horses, and accompanied by the
Furies, he is flying towards the centre.' — Vasari.

Some smaller rooms have exquisite arabesques by Giulio Romam.

' The Palazzo del Te stands in a swamp, and is, indeed, as singular
a place as I ever saw.

' Not for its dreariness, though it is very dreary. Not for its damp-
ness, though it is very damp. Not for its desolate condition, though it
is as desolate and neglected as house can be. But chiefly for the un-
accountable nightmares with which its interior has been decorated
(among other subjects of more delicate execution) by Giulio Romano.
There is a leering Giant over a chimney-piece, and there are dozens
of Giants (Titans warring with Jove) on the walls of another room,
so inconceivably ugly and grotesque, that it is marvellous how any 'man
could have imagined su:h creatures. In the chamber in which they
abound, these monsters, with swollen faces and cracked cheeks, and
every kind of distortion of look and limb, are depicted as staggering
VOL. I. X

306 MANTUA.

under the weight of falling buildings, and being overwhelmed in the
ruins ; upheaving masses of rock, and burying themselves beneath ;
vainly striving to sustain the pillars of heavy roofs that topple down
upon their heads ; and in a word, undergoing and doing every kind
of mad and demoniacal destruction. The figures are immensely large,
and exaggerated to the utmost pitch of uncouthness ; the colouring is
harsh and disagreeable ; and the whole effect more like (I should
imagine) a violent rush of blood to the head of the spectator, than any
real picture set before him by the hand of an artist. This apoplectic
performance was shown by a sickly-looking woman, whose appearance
was referable, I dare say, to the bad air of the marshes ; but it was
difficult to help feeling as if she were too much haunted by the Giants,
and they were frightening her to death, all alone in that exhausted
cistern of a palace, among the reeds and rushes, with the mists hover-
ing about outside, and stalking round and round it continually. ' — Dickens.

About 3^ miles from Mantua is the curious Church of S.
Maria delle Grazie, an ex voto, consecrated in 1399 by Fran-
cesco Gonzaga and the people of Mantua, in gratitude for
the cessation of the plague. It is one of the most curious
places of pilgrimage in Europe and is well worth a visit.

The acacia-fringed road leads across the Seregno^ as the
marshy country round Mantua is called, and passes (right)
the brick church of S. Maria degli Angeli, and (left) a
Monument raised to the Tuscans who fell near this in 1 848.
S. Maria delle Grazie is a handsome brick and terra-cotta
church, approached through a kind of street of relic-stalls.
In its outer cloister are frescoes commemorating benefits
supposed to have been obtained here, and, on the left of
the entrance, are cannon-balls which fell harmless in the
siege of Mantua, 1522, and were vowed afterwards by
Federigo Gonzaga. On entering the church you find your-
self between the double lines of a regiment of figures, life-
size, dressed, and coloured, arranged in niches along the
walls. Each represents some devotee, who thus wished to
express his gratitude to the Virgin, for graces which he
believed that he had received from her, and these figures
include Pope Pius II., Charles V., and his son Federigo
Gonzaga, and the Constable de Bourbon. Some of the
statues are most extraordinaiy, and the story of each is told

S. MARIA DELLE GRAZ1E. 307

in rude verses beneath. Thus, a criminal, who appears with
the punishment of * the Cord ' to which he was condemned,
is supposed to say : —

' Dalla fune ond' in alto era sospeso
Yergine benedetta io Te chiamai,
Leger divenni, e non rimasi offeso. '

Rinaldo della Volta, condemned to be beheaded, says : —
' Per mio delitto condannato a morte
£ in van datomi un colpo il giustiziere
L' altro sostenno per Tua destra forte.'

A soldier, with a wooden leg, exclaims : —
' Nella guerra crudel mi fu troncato
Un de' membri, ch' al corpo era sostegno ;
Quando Maria chiamai fu risanato. '

Beneath a representation of angels drawing up a man, with
an immense stone tied round his neck, from a well, is
written : — •

' Fuor desto pozzo usci libero e sciolto
Col grave sasso, che pendea al collo,
Perch' allor fui da le tue braccie accolto.'

A figure standing beneath a gallows, of which the halter is
loosed, says : —

' Io veggo e temo in cor lo stretto laccio,
Ma quando penso che Tu 1' hai disciolto
Ribenedico il tuo pietoso braccio. '

A converted Saracen attests : —

' In mezzo rto camin di questa vita
D' ogni fedel nocchier fidata guida
Per noi se' posta e Tu ne porgi aita. '

But the most curious of all is a man represented fixed in
iron stocks with burning coals at his feet, who exclaims : —

' Col fuoco appiedi, ahime, posto tra cappi
Sottrato fui dal barbaro tormento,
Perche devoto a Te, volger mi seppi.'

Piles of crutches of lame persons who have recovered, and
ex-voto pictures of every kind, appear in every available
space in the church. From the ceiling hangs a kind of little

x 2

3o8 MANTUA.

Crocodile, of which the legend says that it attacked two
brothers in the neighbouring Curtatone, killed one brother,
and was killed by the other, who vowed its body to the
Virgin. Altogether S. Maria delle Grazie is quite unlike
any other place in Italy.

Here the House of Gonzaga and other illustrious Man-
tuans are buried. Among the monuments is that of Baltha-
sar Castiglion, ' the Perfect Gentleman,' who was the author
of ' II Cortegiano,' the friend of Michelangelo and Raffaelle.
He was twice painted by Raffaelle. He died at Toledo
(Feb. 2, 1529), but was brought here to rest in the tomb of
his young wife. His epitaph is by Bembo :—

' Non ego mine vivo, conjux dulcissima : vitam
Corpore namque tuo fata meam abstulerunt ;
Seel vivam, tumulo cum tecum condar in isto,
lungenturque tuis ossibus ossa mea..

' Hippolytae Taurellae, quae in ambiguo reliquit, utrum pulchrior
an castior merit. Primes juventae annos vix. Baldassar Castilion
insatiabiliter maerens posuit annoDom. MDXX.'

The admiration in which Castiglione was held may be
seen in the verses of Mercantonio Flaminio : —
4 Felix Mantua, centiesque felix
Tantis Mantua dotibus beata ;
Seel felix magis, et magis beata,
Quod his temporibus, rudique saeclo
Magnum Castaliona protulisti. '

309

CHAPTER XVII.

VICENZA.
(Inns. Hotel de la Ville—Albcrgo Roma.)

IT is about one hour by quick train from Verona to
Vicenza — 5 frs. 45 c. ; 3 frs. 80 c. The line passes

Caldiero Stat., where the sulphureous baths, known as
Calidarium in the first year of the Christian era, are still in
service, though somewhat neglected. Leaving the Scaliger
town of Soave to the left, and passing Villanuova, where the
campanile of the church was a fortified tower of the family
of San Bonifacio, we reach

Sambonifacio Stat. Three miles south of which is Arcola,
where Napoleon I. gained his victory over the Austrians,
Nov. 15 to 17, 1796.

Lonigo Stat. The village (right) is at the base of the
wooded volcanic hills of the Monti Berici.

Montebello Stat. On the heights are castles of the Mon-
tecchi, the Montagues of Shakspeare.

We enter Vicenza between the city and Monte Berico.
A pleasant walk lined with trees leads into the town. On
the left is seen a noble machicolated tower of the Scaligers,
now serving as a campanile to the Church of S. Felice e
Fortunate. Just inside the Porta Castello, close to the
gardens of the Marchese Salvi, is the long-established Inn,
called Hotel de la

The History of Vicenza follows that of Padua, Verona, and Venice :
first with a constitution of its own, then subjugated byEzzelino, stormed
by Frederick II. in 1236 and destroyed by fire, subjected to Padua,

1 Pension of six francs a day includes everything.

3io

VICENZA.

then in 1311 to Can Grande della Scala, after 1387 to the Visconti, and
after 1404 to Venice.

Vicenza is emphatically the city of Palladio, 1518-1580,
and owes all its characteristics to that great architect.
Those who cannot admire Palladio will not care about
Vicenza. But though many may quarrel with his details,
there are few who will fail to acknowledge the perfection of
proportions, and the' wonderful way in which his windows,
doors, entablatures, and columns are all related to, and all
balance, one another.

At Vicenza.

c Palladio was a man really and intrinsically great, and whose great-
ness was outwardly manifested. The chief difficulty with which this
man, like all modern architects, had to contend, was the suitable appli-
cation of the orders of columns to buildings for domestic or public use ;
there is always a contradiction in the combination of columns and walls.
But with what success has he not united them ! What an imposing
effect has the appearance of his buildings, at the sight of which one for-
gets that he is attempting to reconcile us to an isolation of the rules of
his art. There is, indeed, something divine in his designs, which may
be compared to the creations of a great poet, who, out of truth and
falsehood, can elaborate something which participates in both, and
which charms us with its borrowed existence.' — Goethe* -

THE DUO MO. 311

The palaces have also a great charm from the wealth of
verdure and bright flowers seen through their wide-opening
porticoes, giving such an idea of space and air within the
walls of the town.

What Palladio was to the architecture of Vicenza, such
to its art was Bartolommeo Montagna, 1475-1523, whose
works, wonderfully beautiful and characteristic as they are,
are little known out of his native place. l

1 An Umbrian repose dwells in the lazy calm of his dramatis persons?,
but the faces have peculiarities by which Montagna is always distin-
guished, a long oval, though not a simple, shape, a thin barrelled nose,
arched brows, a small mouth with a round projecting chin, and eyes of
great convexity guarded by broad and drooping upper lids.' — Crowe
and Cavalcaselle.

The sights which must not be omitted in Vicenza are
the Piazza dei Signori and Palazzo della Ragione ; the
pictures of S. Stefano, S. Corona, and in the Pinacoteca ;
the Teatro Olimpico, and a general survey of the buildings
of Palladio, ending in a visit to the Rotonda, and the ascent
to Monte Berico.

The town is divided by the Corso, which ends at the
Porta Castello. Here, from the windows of our inn, we
may begin our study of Palladian architecture, by looking
down upon the admirable, never- finished fragment of the
Palazzo del Conte Porto al Castello, generally known as the
Co! del Diavolo.

A little behind the hotel (right of the Corso), is the
Duomo, a Gothic building of 1235. The front is inlaid with
red marble. The nave is a single aisle with chapels. A
great staircase of red marble ascends to the choir, giving
room for a very lofty crypt which contains the ancient
Lombard bath for baptism by immersion. The church
contains : —

Left, ^ni Chapel. Frescoes by Girolamo del Toso, c. 1526, The
altar-piece, by Bart. Monta^na^ represents the Virgin and Child with
SS. Catherine and Lucia.

1 Yet the works of Montagna, once in the churches of S. Michele and S. Rocco
at Vicenza, are not now to be looked for here. They are either lost, or removed to
the Brera Gallery at Milan. Those once in S. Bartolommeo are now in the Museo.

312

VICENZA.

Against a pillar. Giacomo da Panic. The Preaching of S. John
Baptist.

$tli Chapel (del Sacrament?}. Bart. Montagna. The Glory of
Paradise.

Facing the west end of the cathedral is the Palazzo
Loschi, which contains, or lately contained, a grand picture
of Christ bearing his cross, by Giorgione. Returning hence
to the Corso, we pass on the right the Palazzo Annibale
Tiem, a noble work of Palladio, completed by Scamozzi.
Beyond this, a side street, Contrada Morte, leads (right) to
the very picturesque Piazza dei Signori, which is like the

Casa del Diavolo.

Piazza S. Marco at Venice in miniature. At one end stand
the pillars which the Venetians erected in all the cities
which acknowledged their rule. In imitation of the campa-
nile of S. Mark's also, the brick Torre del Orologio here
soars up to a height of 270 ft. But the great feature is the
Basilica, or Palazzo della Ragione, a Gothic building, encased
by Palladio (in 1550) in noble cloistered galleries of stone,
which, instead of marring, greatly add to its effectiveness.
At the west end is a modern statue of Palladio.

The Basilica was continued by Scamozzi into the adjoin-
ing Piazza della Biava, here under the name of Palazzo del
Commune.

S. STEFANO, S, CORONA. 313

Descending the street which faces the central passage of
the Basilica, the first turn on the right is the Contrada della
Luna, containing the Casa Pigafetta, a very curious small
house, finished in 1481, and very highly decorated. On
the lower story are sculptured roses with the French motto,
' // riest rose sans espine? The upper story is richly carved
with arabesques in lower relief, and the three windows have
balconies resting on very rich brackets. The house was in-
habited by Antonio Pigafetta, the navigator, but its architect
is unknown.

Returning to the Corso, a little to the left, almost facing
a very handsome Palladian palace, is the Church of S.
Stefano, which contains : —

Left, ist Chapel. Tintoretto. S. Paul.

*Left Transept. Palma Vecchio. Madonna and Child seated with
SS. George and Lucia.

' I scarcely know a church out of Venice which can show so splendid
a work.'— JMiindlcr.

Close by, passing (left) the Casa Salvi, the next turn
(left) from the Corso leads to the brick Church of S. Corona,
of 1260. Its west front is— like the other churches here — •
a single gable with a western doorway and a large circular
window above. It contains : —

Right, 1st Altar. Speranza (contemporary of Montagna). Two
saints, Dominic and Bernardo da Campo, at the sides of the altar.

yd Altar. P. Veronese. Adoration of the Magi — much injured.

Chapel right of High Altar. Fine gilt Gothic tombs of the Tiene
family — still the great family of Vicenza.

*Left, 5//z Chapel. Giovanni Bellini. The Baptism of Christ.

' In the old Gothic church of Santa Corona at Vicenza, let us stand
where, under a gorgeously carved cinque-cento canopy, looks out, in-
stinct with life and colour, that wonderful Baptism of our Lord, by
Giovanni Bellini. Let us remain long, and look earnestly ; for there is
indeed much to be seen. That central figure, standing with hands folded
on his bosom, so gentle, so majestic, so perfect in blameless humanity,
O what labour of reverent thought, what toil of ceaseless meditation,
what changes of fair purpose oscillating into clearest vision of ideal truth,
must it have cost the great painter, before he put forth that which we
now see ! It is as impossible to find aught but love and majesty in the
Divine countenance, as to discover a blemish on the complexion of that
Body, which seems to give forth light from itself, as He stands in His

3M VICENZA.

obedience, fulfilling all righteousness. And even on the accessories to
this figure, we see the same loving and reverent toil bestowed. The
cincture, where alone the body is hidden from view, is no web of man's
weaving ; or, if it were, it is of hers, whose heart was full of divine
thoughts as she wove : so bright and clear is the tint, so exquisitely
careful and delicate every fold where light may play, or colour vary.
And look under the sacred feet, on the ground blessed by their pressure :
no dash of hurrying brush has been there : less than a long day's light
did not suffice to give, in individual shape and shade, every minutest
pebble and mote of that shore of Jordan. Every one of them was worth
painting, for we are viewing them as in the light of His presence who
made them and knew them all. And now let us pass on to the other
figures : to that living and glowing angelic group on the left-hand corner
of the picture. Three of the heavenly host are present,1 variously affected
by that which they behold. The first, next the spectator, in the corner
of the picture, is standing in silent adoration, tender and gentle in ex-
pression, the hands together, but only the points of the fingers touching,
his very reverence being chastened by angelic modesty: the second
turns on that which he sees a look of earnest inquiry, but kneels as he
looks ; and, indeed, that which he sees is one of the things which angels
desire to look into. The third, a majestic, herald-like figure, stands, as
one speaking, looking at the spectator, with his right-hand, on his gar-
ment, and his left held out as in demonstration- -unmistakably saying
to us who look on, " Behold what manner of love is here ! " Then,
hardly noticing what might well be much noticed, the grand dark figure
of the Baptist on the right, let us observe, how beautifully and accurately
all the features of the landscape are given, even to the expression of the
stratification and cleavage of the rocks in the foreground. Truly our
minutes spent before a picture like this are minutes of upward progress.
We depart, and the scene itself passes from our memory, but the effect
of tracing all these its attributes does not pass away, if it has been
rightly done, but flows over and hallows our conceptions of the blessed
event, and of Him round wyhom all its interests are centred. '— Dean
A I ford.

Left, tfh Chapel. Fogolino. Madonna and Child in a glory of angels
— the town of Vicenza below.

2nd Chapel. Bart. Montagna. A most noble group of saints.

Palladio was at first buried in this church, but has been
removed to the Campo Santo, where a monument by De
Fabris has been erected in his honour.

Passing (left) the Casa di Palladio, on the right is the
beautiful Palazzo Chiericati erected by Palladio, c. 1566.
Here is the Museo Civico containing a collection of pictures,

1 Are they not simply spectators,

MUSEO CIVICO. 315

open daily from 9 to 5. With much rubbish, it contains
some most interesting specimens of Vicentine art — Custode
\ to i fr.

We may especially notice :—
Entrance Hall : —

2. Jacopo da Ponte. The ' Rettori ' of Vicenza, Giovanni Moro and

Silvan Cappello, kneeling before the Virgin, by whom SS.

Marco and Vincenzo are standing.
31. Bernardo Strozzi, 1581-1644. The Supper in the Pharisee's

House.
38. Girolamo del Toso, 1526. Virgin and Child, with SS. Catherine

and Apollonia.

(Left) Stanza del Re :—

IO. Domenichino. S. John Baptist preaching.

23. Jacopo da Ponte. Madonna and Child, with SS. Mar)7 Magdalen
and Catherine. The donor kneels beneath.

Stanza del Cima : —

9. Moceto (pupil of Giov. Bellini). Madonna holding the Child
erect on her knee in front of a green hanging. In the left
corner ' Hieronimo Moceto p. '
12. Bern. Luini. Adoration of the Magi.
15. Glow. Bellini. (?) Madonna and Child.
36. Id. (?) Madonna and Child, with SS. Sebastian and Roch.
*54. Cima da Conegliano, 1489. Madonna under a bower of vines,
with SS. James and Jerome. A very early and most beautiful
work of the master— from the Church of S. Bartolommeo.

Stanza delle Antiche : —

2. Bernardino da Murano. (?) Madonna, with SS. Jerome and Francis
and two others. There is no proof of the existence of the
painter to whom this picture is attributed. It is probably by
a pupil of Montagna.

10. Paolo da Venezia. The Death of the Virgin ; her soul is received
above by the Saviour — a very curious picture, inscribed
' MCCCXXXIII. Paulus de Veneciis Pixit he opus.'

14. Andrea da Castagno. S. Michael weighing souls.

15. Andrea Bussato (apparently a pupil of Basaiti, c. 1510;.- S.

Anthony of Padua.

Stanza degli Antichi Vicentini : —

i. Bart. Montagna, 1438-1523. Holy Family.
*2. Id. Madonna and Child under an arcade, with SS. J. Baptist

316 VIC EN Z A.

and Bartholomew, Sebastian and Augustine. The predella
represents the Legend of S. Bartholomew.

*3. Id. Madonna, in a blue veil, adoring the Infant Saviour,
between SS. Monica and Mary Magdalen.

4. Battista da Vicenza. Saints — a tabernacle,

5. Marcello Fogolino, 1450- S. Jerome.

*8. Bart. Montagna. The Presentation in the Temple. S. Simeon
kneels, as the Virgin, kneeling, presents the Child. Behind
the Virgin is S. Joseph ; behind Simeon, a kneeling patron.
It is signed ' Opus Bartolomei Montagna.'

1 8. Id. Virgin and Child, with SS. John Baptist and Onofrio.

19. Id. A Predella — the story of S. Biagio.

20. Giov. Buonconsiglio (contemporary with Montagna^. The Dead

Christ, with the Virgin, S. John, and the Magdalen.

21. Giov. Speranza, 1460. The Assumption, with two kneeling

saints— in the predella, the twelve apostles.

22. Marcello Fogolino. The Adoration of the Magi— from S.

Bartolommeo. In the predella are the Annunciation, Nativity,
and Flight into Egypt.

Stanza del Ritratti : —

21. Leonardo da Vinci. (?) Unknown.

46. Giorgione. Pietro d' Abano.

47. Raffaelle. (?) Lorenzo dei Medici da Urbino.

58. Jacopo Tintoretto. Vincenzo Scamozzi the architect.

Sala dei Disegni Autografi : —

A most valuable collection of the sketches of Palladia (1518-1568)
and the two other great Vicentine architects, Scamozzi and Calderari,
for the buildings in the town.

In the great Hall of the Palace are the relics of the
great picture of The Supper of S. Gregory, by Paul Veronese,
which was hacked into thirty-two pieces by the Austrian
soldiers who occupied the Convent of Monte Berico in
1848.

Close to the Museo on the left (by the door No. 988
Leva degli Angeli) is the entrance to the truly wonderful
Teatro Olimpico built from designs of Palladia, though com-
pleted after his death by his son Scilla. The scenery of the
stage represents a piazza with streets opening behind it —
but it is indescribable — though well worth seeing.

'The Olympic theatre is a theatre of the ancients, realised on a

S. LORENZO, MONTE BE RICO. 317

small scale, and indescribably beautiful. Compared with our theatres,
however, it reminds me of a genteel, rich, well-bred child, contrasted
with a shrewd man of the world, who, though neither as rich, nor genteel,
nor well-bred, knows better how to employ his resources.' — Goethe.

A short distance to the right from hence (by the Ponte
degli Angeli) is the Church of S. Pietro which is united to
Casa di Ricovero, or Ospizio del Poveri. Over the door is
a relief by Canova of Charity writing on the pedestal which
supports the bust of Ottavio Trento, founder of the institu-
tion. The church contains pictures by Maganza, and
statues of Adam and Eve by Albanese.

Returning down the Corso, we may observe (on the
right) in the Contrada da Porto, a noble palace by Palladio,
and several fine specimens of Venetian Gothic houses.
Further, on the right, in the Via Porta S. Croce, is the
Church of S. Lorenzo, the finest of the brick churches here,
built 1 185. The picturesque west front has seven long
deeply-recessed arches, in four of which are canopied Gothic
tombs, with the portal in the centre. The interior is very
lofty and well-proportioned. It contains a number of tombs
of illustrious Vicentines, especially (left) those of the archi-
tect Scamozzi, the artist Bart. Montagna, and J. Ant. Fasoli,
1572, also —

Right i yd Altar. B. Montagna. SS. Laurence and Vincent.

The other churches of Vicenza are of no importance.
Many other palaces by Palladio deserve notice, and will be
admired in walking about the streets, such as the Palazzo
Barbarano, Marc-Antonio Tiene, Porto, and Valmarana.
They have all much the same character.

One great charm of Vicenza is its vicinity to the beautiful
Monte Berico, which no one should fail to ascend (about
\ mile), to the Church and Convent of S. Maria del Monte,
built to commemorate an appearance of the Virgin, in 1428,
but much added to in 1688. The church is a Greek cross
with a cupola. It contains a fine picture by Bart. Montagna,
1500 — the Madonna and saints bewailing the dead Christ.
There is a delightful walk beyond the church, along the

318 VIC EN Z A.

lidge of the hill, whence the view of Alps and plain and city
is most beautiful.

On one of the lower ridges of Monte Berico, reached by

Vicenza, from Monte Berico

a road which diverges ' Al Cristo ' from the portico (to the
right in descending), is the Villa Valmarana, adorned with
frescoes by Tiepolo, and above it the famous Rotonda Capra,
' Palladio's Villa,' from which Chiswick is copied.

' The Rotonda is a quadrangular building, inclosing a circular hall,
lighted from the top. On all the four sides, you ascend a broad flight
of steps, and always come to a vestibule, which is formed by six Corinth-
ian columns. Probably the luxury of architecture was never carried to
so high a point. The space occupied by the steps and vestibules is much
larger than that occupied by the house itself; for every one of the sides
is as grand and pleasing as the front of the temple. With respect to the
inside it may be called habitable, but not comfortable. The hall is of
the finest proportion, and so are the chambers ; but they would hardly
suffice for the requirements of any gentleman's family as a summer resi-
dence. Still, its appearance is most striking, from whatever side it may
be seen. The variety produced by the principal mass, as, with its pro-
jecting columns, it is brought gradually before the eyes of the spectator
who walks round it, is very great ; and the intention of the owner, who
wished to leave a large trust-estate, together with a visible monument of
his magnificence, is completely attained. And, as the building appears
in all its glory, from whatever side it may be looked upon, so in itself

VALDAGNO, BATHS OF RECOARO. 319

it is the point whence an enchanting view may be obtained. You ?ee
the course of the Bachiglione as it bears vessels from Verona to the
Brenta, while you overlook the immense possessions which the Marquis
Capra wished to preserve intact in his family. The inscriptions on the
four gables, which together constitute one whole, deserve to be re-
corded :

Marcus Capra Gabrielis filius

Qui aedes has
Arctissimo primogeniturae gradui subjecit

Una cum omnibus
Censibus agris vallibus et collibus

Citra viam magnam

Memoriae perpetuae mandans haec

Dum abstinet ac subiret.

' The conclusion in particular is strange enough. A man who can
command so much wealth and such a capac'ous will, still feels that he
must bear and forbear. This can be learned at a less expense.' —
Goethe.

At S. Giovanni Ilarione, near Vicenza, is a beautiful
picture by Bart. Montagna, of the Madonna between SS.
Anthony of Padua and John the Evangelist.

On summer evenings, when the meadows between the
town and Monte Berico are aflame with fire- flies, all the
' high life ' of Vicenza turns out to walk in the beautiful
passeggiate beyond the Porta Castello. Then the great
tower of the Scaligers stands out magnificently against the
jagged blue mountains, and the stately groups of trees are
solid blots upon the transparent sky, like the backgrounds
of Titian's pictures. At such times it will be felt that
Vicenza is one of the places — and they are rare — where the
ideal Italy of pictures and story-books may really be found.

(From Vicenza a pleasant excursion of 26 miles may
be made to Valdagno and the Baths of Recoaro. There is
a steam-tramway to Valdagno via Arzignano in 2.\ hours,
or a carriage costs 18 frs., or 14 frs. to Valdagno only.
The road passes through the long straggling village of
Montecchio (Montagu), above which the great ruined castles
of the Montecchi and Cappelletti are pointed out. This

320 VICENZA.

was the birthplace of Buonconsiglio, by whom there is a much
repainted picture in the parish church. The country will
give an idea of the wealth of the Veneto, the richest district
in Italy, and famous for its cattle. Hay is made three or
even four times in a year, and the leaves of the white mul-
berries are no sooner gathered for the bacchi (silk-worms)
than they begin to come again. To the left is Trissino,
where Count Porto-Tiene, of Vicenza, has a charming
summer palace. At 17 miles we reach Valdagno (Albergo
delle Alpe), a small town embosomed in verdure and ap-
proached by a long avenue of trees. In the latter part of
the last century this quiet country-place was the resort of
several English families to whom economy was an object :
Julius Hare, afterwards Archdeacon of Lewes, was born
here in 1795.

After this the road ascends almost perpetually to Recoaro,
which is quite in the depths of the hills, and, like Valdagno,
intersected by the swift and dangerous stream of the Agno.
After June 15, when the bathing season begins, this pretty
little place is crowded by representatives of every European
nation. Though there are pleasant walks all round, it has
no especial feature. But the life here is remarkably social,
and, on summer evenings, sometimes as many as 800 or
1000 mounted donkeys are driven off together on an excur-
sion, which has an amusing effect. Balls and picnics are
also frequent, to which a very slight introduction ensures a
welcome.)

(The road from Vicenza to Bassano passes through
Marostica, which has arcaded streets, old gates, and walls
and towers extending up the hill above the town. The
piazza has Venetian pillars and lions, in extreme miniature.)

321

CHAPTER XVIII.

PADUA AND THE EUGANEAN HILLS.

IT is rather more than \ hr. by quick train from Vicenza
to Padua — 3 frs. 40 c. ; 2 frs. 35 c.

Hotels. Aquila (TOro, a comfortable, old-fashioned hotel, looking
upon S. Antonio ; pension, 6 frs. Stella cTOro, very good. Aquila
Nera.

Carriages, from the station, I fr. ; with 2 horses, I fr. 50 c. ; each
piece of luggage, 40 c. Course in the town, 50 c. For an hour, 2
frs. ; with 2 horses, 2 frs. 50 c.

Omnibus, 75 c.

Two days may be well spent at Padua. More hurried
travellers should see — the Sala della Ragione, the University,
and the squares around them ; the Cathedral and Baptistery;
the Prato della Valle and S. Giustina ; S. Antonio and its
appendages (this the most important) ; the Eremitani and
the Chapel of the Arena.

Padua, the ancient Patavium, is said to owe its foundation to
Antenor, brother of Priam, who peopled it with a band of Trojan
fugitives.

' Hie tamen ilia urbem Patavi sedesque locavit
Teucrorum et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit
Troia.'1 — Virgil, Aen. i. 252.

It grew so rapidly in power that, according to Strabo, it was able to
bring- 200,000 men into the field, and when the Spartan Cleonymus
came to Italy with a Greek fleet and attacked Padua, he was repulsed
and driven out of the territory of the town, which then extended to the
sea. Livy (x. 2) narrates that the remembrance of this victory was
annually celebrated by a naval contest on the Brenta. The historian

1 { Antenor founded Padua's happy seat,
And gave his Trojans a secure retreat,
There fix'd his arms, and there renew'd their name,
And there in quiet rules, and crown'd with fame.'— Dry den.
VOL. I. Y

322 PADUA.

Livy was born here in 50 B.C., and also died here in his y6th year.
In 452 Padua suffered severely from the invasion of Attila, and in 601
was burnt by Agilulf, king of the Longobards.

In the Middle Ages, Padua was one of the towns which struggled
most successfully against the Imperial rule. In 1164 it joined the
Lombardic league and instituted its free government. The town was
then extended, and the Palazzo della Ragione built. In 1222 the
University of Padua was founded, in consequence of the dissolution of
that at Bologna.

As a Guelfic city, Padua fought against the detested tyrant Ecce-
lino, the son-in-law of the Emperor, but, in 1237, he succeeded in
gaining possession of the town, and avenged, by the most fearful
massacres, the destruction of his family castle by the inhabitants.
Padua was relieved by the Guelfic army raised by Pope Alexander IV.,
and, unable to reconquer it, Eccelino vented his fury by the massacre
of 1 1,000 Paduans in his army at Verona. Upon the fall of Eccelino in
1259, the town rose to great power, governed by a council of eight
chosen patriots. This time was marked by the building of the grand
church in honour of S. Antonio, who, a Portuguese noble, the strictest
and most celebrated of the followers of S. Francis, died at Padua in
1231. In 1311 disputes as to the possession of Vicenza led to a war
with Verona, in which the Paduan troops w ere headed by the famous
Guelfic chieftain Jacopo da Carrara, who was elected Signore of
Padua in 1318. In 1319 Can Grande besieged the town, and de-
manded the abdication of Carrara as a condition of peace. lie
sacrificed his position, and Padua submitted for a short time to the
representatives of the Emperor. But in 1337 Marsiglio da Carrara
became independent prince of Padua, and was succeeded by his son
Ubertino, who ruled from 1338 to 1345, and was a noble and beneficent
prince. The Palazzo dei Principi was built and the town greatly
adorned under his government. His successor Marsiglietto Papafava
was murdered by Jacopo da Carrara (the friend of Petrarch), who was
in his turn murdered in 1350, after which his brother Jacopino ruled
for five years. He was succeeded by his nephew Francesco da
Carrara, who was celebrated for his wars against the Venetians and
afterwards against the Milanese under the Visconti. An alliance
between Venice and Milan ended in the total defeat of the Paduans in
1388, and the temporary fall of the house of Carrara. The story of the
imprisonment and the after adventures of the Carraras is one of the
most romantic of the Middle Ages. Francesco Novello da Carrara
and his devoted wifeTaddea d' Este escaped from the castle where they
were immured by the Visconti, and after a series of almost incredible
adventures they reached Florence. With assistance obtained from
Bologna and Friuli, Francesco once more presented himself before his
native town with a banner bearing the arms of the House of Carrara.
He called upon the Milanese governor to surrender, and was received

SURROUNDINGS OF PADUA. 323

with derision, but he swam the Brenta by night, crept into the town,
and was welcomed with joy by the citizens, who rose suddenly and
successfully against the Milanese, and proclaimed Francesco Novello
sovereign lord of Padua on Sept. 8, 1390. He ruled till 1405, when
a succession of wars with the Visconti and Venice ended in the
treacherous capture of the city by the Venetians. Then the brave
Francesco Novello da Carrara and his sons were strangled, after having
endured imprisonment in an iron cage 8 feet broad and 12 feet long.
Henceforth Padua shared the fortunes of Venice.

The finest edifices in Padua date from the time of her freedom :
those raised under the dominion of Venice (the Cathedral, S. Giustina,
&c.) are comparatively unimportant. The earlier buildings— the
Palazzo della Ragione, S. Antonio, the Arena, the Baptistery, &c.,
are of the greatest value in the history of art. Here also we make our
principal acquaintance with the immortal creations of the Florentine
Giotto. He was succeeded by Andrea Mantegna (born at Padua,
1431), who, with his master Francesco Squarcione, founded the Paduan
school of painting. In sculpture, Padua is rich in works of Donatello,
who came here from Florence, and of his pupil Andrea Riccio. Among
the native architects Falconetto is the most important. Michele
Savonarola, the panegyrist of Padua, writing' in 1440, declares that
only three cities — Rome, Florence, and Venice — could compare with
his own.

' Many-domed Padua proud
Stands, a peopled solitude,
'Mid the harvest-shining plain,
Where the peasant heaps his grain. ' — Shelley.

The plain in which Padua lies is backed by the Euganean
hills. It is buried in gardens and vineyards, and has a
charming character of brightness and verdure in the spring
and summer months. Its tall towers and its many domes,
rising high above the walls, give it a stately aspect. Within,
the streets are narrow, and' everywhere along the sides
arcaded walks run beneath fhe houses, a delightful pro-
tection from wet in winter and from heat in summer. The
stately old palaces have large courtyards and radiant
gardens of flowers in the very centre of the town, and .the
principal churches stand in wide open spaces which are
always fresh and pleasant to walk in.

The town is approached from the station through walks
bordered by chestnuts. On the right an inscription on an

Y 2

324 ' PADUA.

old pillar tells that — ' Here was the bulwark where our
countrymen, at the cost of many a free-man's blood, defeated
Maximilian, avenged the infamy of the league of Cambray,
and the aggression of the stranger, Sept. 29, 1509.' On the
first bridge another inscription tells that — ' Here Novello da
Carrara with forty hero friends went down into the stream,
attacked the bridge, routed the Visconti, and in glad triumph
was received again by the people as their lord. June 19,
1390.'

On the left of the first gate is the great Church of the
Carmine, a stately brick building with a tall campanile and
dome. The neighbouring oratory called Scuola del Carmine
is covered with important frescoes ; some of them appear to
have almost perished, but it is hoped that they may be
restored by the cleaning process of white wine and bread
which has already often proved efficacio'us. The best are : —

End Wall. Cavazzola. The Adoration of the Magi and the Ador-
ation of the Shepherds.

Left Wall. Girolamo Santa Croce. The Birth, Presentation,
Purification, and Marriage of the Virgin.

Id. Titian. The Meeting of Joachim and Anna.

The Altar-piece is a beautiful Madonna and Child by Palma
Vecchio.

In the piazza opposite the Scuola is a statue of Petrarch,
erected 1874. On the right is a brick tower with a heavy
stone basement built as a fortress by the tyrant Ezzelino, in
1250.

Crossing the stream of the Bacchiglione (a branch of the
Po, most picturesque, with its old water-mills and overhang-
ing houses), we enter the town by a second gateway, and an
old tower from which, as the inscription tells, us, Galileo
tracked out many paths in the heavens.

The Via Maggiore with heavy colonnades (there is a
good Venetian Gothic house on the right) leads hence to
the centre of the town, where there are a group of piazzas.
That first entered is the Piazza del Signori (which they now
attempt to call Piazza dell' Unita d' Italia), containing the

PALAZZO DELL A RAGIONE. 325

Palazzo del Capitan, and the Loggia del Consiglio, beyond
which are the University Library, the Baptistery, and Cathe-
dral. A block of houses only separates this square from
the Piazza delle Erbe and the Piazza delle Frutte, which are
divided by the huge mass of the Palazzo della Ragione.
Examining these buildings separately : —

The Palazzo del Capitan has a great clock-tower con-
taining what is said to be the earliest striking clock, invented
at Padua by Giacomo Dondi, c. 1344. The descendants of
the clock-maker are still called Dondi dell' Orologio. The
doorway of the palace is by Falconetto, 1532, and its beauti-
ful staircase by Palladio.

Adjoining, is the Library of the University, which has an
immense hall ornamented with frescoes by Campagnola,
1540. The portrait of Petrarch belongs to an earlier series
of frescoes. The Library, which is a very good one, is open
to students from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M.

The Palazzo della Ragione is an immense building with
a high roof, surrounded by wide loggias resting upon open
arches, beneath which there are arcades with shops. The
entrance is from behind, on the left of the Via S. Martino,
where a staircase in a courtyard leads to the upper court of
the Palazzo Municipale, and beyond that to the vast Sala
(a custode) which occupies the whole upper floor of the
Palazzo. This chamber is 267^ feet long and 89 both wide
and high. It was built, or rather arranged and roofed,
for there were three halls here before, in 1306, by Fra
Giovanni, an Augustinian monk, who had brought back the
design of its vast wooden roof from a palace he had seen in
India. The walls were originally decorated with frescoes
by Giotto, executed under the direction of Pietro d' Abano,
but these were destroyed by fire in 1420, and the present
frescoes are partly by Zuan Miretto of Padua, partly by an
unknown artist from Ferrara. They depict, in 319 com-
partments, the months, planets, and other things allegorical.
None are of any great importance ; Dante is represented as
Sagittarius.

326 PADUA.

At the end of the hall is the huge wooden model of
Donatella for the horse of Gattamelata, near S. Antonio,
looking here like the horse of Troy ; it was executed in 1466.
The head is a restoration. Formerly it was covered with
skins so as to resemble life. Ludovico Lazzarelli, a con-
temporary poet, sang its praises as equal to the works of
Daedalus, Phidias, or Praxiteles.

On the right of the horse is a monument, of 1547,
erected in honour of Livy, who was a native of Abano near
Padua. Some bones, certainly not those of the historian,
which were found in 1413 near where an inscription had
been discovered relating to Titus Livius Halys, a freedman
of Livia Quarta, were brought here with great pomp, a jaw-
bone having been given, at his own request, to King Alfonso
of Arragon. To the right of this memorial is a still stranger
one of 1 66 1 to Lucrezia Dondi, who died under such ex-
cessively odd circumstances, that those who are very particular
had better not read her epitaph ! To the left of the horse
is a bust to Sperone Speroni, the philosopher.

At the other end of the hall, between two Egyptian
figures presented by him, is a medallion to Belzoni, who
was a native of Padua. Near these is the Lapis Vituperii,
or Altar of Insolvency, upon which debtors were cleared.
In the loggia, over the different doors, are memorials to the
Frate Alberto Padovano, 1323 ; to Paulus, a jurist under
the Empire ; and to Pietro d' Abano, the physician and
astrologer, 1250-1316, with an inscription refuting the
accusation of using magical arts which was brought against
him.1

The Archivio Pubblico, near the Sala, has a very impor-
tant collection of documents relating to the city. In the
Sala Verde are some pictures connected with Paduan
history.

The Via S. Martino, which runs through an arch behind
the richly decorated Palazzo del Municipio, leads speedily

1 Those who stay in Padua may be interested in reading Tieck's tale of Pietro
d' Abano.

IL BO, THE CATHEDRAL. 327

to the University, commonly called // Bo, which was founded
by Urban IV. in 1260. The class-rooms surround a hand-
some court, attributed to Sansovino, and highly picturesque
from the multitude of shields of arms of the students with
which the walls are crowded. At the foot of the staircase
is the statue of Elena Lucrezia Piscopia, who died in 1684,
having received a doctor's degree here, in honour of her
extraordinary learning. Galileo was a Professor, and the
University was once of great renown ; but, though still much
frequented, it is long since it has produced anything very
remarkable.

' In thy halls the lamp of learning,
Padua, now no more is burning ;
Like a meteor, whose wild way
Is lost over the grave of day,
It gleams betrayed and to betray.' — Shelley.

The Cathedral was built in the sixteenth century by
Andrea della Valle and Agostino Righetti, but is falsely
attributed to Michelangelo. The proportions of the interior
are admirable, a second transept with a second dome has
been inserted half-way down the nave. We may observe : —

Right Aisle (near door). The Monuments of Sperone Speroni and
his daughter Giulia.

Sacristy. An Evangeliarium with miniatures by one Isidonts, of
1170; an Epistolarium with miniatures by Giovanni Gaibana, 1259;
and some curious reliquaries.

In the North Transept is a Madonna ascribed to Giotto. Its
authenticity has been doubted, but it is most interesting as having been
the property of Petrarch, who considered it a Giotto, and bequeathed it
as such in his will to his friend Francesco Carrara the elder. There
are good early monuments of bishops in both the transepts.

Tribune. Padovanino (copy of Titian). Madonna and Child.

Left Aisle (near door}. A modern bust of Petrarch, who was a
canon here, by Rinaldi.

The Baptistery, on the left of the entrance, dates ' from
the twelfth century. The walls are covered with frescoes
believed to have been executed by Giusto Padovano in 1378,
at the expense of Fina Buzzacarina, wife of Francesco di

328 PADUA.

Carrara. The donor and her family, with Petrarch, are
represented kneeling before the Virgin.

' The Baptistery is a quadrangular building, surmounted by a cupola,
characteristic without and beautiful within, where the eye roves de-
lighted over a perfect garden of frescoes.

' The Gloria on the cupola is the first instance, I believe, of the
style of composition subsequently adopted by Correggio and later
painters, but originally, as in the present instance, imitated from the
mosaics. Our Saviour, blessing with His right hand and holding the
open book, inscribed, 'Ego sum A et fl,' in His left, stands in the
centre, within a circle of light, and below Him, in a vesica piscis,
the Virgin, erect, withher hands raised in prayer, as at St. Mark's and in
the Duomo of Murano. To their right and left sit, in different attitudes,
and with their distinctive emblems, the saints of God, male and female,
five rows deep, in a vast circle ; the effect is singularly brilliant, and
reminds one of Dante's comparison of the church in heaven to a snow-
white rose. The lower circuit of the cupola is filled with the history of
the book of Genesis, ending abruptly with the Concealment of Joseph
in the well.

' The history of John the Baptist is represented on the southern wall,
and that of the Virgin and our Saviour on the western and northern
and on the triumphal arch . . . The cupoletta of the chancel represents
the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the traditional composition, as depicted
in mosaic at S. Mark's ; and the walls of this little recess are completely
lined with about forty small subjects, entirely taken from the Apoca-
lypse, and treated with the most fearless originality ; one of them is
delightfully quaint and naive — the four angels kneeling on the four
corners of the earth, and forcibly compressing with both hands the
mouths of the four winds, represented as /Eolus' heads ; in spite, how-
ever, of their utmost efforts, they cannot prevent great blasts escaping,
and you almost hear the spluttering and fizzing that is going on. Others
of these compositions are very grand, and the painter has combined,
added, and taken away, with singular felicity. The lunette above the
altar represents God the Father within a vesica piscis, the Lamb lying
in His bosom, the four beasts keeping watch around the throne, the
lamp burning in front, the twenty-four elders, to the right and left,
offering their crowns, the angels in front adoring. The four horsemen
are represented in the fo\tt pennttehi or pendentives of the cupola — the
Vision is then continued round the walls and under the arches, the sub-
jects being most skilfully adapted to the different spaces that were to be
covered ; the seven trumpets, for instance, are carried from the summit
of the small transverse arch to the left hand on entering the chancel, all
round it, to the soffit of the corresponding transverse arch to the right
hand — similarly, and with exquisite propriety, the seven last vials are
disposed on the soffit of the triumphal arch of entrance, symbolical of

PRATO DELLA VALLE. 329

death. It is the most complete and comprehensive illustration of the
Apocalypse ever attempted in painting, and rude, as it undoubtedly is
in detail, there are hints here by which a painter desirous of taking a
lofty flight might profit much. ' — Lindsay^s ' Christian Art. '

The Cathedral Library contains many illuminated MSS.,
Letters of Tasso, MSS. of Sperone Speroni, &c.

The Via Teatro Concord! leads from hence (right) to
the Palazzo Papafava, which contains a curious sculptured
group representing the fallen angels, of sixty figures carved
out of a single block of marble, by Agostino Fasolato. There
are a few rather good pictures here.

Hence by the Via Scaloni, we reach a bridge over the
Bacchiglione, whence there is a good view of the fine old
Torre di S. Tommaso, full of character, with exceedingly
long machicolations. It was built by Ezzelino, and was the
scene of many of his cruelties ; now it is used as an
Observatory.

The Via. Seminario leads from the bridge to the small
Church of S. Bovo. On the left is the Church of S. Maria
in VanzO) which contains two pictures by Bartolommeo
Montagna at the high-altar, and a Burial of Christ by Bassano
in the chapel on the left.

Hence, turning to the left, we reach the vast and unique
square called Prato delta Valle.1 On the right is the Gothic
Loggia Municipals. In the centre is a garden, surrounded
by a canal, and peopled by a vast multitude of gigantic
statues, representing all illustrious citizens of Padua, and
many others who have any bond of connection with the
town, including Gustavus of Sweden, who studied at the
University in 1609. Beyond the statues rises, in eastern-
looking domes —

The Church of S. Giustina^ built by Andrea Riccio, and
dating, as it now stands, from 1532-49. Its facade is un-
finished, but very stately in its proportions. At the top of
the steps are two griffins which belonged to an earlier church

1 A ludicrous attempt is being made to change this time-honoured name to the
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 1

330 PADUA.

of the thirteenth century. Making the round of the church
we may see : —

Right Aisle. 2nd Altar. Liberi. S. Gertrude supported by
angels.

4///. Altar. Luca Giordano. Death of S. Scholastica.

5//z Altar. Pal ma Giovane. S. Benedict and his disciples.

Right Transept. An altar supposed to cover part of the body of
S. Matthew. In the chapel behind this, is a well with bones of the
Paduan martyrs at the bottom, and behind it the prison of the martyi
S. Daniele, and a catacomb with the graves of S. Giustina and S.

Prato della Valle, Padua.

Prosdocimo, the first bishop of Padua, with the bull authorising their
canonisation. Also the Chapel of S. Luca, with frescoes by Campagnola,
and a Madonna (not black) set in gold, and brought in the eighth
century from Constantinople. In front of the altar is the sleeping figure
of S. Prosdocimo.

Right cf High-Altar. Parodi. A group of the Dead Christ with
the Virgin, the Magdalen, and S. John.

Choir. Stalls by A. Campagnola of 1556. The altar-piece is the
Martyrdom of S. Giustina, by P. Veronese. Hence, a door on the
right leads to another Choir, a remnant of the thirteenth-century church,
which contains some fine tombs, of Ludovico Barbo, and Jacopo, a
Doctor of Law.

Left Transept. A tomb covering relics of S. Luke, with alabaster
reliefs set in serpentine, and an iron case containing the coffins in which

ORTO BOTANICO, S. ANTONIO. 331

the remains of the Evangelist were brought from Constantinople in
1177.

A little to the right of the church is the Orto Botanico,
the earliest Botanic Garden in Europe, instituted 1543. It
contains the venerable plane-tree, which is the parent of all
the plane-trees in the West.

On the right of the Prato della Valle the simple direction
' Al Santo ' indicates the way to S. Antonio.

' No one among the disciples of S. Francis was more conspicuous
than S. Anthony for holiness of life and the gift of persuasive eloquence.
Although born in an age of fierce and unbridled passion, he preached
peace and goodwill to men, enforced it by example, and so moved the
vast audiences assembled around him, in city squares and open fields,
that the bitterest enemies fell upon each other's necks and swore ever
after to live like brothers.

' In the sermons of S. Anthony, whose texts are developed by images
fitted to touch the heart, and illustrated by striking similes, there is
enough of sentiment and fancy to explain the interest which they excited
in the minds of his hearers, who gave him all their confidence, because
they were convinced "che le sue parole rispondevano alia sua santa
vita," and because so many of them had witnessed his fearlessness in
rebuking sin, when he saluted Ezzelino the tyrant of Padua with the
woids, "O most cruel tyrant, and mad dog ! the terrible sentence of
God hangs over thee. When wilt thou cease to spill the blood of
innocent men ? " and had wondered at his power when they saw the
monster, whom all feared, fall upon his knees, with a cord about his
neck, before the man of God, confessing his sins and imploring pardon. '
— Perkins ', ' Tuscan Scidptors. ' *

The vast Church of S. Antonio is one of the most extra-
ordinary buildings in Italy. Externally it is like a mosque —
a huge square mass surmounted by a crowd of domes and
minarets. It was begun in honour of S. Antonio, immediately
after his death, from designs of Niccolb da Pisa, and was
completed in 1307, being 280 ft. long by 188 ft. broad.

The Gothic elements which Niccolo used were a homage to the

1 S. Anthony was once sent for to preach before the Pope and Cardinals in the
Consistory, and ' explained the word of God so devoutly, so sweetly, so clearly, and
in a manner so efficacious and learned, that all who were in the Consistory, though
they spoke different languages, understood what he said as perfectly as if he had
spoken the language of each. And the Pope, considering the deep meaning of his
words, exclaimed:—" In truth this man is the ark of the Testament, and the treasure
of the Holy Scriptures.'" — Fioretti di S. Francesco, xxxix.

332 PADUA.

peculiar predilections of the followers of S. Francis ; the clustering
Byzantine cupolas showed the effect produced upon him by the Church
of S. Mark at Venice ; while the Romanesque fa5ade told that he had
not forgotten the well-beloved Duomo at Pisa, under the shadow of
whose walls his early years had been spent.' — Perkins, ' Tiiscan
Sculptors. '

The paved Piazza in front of the church is full of interest.
On the left is the noble equestrian statue — ' like a Caesar in
triumph'1— of the Venetian general Gattamelata (Erasmo
da Narni) by Donatello, inscribed 'Opus Donatelli, Flor.'

' Being more conversant with human than equine anatomy, Donatello
succeeded less well with the horse than the rider, who, dressed in
armour,, and holding the baton of command in his left hand, w\ ile the
reins are gathered in his right, sits somewhat stiffly, though with con-
siderable dignity, on the back of a ponderous war-horse, whose head
wants nobility and fire, and whose heavy limbs seem ill adapted for
pursuit or flight. Close observers have remarked that like the bronze
horse which bears Bart"lommeo Colleoni at Venice, like that painted
by Paolo Uccello at Florence, this horse lifts two legs on the same
side, which, being contrary to nature, surprises us in the work of one
who studied her so carefully as Donatello. ''—Perkins, ' Tuscan
Sculptors. '

On the right are the Museo, the Scuola del Santo, and
the chapel of S. Giorgio, and, close to the church, the tomb
of Rolando Piazzola.

The west front of the church is rather spoilt by recent
reparations. Over the central door is a fresco of S. Antonio
and S. Bernardino, with the famous monogram of the latter
painted by A. Mantegna in 1452. Above is a statue of S.
Antonio, backed by an injured fresco, and then a range of
pointed arches.

The general effect of the interior, from its crowd of
pictures, tombs, and sculpture of every description, with
lamps hanging before the shrines, is magnificent. Making
the round of the church we find —

Right Aisle.

1st Pillar. Antonio Boselli (a native of the Val Brembana). The
Virgin and Child, with SS. Antonio, Buenaventura, Francis,

1 Michele Savonarola, 1440.

S. ANTONIO.

333

and Paul— a beautiful specimen of this master, who painted c.

I500-I53&

Close to this is one of the two beautiful holy-water basins sur-
mounted by figures of the Saviour and S. J. Baptist.

2nd Pillar. Fine tomb of Cardinal Pietro Bembo.

1st Chapel (of the Sacrament}. Beautiful bronze gates and orna-
ments by Donatello. Picturesque tombs in red, black, and
white marble of (left) Gattamelata, and (right) his son.

4/£ Pillar. Behind the pulpit a fresco by Stefano da Fcrrara.

Transept. Chapel of S. Felice, with a beautiful screen of red and
white marble, built in 1372-76 by Andriolo da Venezia for Bonifazio
de' Lupi, Marchese di Soragna, whose tomb is within, on the right of
the altar. It was originally dedicated to S. James, but afterwards to
S. Felix, when his remains were transported hither. Behind the altar
is buried Bartolommea degli Scrovigni (sister of the builder of the
Arena), who is said to have been poisoned by her husband Massilio da
Carrara soon after their marriage. Over the altar are five statues of
saints by Andriolo. The walls are entirely covered with frescoes of
great beauty, by Jacopo Avanzi and Altichieri da Zevio. On the left
wall begins the legendary story of S. James.

1. Hermogenes the Magician sends Philetes to dispute with S.

James : in the centre, S. James converts Philetes by his
preaching ; to the right Hermogenes sends his demons to
arrest S. James and Philetes ; in the right-hand corner the
devils complain to them of Hermogenes.

2. Altar wall, left, \st lunette. Hermogenes is brought to S.

James by the devils ; Philetes burns the magical books ;
Hermogenes and Philetes converse with S. James.

3. Middle hmette. S. James healing a paralytic man on the way

to execution, and his decapitation.

4. Third hmette. Sea-shore in front of the castle of Queen Lupa ;

an empty boat beside it, an angel holding the rudder ; Her-
mogenes and Philetes lay the body on the stone, which shapes
itself into a sarcophagus ; Queen Lupa, with her sister, looks
down from the balcony of the castle.

5. Right-hand wall, to the left of the window. Hermogenes and

Philetes arrested by a soldier of the Spanish king.

6. Right wall, right of the window. Their imprisonment — much

defaced.

7. First of three lunettes on the otttcr wall. Their release from

prison ; their pursuers are drowned.

8. Second hmette. The sarcophagus drawn by wild oxen into

Queen Lupa's palace. In the background they seem to go
down on their knees before Hermogenes and Philetes.

9. Third lunette. Interior of Queen Lupa's palace : she receives

baptism.

334 PADUA.

10. Left-hand wall, below No. \. Apparition of S. James in a

dream, to Don Ramiro I., King of Leon, and his deliberation
thereupon with his council, which led to

11. The defeat of the Saracens at Clavijo, A.D. 844 (when 70,000

infidels fell, and after which ' S. lago ' became the Spanish
cry) : S. James appears above the broken arch in the back-
ground. *

Left (entrance of Choir}. The Crucifixion, with those who foretold
it, and saints standing below, by Montagnana.

Right. A fresco, by Filippo Veronese, of Gregory X. presenting the
donor to the Virgin and Child, and close to it the curious painted effigy
of Lupi da Parma under a canopy. Here is the entrance to the Sacris-
ties. The Ante-chamber has a most curious fresco of S. Antonio
preaching to the fishes at Rimini. The Sacristy is painted by Liberi.
The Old Sacristy beyond is connected with the cloisters by open
arches.

The Cappella del Santuario behind the high-altar is extremely rich
in marbles and gilding. It possesses some minor fragments of the
saint, his tongue, his chin, his hair, &c. ! . . . In the second chapel
beyond this is a fifteenth-century tomb by Antonio Tuni, in imitation
of an early Christian sarcophagus.

Right. The tomb of two Marchetti, professors in the University.
Then a fresco of Christ bound and crowned with thorns, by Andrea
Mantegna.

Right. Cappella della Madonna Mora. A most picturesque chapel,
full of effect and colour, containing the image from the church of S.
Maria Nuova, which was venerated by S. Antonio. Part of the side
wall is occupied by the grand fourteenth-century tomb of Raffaello
Fulgoso. On the other side is the red marble sarcophagus of the
Rogati, an ancient Paduan family. This was the original chapel of II
Santo. The chapel within this, Cappella del Beato Lnca Belludi, is en-
-tirely covered with frescoes, chiefly by Giusto Padovano, of the four-
teenth century. Over the altar are the Virgin and Saints ; on the roof,
the Evangelists : on the left wall, the Crucifixion ; on the right, the
story of S. Philip and S. James the Less ; within the tribune, the ex-
traordinary miracles attributed to the Beato Belludi.

Right (left transept). The Cnppella del Santo, begun in 1500 by Gio-
vanni Minello and his son Antonio, continued by Sansovino, and
finished in 1553 by Falconetto. In the centre is the tomb, before
which many lamps burn eternally. The chapel is covered with reliefs
which tell the story of the saint. It seems worth while giving Addison's
translation of one of the many tablets hanging up in honour of the
divinity of Padua.

' To the thrice holy Anthony of Padua, delight (whiter than the

See Lindsay's Christian Art, ii. 341.

S. ANTONIO. 335

lily) of the most holy Child of Bethlehem, highest son of seraphs,
highest roof of sacred wisdom, most powerful worker of miracles, holy
dispenser of death, wise corrector of error, pious deliverer from
calamity, powerful curer of leprosy, tremendous driver-away of devils,
most ready and most trusty preserver of the sick and shipwrecked,
restorer of limbs, breaker of bonds, stupendous discoverer of lost things,
great and wonderful defender from all dangers, the most pious (next to
God and his Virgin Mother) defender and safeguard.'

Left Aisle, Last Pillar but one. Magnificent tomb of Alessandro
Contarini, 1555, by Sanwuheli, and fresco of the Madonna by Stefano
da Ferrara.

Last Pillar. The miraculous fourteenth-century ' Madonna del
Ciecchi. '

The Choir, which stands isolated in the church, has bronze gates by
Tiziano Aspetti. The reliefs of the high-altar and the crucifix are by
Donatella. The glorious bronze candelabrum, and two reliefs — of the
Translation of the Ark from the house of Abinadab and of the story of
Judith, are by the Paduan sculptor Andrea Briosco, called Crispo from
his curling hair (1470-1532). The sculptor is himself introduced in
the former of these. *

The Cloisters are exceedingly interesting and filled with
curious monuments, forming a perfect museum of Italian
sepulchral art. In the south porch of the church is the
tomb of Federigo da Lavalongo, with his effigy in armour,
lying within a frescoed arch. The lady opposite, with her
hands crossed upon her breast, is the learned Bettina di
San Giorgio, 'che fu di scienza un chiaro fonte,' and who,
as Professor of Ecclesiastical Law, gave public lectures
before crowds of students in the Archigymnasium.

Passing the opening arches of the Chapter- House, at the
end of the cloister facing the south door, in a tomb adorned
with spiral columns, niches, and a relief of the Madonna
and Child, lies the famous lawyer, Rainerio degli Assendi :
his feet rest against the huge volumes of his works. In the
adjoining passage, which leads from the Chiostro del Capitolo
to the Chiostro del Noviziato, is the tomb of Manno Donato,
1370, a Florentine Guelf who fought for Francesco da
Carrara, with an inscription by Petrarch. Near this is the

1 In an unnamed grave before the Cappella del Crocefisso lies the body of Edward
Courtenay, Earl of Devon, who died at Padua, not without suspicion of poison, Oct.
1556.

356 PADUA.

canopied sarcophagus of the brothers Gerardo, Alberto, and
Giovanni Bolparo.

Beyond the Chiostro del Noviziato, and behind the east
end of the church, are remains of a smaller and more ancient
cloister adorned with terra-cotta, very interesting as being
that in which S. Antonio used to walk, belonging to the old
Church of S. Maria Nitova, which was destroyed when the
present church was erected.

To the left, from the west entrance of S. Antonio, is the
little Church of S. Giorgio, built as a mausoleum for his
family by Raimondino di Soragna in 1377. It contains some
interesting frescoes by Avanzi. The once splendid tomb of
Soragna was mutilated by the French soldiers during their
occupation of Padua in the last century.

Close by, is the Scuola del Santo, surrounded with frescoes
of the story of S. Antonio, all interesting. The best are by
Titian :—

i. He causes an infant to speak to prove the innocence of his
mother.

11. He raises to life an innocent wife killed by her jealous husband.

12. He heals a child with a broken leg.

The Convent of S. Antonio is gradually being turned into
a Museum, and the Pictures, till lately at the Palazzo del
Municipio, have been removed here. They are a very poor
collection, but at the end of the gallery is : —

1215. Girolamo Romanino. The Virgin and Child, with S. Pros-
docimo, S. Giustina, S. Benedetto, and S. Scholastica —
brought from the Coro Vecchio of S. Giustina, where it
was executed for the Benedictines in 1513— one of the
finest works of the master.

We may also notice : —

1 8. Marco Basaiti. The Virgin and Child, with S. Peter and S.

Liberali.
74. Bonifazio. Holy Trinity, with S. Catherine, S. Francis and

the Shepherds.

The Statue of 'The Reading Girl,' by Magni of Milan, is here in
one of the rooms.

The Via S. Antonio falls into the Via S. Francesco
opposite an old brick palace. Here, a little to the left, is

THE EREMITANL 337

(at the entrance of a side street) the so-called Tomb of
Antenor, a sarcophagus supported by pillars, beneath a
brick canopy of the i3th century. The sarcophagus was
discovered by some builders in 1274, and was found to
contain a large skeleton, with a sword in his right hand.
The sword was given to Alberto della Scala in 1334. An
inscription upon it was believed to indicate that the body
was that of Antenor, the legendary founder of Padua.

Turning in the opposite direction (right) we reach (right)
the Church of S. Francesco, entered through the cloisters,
which contains frescoes by Girolamo da Santa Croce, 1530.
To the left of the high altar is the monument of Pietro
Riccabonella, Professor of Medicine, with two large reliefs
by the Paduan sculptor Bartolommeo Bellano, 1430-1451.
A street in front of S. Francesco leads to the curious little
old Church of S. Sofia, believed to have been the original
cathedral of Padua.

Hence, after following the Via S. Sofia for some distance,
a street on the right leads to the great Church of the Eremitani,
built c. 1270. It is a single nave ending in three arches,
and has a roof by Fra Giovanni, who gave the design of that
at the Sala della Ragione. This roof is now painted blue
and white, and spoils what would otherwise be a striking and
beautiful building. It was here that (Dec. 24, 1585) the
surpassingly beautiful body of Vittoria Accorambuoni, niece
of Pope Sixtus V., lay in state, robed in satin, with her ducal
coronet on her brows, and her long golden hair flowing
around her, with her boy-brother, Flaminio, on the day
after their murder by Prince Luigi Orsini. Meanwhile the
Paduans watched her with fury for the crime — 'dentibus
fremebant,' says the chronicle — and, vowing vengeance for
her death, besieged the murderer in his palace, and, having
forced him to surrender, strangled him in prison.

On the left of the entrance is the tomb of Jacopo da Carrara, 5th
Lord of Padua, the friend of Petrarch, who composed his Latin epitaph ;
and opposite that of Ubertino da Carrara, 1354. Further, on the left,
is the great tomb of Benavides, professor of law, 1583, by Ammonati.
VOL. I. Z

338 PADUA.

In the Choir are curious frescoes by Gnariento di Arpo.

The altar-piece by Fiumicelli represents Doge Andrea Gritti, intro-
duced by four saints, presenting the city of Padua to the Virgin.

The Chapel of SS. Christopher and James to the right of the high
altar has also a number of frescoes. The best are by A. Mantegna, and
represent the story of S. Christopher or S. James. The S. James on
his way to martyrdom is a very grand work. The feebler frescoes are
interesting as examples of the Paduan artist Squarcione, originally a
tailor and embroiderer near the Santo. He was the adopted father of
Mantegna. The bronze-like figures on the altar are of terra-cotta by
Giovanni da Pisa.

In \he-Sacristy is a monument to Paulus de Venetiis, 1419, who is
represented lecturing to his pupils. Here also is the tomb of Prince
Frederick of Orange, 1799, who died at Padua, in his 25th year.

Close to the west door of the church, a gate on the left
(a bell) leads into the Arena, the site of a Roman Amphi-
theatre, now a garden and vineyard, containing the famous
Giotto's Chapel, properly S. Maria delV Arena, built c. 1303,
by Enrico Scrovigno. He was the son of that Reginald,
whose arms were the blue sow upon a white field, placed by
Dante in the seventh circle of the Tnferno. The chapel was
given to the Cavalieri di S. Maria. The founder died in
exile at Venice in 1320, but was buried here, where he has
a monument (in which he is represented standing) in the
sacristy, and a tomb with his worn reclining effigy behind
the altar. On the plinth of the monument of 13-28 is in-
scribed 'Deo gratias opus Johannes magister Nicholi de
Pisis,' proving that sculptor to have lived longer than is
generally supposed. Giotto was summoned to decorate the
chapel about 1306 — 'summoned as being at that time the
acknowledged master of painting in Italy.'

' The walls of the chapel are covered with a continuous meditative
poem on the mystery of the Incarnation, the acts of Redemption, the
vices and virtues of mankind as proceeding from their scorn or accept-
ance of that Redemption, and their final judgment.

' The first twelve pictures of the series are exclusively devoted to the
apocryphal history of the birth and life of the Virgin (recorded in the
two apocryphal gospels known as the " Protevangelion " and the " Gospel
of S. Mary "). This the Protestant spectator will observe, perhaps, with
little favour, more especially as only two compartments are given to the
ministry of Christ, between his Baptism and Entry into Jerusalem. Due

5. MARIA DELL ARENA. 339

weight is, however, to be allowed to Lord Lindsay's remark, that the
legendary history of the Virgin was of especial importance in this chapel,
as especially dedicated to her service ; and I think also that Giotto
desired to unite the series of compositions in one continuous action,
feeling that to have enlarged on the separate miracles of Christ's
ministry would have interrupted the onward course of thought. As it
is, the mind is led from the first humiliation of Joachim to the Ascen-
sion of Christ in one unbroken and progressive chain of scenes ; the
ministry of Christ being completely typified by his first and last con-
spicuous miracle : while the very unimportance of some of the subjects
is useful in directing the spectator rather to pursue the course of the
narrative, than to pause in satisfied meditation upon any single incident.
And it can hardly be doubted that Giotto had also a peculiar pleasure
in dwelling on the circumstances of the shepherd life of the father of
the Virgin, owing to its resemblance to that of his own early years.' —
J. Ruskin.

The order of the frescoes is : —

1. The Offering of the holy Jew Joachim is rejected by the priests in

the Temple, because, having been married for twenty years to
Anna his wife, God had not given him the blessing of children.

2. Joachim retires to mourn amongst his shepherds, leaving Anna

desolate and ignorant of what had become of him.

3. An angel appears to console Anna, and tells her that God is

about to answer her prayers, that she will give birth to a
daughter, and that at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem she will
find the husband she has lost. Judith, her maid, who has
taunted her with her childlessness, is working in the passage.

4. Joachim offers an acceptable sacrifice of a burnt-offering.

5. The Angel appears to Joachim and forewarns him of the birth of

the Virgin.

6. Joachim meets Anna at the Golden Gate.

7. The Birth of the Virgin.

8. The Presentation of the Virgin.

9. The High-Priest ordains that all men of the lineage of David

who were not married should bring their rods to the altar ; and
that to the man whose rod budded, and upon whom the Holy
Spirit descended, the Virgin should be given. (Gospel of S.
Mary, v. 1 6, 17.)

10. The Watching of the Rods at the altar.

11. The Betrothal of the Virgin. Joseph bears his rod, upon which

the Holy Spirit is resting ; the unsuccessful suitors break their
rods.

12. Joseph having gone to prepare his home, the Virgin returns for

the time with seven virgins, her companions, to her father's
house in Galilee.

z 2

340 PADUA.

13, 14. The Annunciation.

15. The Salutation.

' I do not know any picture which seems to me to give so truthful an
idea of the action with which Elizabeth and Mary must actually have
met, — which gives so exactly the way in which Elizabeth would stretch
her arms, and stoop and gaze into Mary's face, and the way in which
Mary's hand would slip beneath Elizabeth's arms, and raise her up to
kiss her. I know not any Elizabeth so full of intense love, and joy, and
humbleness ; hardly any Madonna in which tenderness and dignity are
so quietly blended. She is not less humble, and yet accepting the
reverence of Elizabeth as her appointed portion, saying, in her simplicity
and truth, "He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is His
name. " The longer that this group is looked upon, the more it will be
felt that Giotto has done well to withdraw from it nearly all accessories
of landscape and adornment, and to trust it to the power of its own
deep expression. We may gaze upon the two silent figures until their
silence seems to be broken, and the words of the question and reply
sound in our ears, low, as if from far away : — "Whence is this to me,
that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" — "My soul doth
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." ' —
J. Ruskin.

1 6. The Nativity.

17. The Adoration of the Magi.

1 8. The Presentation in the Temple.

19. The Flight into Egypt.

20. The Massacre of the Innocents.

21. The Young Christ in the Temple.

22. The Baptism of Christ.

23. The Marriage at Cana.

24. The Raising of Lazarus.

25. The Entry into Jerusalem.

26. The Expulsion from the Temple.

27. The Bribery of Judas.

28. The Last Supper.

29. The Washing of the Feet.

30. The Betrayal.

31. The Trial before Caiaphas.

32. The Flagellation.

33. The Bearing of the Cross.

34. The Crucifixion.

35. The Entombment.

36. The Resurrection.

' With Giotto the leading thought is not of physical re-animation,
nor of the momentarily exerted power of breaking the bars of the
grave ; but the consummation of Christ's work in the first manifesting

S. ANTONINO. 341

to human eyes, and the eyes of one who had loved Him and believed
in Him, His power to take again the life He had laid down.' — J.
Ruskin,

37. The Ascension.

' The works of Giotto speak most feelingly to the heart in his own
peculiar language of Dramatic composition, he glances over creation
with the eye of love, all the charities of life follow in his steps, and his
thoughts are as the breath of the morning. A man of the world, living
in it and loving it, yet with a heart that it could not spoil nor wean
from its allegiance to God — " non meno buon Christiano che eccellente
pittore," as Vasari emphatically describes him — his religion breathes of
the free air of heaven rather than the cloister, neither enthusiastic nor
superstitious, but practical, manly, and healthy.' — Lindsay's ' Christian
Art.'

Half a mile outside the Porta Codalunga (the gate near
the Railway Station), on the way to Altichieri, is (right) the
Church of S. Antonino, built over the hermitage in which S.
Antonio resided during the last year of his life, when he
was daily preaching in Padua. Hither, having been taken
ill while preaching at Campo S. Pietro, 18 miles distant, he
was brought back in a common contadino's cart drawn by
oxen, and here he died (June 13, 1231), while reciting his
favourite hymn to the Virgin — ' O gloriosa Domina ' — in the
rude brick chamber which is still preserved, like the cell at
Assisi, within the present church. The brotherhood wished
to keep his death a secret that they might bury him in the
church, feeling sure that the people of Padua would carry
off his remains, but, moved by the Divine will, the children
ran about the street, crying, ' II Santo e morto, II Santo e
morto.'1 The scenes of his bringing back and his death
are represented on the church walls.

(From Padua an excursion should be made in autumn
or spring to the Euganean Hills — Colli Euganei — so called
from the people who are mentioned by Livy as having
occupied the whole tract from the Alps to the head of the
Adriatic, from which they were expelled by the Veneti.

1 Hence it is that, in Padua, S. Anthony is simply called ' II Santo,' without
adding his name.

342 THE EUGANEAN HILLS.

The highest point is Monte Venda, 533 met. Though
possessing no grandeur of scenery, these hills are full of
luxuriant loveliness, and the views from their heights are
those of a most Italian Italy —

' Beneath is spread like a green sea
The waveless plain of Lombardy,
Bounded by the vaporous air,
Islanded by cities fair. ' — Shelley.

The easiest way of visiting the hills will be to go for
at least one night to Este (which may be taken on the way
to Ferrara) and seeing Arqua and Monselice from thence.
The pleasantest time for the excursion is during the
autumnal tints of the vintage. The long lines of mules
upon the roads will recall the lines of R. Browning —

' You know,

With us in Lombardy, they bring
Provisions packed on mules, a string
With little bells that cheer their task,
And casks, and boughs on every cask
To keep the sun's heat from the wine.'

On leaving Padua the railway skirts the navigable canal
of Battaglia.

Abano (stat.) — Inn. Orologio — is celebrated- for its mud
baths, the mud being impregnated with the mineral waters
of the hot springs which rise here at the foot of a little hill.
The baths are greatly frequented, and the buildings are well
fitted up. This is the Fons Aponus, so often celebrated by
classical authors : —

' Euganeo, si vera fides memorantibus, augur
Colle sedens, Aponus terris ubi fumifer exit. '

Ltican, viii. 193.

' Etrusci nisi thermulis lavaris,

Illotus morieris, Oppiane.
Nullae sic tibi blandientur undae :
Nee fontes Aponi rudes puellis.'

Martial, vi. Ep. 42.

' Huic pater Eridanus, Venetaeque ex ordine gentes,
Atque Apono gaudens populus, seu bella cieret,

CARRARA DI S. STEFANO. 343

Seu Musas placidus doctaeque silentia vitae
Mallet, et Aonios plectro mulcere labores,
Non ullum dixere parem.' — Sil. Ital. xii, 217.

' Felices, proprium qui te meruere, coloni,

Fas quibus est Apono juris habere sui ;
Non illis terrena lues, corrupta nee Austri

Flamina, nee saevo Sirius igne nocet.
Sed quamvis Lachesis letali stamine damnet,

Inde sibi pati prosperiora petunt.
Quod si forte malus membris exuberat humor,

Languida vel nimio viscera felle virent ;
Non venas reserant, nee vulnere vulnera sanant,

Pocula nee tristi gramine mista bibunt :
Amissum lymphis reparant impune vigorem,

Pacaturque, aegro luxuriante, dolor. ' J

ClaudiaH) Eidyl. Apon.

From an epigram of Martial — ' Censetur Apona Livio
suo tellus ' (I. Ixi. 3)— it would appear that Titus Livius was
born here and not at Patavium, but possibly ' Apona tellus '
only designates the territory of Patavium in general. Valerius
Flaccus was born here, and, in later times, Pietro d' Abano,
1250.

Montegrotto (stat.) has a Roman bath. Near this is
Carrara di S. Stefano, where a famous Benedictine monas-
tery was founded in 1330 ; it was suppressed in 1777.
Several of the Carrara family are buried in the church. The
marble tomb of Marsilio (1330) is adorned with reliefs. A
Lombard inscription recording the death of Ubertino da
Carrara in 1365, calls the family * Papafava, Lords of Carrara
and Padua.7

Passing through a long tunnel, on the right is Castel
Catajo^ built in 1550 by Pio degli Obizzi. A member of

' Thrice happy are the swains, a favour'd throng,
To whom thy treasures, Aponus, belong ;
No fell disease they fear, nor Auster's breath,
Nor Sirius, charged with pestilence and death ;
But if distemper fills the languid veins,
Or bile, malignant in th* intestines reigns,
No blood they draw, nor trenchant knife apply,
Nor goblet drugg'd with nauseous med'cines try ;
Thy waves alone their wasted strength restore ;
The grateful draught is drunk, and pain exists no more.'- Eustace.

344 • THE EUGANEAN HILLS.

this old Venetian family claimed to have invented the
howitzer. The family is now extinct, and its last representative
bequeathed the castle to the Duke of Modena, on condition of
his keeping it up. It contains frescoes by Gian-Battista
Zelotti, ob. 1580, a pupil of Titian, and the friend and com-
panion, though rival, of Paul Veronese.

' One of his grandest works is at Catajo, where he represented, in
different rooms, the history of the ancient Obizzi family, distinguished
no less in the council than in arms. The place is continually sought by
foreigners, attracted thither by its splendour, by the fame of these
pictures, and by the valuable museum of antiquities, collected by the
Marchese Tommaso Obizzi, which in point of taste, abundance, and rarity
of specimens, is calculated to confer honour upon the state. ' — Lanzi.

• Battaglia (stat.) is a great bath resort, only considered
second to Abano. The springs belong to the Countess
Wimpfien, who has a villa here.

Mbnsetice (stat.) — Inn. Grand Hotel — is the Mons Silicis.
The Roccct) a thirteenth-century fortress, belonged to the
House of Este. It is on a rock, guarded by long lines of
curtain wall. The palace on this hill was built under the
Venetian rule by Scamozzi for the Duoli family. In the Villa
Cramer \s the Esculapius of Canova, 1778. Monselice was
the most important fortress of the Marca Trivigiana, and
before the invention of cannon was considered invincible.
Thus Tassoni writes : —

* Vien poi Monselce, in contra 1' armi e i sacchi
Sicuro gia per frode e per battaglia. '

Secc. Rap. viii. 30.

Este Stat. is four miles from the town of Este (Inn. La
Speranza, tolerable), situated at the S.W. base of the Euga-
nean Hills. It is a dull town, with many of the houses
supported on heavy colonnades. In the Church of S. Maria
delle Grazie is a beautiful Madonna by Cima da Conegliano,
1509. The Romanesque Church of S. Martino is modernised
internally. The Castle has grand machicolations. It will
be looked upon with interest as the fortress which gave a
name to the House from which our own royal family are

£ST£, ARQUA. 345

descended ; indeed, most of the royal families of Europe
originate with Alberto Azzo, Marquis of Este, himself de-
scended from the Adalbati, Margraves of Tuscany. His
first wife, the Swabian Cunegunda, was mother of Welf
(Guelf), Duke of Bavaria, from whose eldest son, Henry the
Proud, the Dukes of Brunswick and the Kings of Hanover
and England are descended. From Giulio, the second son
of Welf, the Dukes of Modena and Ferrara descended. The
grandmother of the late Duke (Francesco V.) of Modena

Castle of Este.

was Maria Beatrice d' Este. Este itself passed into the hands
of the Carrara in 1294.

(A carriage— 6 to 8 frs. — should be taken from Este to Arqua. The
return may be varied by a visit to Monselice, or the railway may be re-
joined here.)

(Arqua is beautifully situated close under the green
slopes of the Euganean Hills, here clothed with vineyards
and orchards. The church and old houses group pic-
turesquely where two ridges slope toward each other. This
was the home of Petrarch, and his Home stands on the hill-
side, with a beautiful view over the wooded plains. * Amidst

346 THE EUGANEAN HILLS.

the Euganean hills,' he wrote, ' not more than ten miles
from Padua, I have built myself a small but pleasant dwell-
ing, surrounded by an olive grove and a vineyard, which
suffice for the wants of a modest and not numerous family.'
The poet's dwelling is marked by a small brick loggia, and
contains the chair in which he died, his inkstand, and his
stuffed cat.

' E '1 bel colle d' Arqua poco in disparte,

Che quinci il monte e quindi il pian vagheggia.

Dove giace colui, nelle cui carte

L' alma fronda del sol lieta verdeggia ;

E dove la sua gatta in secca spoglia

Guarda da i topi ancor la dotta soglia. '

7^assoni) Sccc. Rap. viii. 33.

Petrarch's House, Arqua.

' Petrarch retired to Arqua immediately on his return from
the unsuccessful attempt to visit Urban V. at Rome, in 1370;
and, with the exception of his celebrated visit to Venice in
company with Francesco Novello da Carrara, he appears to
have passed the last four years of his life between this
charming solitude and Padua. For four months previous to
his death he was in a state of continual languor, and in the
morning of July 19, 1374, was found dead in his library chair
with his head resting upon a book.' His memory adds a
wonderful charm to the hills which he loved —

' Half- way up

He built his house, whence as by stealth he caught,
Among the hills, a glimpse of busy life
That soothed, not stirred. — But knock, and enter in.

ARQUA. 347

This was his chamber. Tis as when he went ;
As if he now were in his orchard-grove.
And this his closet. Here he sat and read.
This was his chair ; and in it, unobserved,
Reading, or thinking of his absent friends,
He passed away as in a quiet slumber. ' — Rogers.

The soft repose of the scenery seems described in one of
Petrarch's own verses —

' Qui non palazzi, non teatro, o loggia,
Ma 'n lor vece un' abete, un faggio, un pino,
Tra 1' erba verde e '1 bel monte vicino,
Onde se scende poetando, e poggia
Levan di terra al ciel nostro intelletto.
E '1 rossignuol, che dolcemente all' ombra
Tutte le notti si lamenta e piagne,
D' amorosi pensieri il cor ne 'ngombra.' — Sonn. x.

The Tomb of the Poet, a simple and stately sarcophagus
of red Verona marble, is raised upon low pillars in front of
the village church. It was erected by Francesco di Brossano,
who had married Petrarch's daughter Francesca.

' There is a tomb in Arqua ; rear'd in air,
Pillar'd in their sarcophagus, repose
The bones of Laura's lover : here repair
Many familiar with his well-sung woes,
The pilgrims of his genius. He arose
To raise a language, and his land reclaim
From the dull yoke of her barbaric foes :
Watering the tree which bears his lady's name
With his melodious tears, he gave himself to fame.

They keep his dust in Arqua, where he died ;
The mountain village where his later days
Went down the vale of years ; and 'tis their pride —
An honest pride — and let it be their praise,
To offer to the passing stranger's gaze
His mansion and his sepulchre ; both plain
And venerably simple, such as raise
A feeling more accordant with his strain
Than if a pyramid formed his monumental fane.

And the soft quiet hamlet where he dwelt
Is one of that complexion which seems made
For those who their mortality have felt,
And sought a refuge from their hopes decay 'd

348

THE EUGANEAN HILLS.

In the deep umbrage of a green hill's shade,
Which shows a distant prospect far away
Of busy cities, now in vain display'd,
For they can lure no further ; and the ray
Of a bright sun can make sufficient holiday.

Developing the mountains, leaves, and flowers,
And shining in the brawling brook, whereby,
Clear as its current, glide the sauntering hours
With a calm languor, which, though to the eye
Idlesse it seem, hath its morality.
If from society we learn to live,
Tis solitude should teach us how to die ;
It hath no flatterers ; vanity can give
No hollow aid ; alone, man with his God must strive. '

Byron, ( Childe Harold.

Tomb of Petrarch, Arqua.

' The revolutions of centuries have spared these sequestered valleys,
and the only violence which has been offered to the ashes of Petrarch
was prompted, not by hate, but veneration. An attempt was made to
rob the sarcophagus of its treasure, and one of the arms was stolen by a
Florentine through a rent which is still visible. The injury is not for-
gotten, but has served to identify the poet with the country where he
was born, but where he would not live. A peasant boy of Arqua being
asked who Petrarch was, replied ' ' that the people of the parsonage
knew all about him, but that he only knew that he was a Florentine. " '
— Notes to i Childe Harold. '

The Pozzo di Petrarca^ inclosing a clear spring, is the
fountain in which the poet collected five scattered springs.
It bears the lines attributed to Antonio Querenti —

ROVIGO. 349

' Fonti numen inest ; hospes, venerare liqtiorem
Unde bibens cecinit digna Petrarcha Deis. '

Rovigo (stat) — Inn. Corona Ferrea — is a rather pictur-
esque little town on the wide Naviglio Adigetto. The chief
feature is a tall tower in the Ghibelline battlements. There
is a collection of pictures here, which has nothing great but
its name, except a lovely Madonna and Child, in distemper,
by Lo Spagna, exhibited under the name of Perugino.

(Half-way between Rovigo and Mantua is the town of
Legnago, fortified by Sanmicheli, formerly one of the strongest
fortresses of Austria in Venetia.)

The railway continues through the rich low-lands, pro-
tected by high embankments from the outbreaks of the Po
and Adige, to Ferrara.

350 BASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS.

CHAPTER XIX.

BASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS.

A BRANCH line of railway leads from Padua to Bassano
(4 frs. 20 c. : 3 frs. 15 c. : i fr. 95 c.). It passes
through the market-town of Cittadella, which retains its old
walls and towers.

A few miles from this, with a station on the line from
Vicenza to Treviso, is Castelfranco, where Tuzio Costanzo
had his fortress, the condottiere of whom the Duke of
Orleans said that he was the best lance in Italy. This was
the birthplace, in 1477, of Giorgio Barbarelli (an illegiti-
mate offshoot of the Barbarelli) rightly called // Grande
Giorgione, for all he did was grand. He has not left many
works behind him, for he died at 33 (according to Ridolfi) of
the plague, when alone and broken-hearted by the infidelity
of his love Cecilia with his pupil Pietro Luzzo. His remains
were brought to Castelfranco in 1638. ' His paintings
generally have a luminous power and subdued internal glow,
the sternness of which forms a singular contrast to the
repose which prevails without, and his portraits represent an
elevated race of beings capable of the noblest and grandest
efforts.' x The crenellated ramparts of Castelfranco are
unaltered from the time of Giorgione. In the cathedral is
his noble pala of the Madonna enthroned with SS. Liberale
and Francesco. The scutcheon of the Costanzi is on the
lower step of the plinth. S. Liberale represents Matteo
Costanzo, the brave son of Tuzio, who died in the service
of the Venetian Republic at Ravenna in 1504, and was
brought back to his paternal home for burial. The study

1 Kugler.

BASSANO. 351

for this figure is in the London National Gallery, to which
it was bequeathed by the poet Rogers, and the armour is a
faithful reproduction of that in a stone effigy of Matteo
which still exists in the cemetery of Castelfranco. A statue
by the Venetian sculptor Benvenuti was erected (1878) in
the Piazza del Mercato to the artist on the 4coth anni-
versary of his birth. The tomb of the artist and the epitaph
which some of the younger members of the Barbarella
family inscribed to him perished when the old church of S.
Liberale was destroyed to make room for the present one.

' Modern Castelfranco lives upon the traditions of Giorgione, and
the local cicerone proudly shows the dwelling in which he was born,
which antiquarians may look at with distrust ; and the house in which
during his visits he habitually resided. The house stands on the square
to the left of the parish church, and though it was internally redistri-
buted to suit the wants of modern occupants, still contains remains of
interesting frescoes. In contact with the ceiling of what was once a
large hall are figures with medallions, heads of emperors and philoso-
phers, Gorgons, skulls, sand-glasses, masks, and tablets with Latin
mottoes, helmets, scutcheons, and shields, brackets with books, easels,
brushes, compasses and rulers, astronomical instruments and emblems
of the seasons, cymbals, viols, and harps. Though merely washed in
with distemper on a smoothly tinted ground, and relieved by solid
lights and cross-hatched shadows, they are treated freely, boldly, and
certainly in a Giorgionesque spirit. Of similar relics which we might
expect to find in the residence of the Costanzi — so long a leading family
at Castelfranco— there is little sign. The decay of the race is reflected
in the squalor of the mansion ; and, as we look at Tuzio's arms painted
— perhaps by Giorgione — on the outer wall, we see the children of
artisans playing in all the rooms of the old condottiere. ' — Crowe and
Cavalcaselle.

Bassano (Inn. S. Antonio, tolerable, but overrun with
black beetles) is a fine old town with a covered bridge over
the Brenta, and is overlooked by a fortress built by Ezzelino
da Romano, and now containing the parrocchia.

Just within the bridge is the House, marked by a fresco
of the Annunciation, of the famous family of Da Ponte —
Jacopo (Bassano), born 1510; his father Francesco (Vecchio);
and his three sons, Leandro, Francesco (Giovane), and
Girolamo. The Museo Civico (open 9 till i P.M.), joining

352 BASSANO.

the principal church in the upper of the three piazzas, is
filled with the works of the Da Ponte family, collected from

Bassano.

the different churches and convents in the town, and forming
a most interesting series. They are : —

Jacopo Basmno. A Venetian Podesta making a vow to the Virgin.

Id. The Three Children condemned by Nebuchadnezzar.

Id. The Woman taken in Adultery.

Id. Susanna— much retouched.

Leandro Bassano. l The Conversion of S. Paul.

Id. The Marriage of S. Catherine.

Id. SS. Sebastian and Michael.

Francesco ( Vecchio). S. Peter.

Id. S. John Baptist.

*Id. Madonna and Child throned, with SS. Peter and Paul.

*Jacopo Bassano. The Flight into Egypt — the first manner of the
artist.

Id. S. John Baptist.

*Id. Paradise — or All Saints — a glorious picture.

*Id. The Baptism of Lucilla by S. Valentino —perhaps the master-
piece of the artist.

Id. The Nativity.

Id. S. Martin and the beggar. In the corner, S. Antonio is intro-
duced reading — his pig gets under the horse's feet.

Id. Moro, Podesta of Venice, makes a vow to the Virgin — the colour
of his robe is quite splendid.

Id. The Vow of a Knight to S. John the Evangelist.

Id. The Visit of Titian to the family of Da Ponte.

Id. Pentecost — in the third manner of Jacopo.

Leandro Bassano. Podesta Cappello before the Virgin.

The Presentation in the Temple by Francesco (Giovane], the Demons

1 There are quantities of pictures by Leandro in the Ducal Palace and churches
of Venice.

BASSANO. 353

"beneath by Jacopo. This picture illustrates the legend that when

Christ was presented, Earth, Heaven, and Hell alike worshipped.
Jacopo Bassano. The Crucifixion.
Girolamo Bassano (the youngest son of Jacopo). SS. Ermagora and

Fortunate.

Jacopo Bassano. Madonna with SS. Agatha and Apollonia.
Francesco ( Vecchio}. The Dead Christ with the Virgin, Nicodemus,

S. John, and the Magdalen.

The other pictures (unnumbered) in this gallery in-
clude :

Guarienti. The Crucifixion.

Dario da Trevigi (of whom only three pictures are known. SS. J.

Baptist and Bernardino.

Girolamo S. Croce, 1519. The Calling of S. Matthew — signed.
Bonifacio. The. Last Supper.
Nosocchio da Bassano. Virgin and Child, with SS. Paul and John

Baptist.
Once the property of Ca*nova, and greatly prized by him, are two

subjects from the Story of Cleopatra, attributed to Paul Veronese.

A large collection of the first models for the works of
Canova is preserved here, presented after his death by his
half-brother Bishop Canova, of whom there is a fine bust by
Tenerani. Of the two large horses here, one was never cast,
the other is that of Charles III. of Naples, and is to be seen
there.

There are many picturesque old houses in the town with
outside frescoes, especially some in the piazzas, and that in
which Lazzaro Buonamico was born, near the fortress. The
pedestals remain of the ' pili ' or flagstaff's from which the
Venetian standard attested the supremacy of the Republic.

At the suburban Church of the SS. Trinita is a fine
Crucifixion, with the Almighty and the Dove of the Holy
Spirit above, by Jacopo da Ponte.

There are symptoms of costume at Bassano. The
women wear wide-awake hats, generally of black velvet,
adorned with brilliant bunches of artificial flowers, and they
have huge earrings and quantities of chains falling low round
their necks. In church they put on handsome veils of
black or white lace, which have a very pretty effect : in

VOL. I. A A

354 SASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS.

country-places the process of veiling and unveiling takes
place at the church doors.

About four miles south-east of Bassano is Asolo, the
residence of Queen Caterina Cornaro (whom Tuzio Cos-
tanzo had followed from Cyprus), where Pietro Bembo,
before he became a cardinal, composed his ' Asolani.' In
the Duomo is a Madonna with SS. Anthony and Basil by
Lorenzo Lotto, once very impressive, but much injured.

At Possagno, eleven miles from Bassano, the birth-place of
Canova, is a church designed by him and a collection of
casts from his works. In the church is a Madonna della
Misericordia by Pordenone.

A diligence leaves Bassano for Feltre at 2 P.M. and 8.45
P.M., and in the summer months (after June i) at 4 A.M. It
occupies seven hours on the way. Not far from Bassano
some curious caves are passed, which may be reached by a
ferry.

Feltre (Inn. Al Vapore] is an unattractive place, and its
mountains have no grandeur of form. The first Monte di
Pieta was established here. The old Palazzo Crico in the
Mercato Nuovo, and many other old houses in Feltre, and
several churches in the neighbourhood, are decorated with
the works of Morto da Feltre, who is generally supposed to
be identical with Pietro Luzzo, that pupil of Giorgione who
seduced his mistress Cecilia. Feltre may be used as a
halting-place by those who proceed (the road is only fit for
mules or in part of the way for very rough carriages)
across the Austrian frontier, to La Fiera in the district of
Primiero (Inn. Aquila Nera\ amid very grand mountains.
Near Primiero the curious rock-built castle, Castello della
Pietra (on the road which may be taken by mules from
thence to Agordo), should be visited. A drive of three
hours may be taken to S. Martina di Castrozza, where there
is a pension delightfully situated. From Feltre there is a
diligence, or a carriage may be engaged (25 frs. with two

BELLUNO.

355

horses), a drive of three hours to Belluno (Inns. II Cappello,
Due Torre), the ancient Bellunum. It is a most picturesque
town situated on a promontory at the junction of the Piave
and the Ardo. The arcaded streets are full of fragments
of mediaeval architecture. The Palazzo Vecchio of 1409
has been rebuilt, but some of the frescoes belonging to the
ancient building, by Jacopo da Montagnana, have been pre-
served in the Communal Gallery. The finest of the 14
churches is the Cathedral, built by Palladia. It contains : —

Giacomo Bassano. S. Lorenzo.
Palma Gwvane. The Deposition.

At Belluno.

Outside the Gothic Church of S. Stefano, which has an
altar-piece of the Adoration of the Magi by Titian, is a
curious ancient sarcophagus. The town has been terribly
injured by earthquakes. Gregory XVI. was born at Belluno.
The great valley of Belluno is portrayed in a picture by
Titian, No. 635, in our National Gallery.

A carriage may be taken from Belluno, three hours, by a
grand gorge through the mountains to

A A 2

356 SASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS.

Agordo (Inn. Albe.rgo delle Miniere, large and good),
surrounded with high mountains, which, though very colour-
less by day, become quite magnificent in the sunset. Hence
a little carriage should be taken, passing the beautiful little
Lake of Alleghe, in four hours, to Caprile, on the Austrian
frontier (Inn. Alia Marmolata, Signora Pezze, humble, but
good). The little piazza here retains its Venetian lion. All
around are beautiful mountains, of which La Civetta, 10,400
feet, is the finest It is a short walk to the very curious
Sasso di Ronch^ with fine views on the way of the Civetta

Peasants of Belluno.

and Pelmo. Hence also, by mule or on foot, the Lake of
Alleghe and Castle of Andraz and the picturesque village of
Buchenstein may be visited. The road, a very rough one
for light vehicles, can be continued by this to Cortina (Inn.
Stella d"1 Oro). Travellers going north may proceed from
hence to Botzen by Campidello (Inn. Al Mulino\ which is
reached by the Fedaya Pass, on the summit of which
(6,884 ft.) the frontier between Italy and Tyrol is passed.
Hence it is one day's ride by Castelruth ( Weisse Lamm} to
Waidbruck Station, on the line from Verona to Innsbruck.

TAI CADORE.

357

In going to Castelruth from Campidello two ways may be
taken, but the most beautiful is that by S. Ulrich in the
Grodner Thai.

It is a drive of about 3^ hours (a carriage with two
horses, 35 frs.) from Belluno to Tai Cadore. At the village
of Termine are a narrow gorge and magnificent peaks. At
Perarolo, crossing the bridge over the Boita, the Antelao
mountain comes in sight.

Tai (Albergo Cadore} has a better inn than Pieve di
Cadore one mile further, though the scenery is finer at the
latter. At Pieve is the humble house in which the great

Titian's House, Piave di Cadore.

born

the

master Tiziano Vecelli da Cadore was Dorn in 1477,
son of Gregorio Vecelli and his wife Lucia, who was of
Venetian birth. The little fountain in front, surmounted by
a statue of his patron S. Tiziano, Bishop of Oderzo, himself
a member of the Vecelli family, was wantonly destroyed in
1880, and a miserable bronze statue by Dal Zotto erected
instead. On the tower of the Prefettura is a fresco, and in
the Church are two pictures, attributed to Titian (the Virgin
is asserted by the natives to be a portrait of his young wife),
and a water-colour picture of the Madonna surrounded by

358 BASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS.

cherubs by Antonio Rossi Cadorino ; it is signed ' Opus
Antonii Rubei.'

This Antonio is now believed to have been the first
master of Titian, who was intended by his father for the
law, but evinced his genius by colouring a figure of the
Virgin so beautifully with the juice of flowers that he was
sent while very young to reside at Venice with his uncle
Antonio Vecelli, that he might study art, which he did, first
under Sebastiano Zuccati the mosaicist, and then under
Gentile Bellini. His elder brother Francesco, who for some
time also devoted himself to art, retired to Cadore at an
early period of his life, and enriched himself there by
trading in timber, but he passed the winter with Tiziano in
Venice. Their parents seem to have survived till the great
master had attained his fiftieth year, and he constantly
visited them at Cadore. Francesco (born 1476) died in
1560. The only sister, Orsola, who lived with Titian at
Venice and took care of his domestic affairs, died in 1550.
Titian himself survived, in full possession of all his powers,
rich, honoured, and beloved, and daily practising his art,
till August 27, 1576, when, whilst painting his 6ooth picture,
in his ninety-ninth year, he was cut down by the plague,
which was raging at Venice. At the age of ninety he had
still been able to undertake the troublesome journey to
Cadore, where he would pass the hot months amongst his
cousins who lived there, and at the time of his death he was
wishing to fly thither, but settled his departure too late,
after the authorities of Cadore had prohibited communica-
tion with the infected city. He desired by will that he
might be buried in the church of his native village, but this
also was not complied with from fear of infection, though in
his case the rule depriving all who died from the plague of
the honours of burial was broken through, and he was
honourably though quietly interred in the church of the
Frari. His wife, who died in 1530, had left him three
children, Pomponio, a canon (1513-1580) ; Orazio, an
artist (1515-1576); and Cornelia (Lavinia ?), married to

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO.

359

Cornelio Sarcinello. The family of the Vecelli was continued
at Cadore in the person of the painter's first-cousin, Tom-
maso Tito Vecelli, a lawyer, who married the daughter of
Giacomo Alessandrini, of the parish of Cadore, and had two
sons, Marco and Graziano ; Marco, himself an artist, was
the father of the painter Tiziano, called Tizianello, the god-
son of the great Titian, who died in Venice c. 1650.

It is interesting that the chemist's shop near Titian's
house should still be kept by one of the Vecelli family,
Ariosto speaks of the connection of Titian with Cadore —

' E Tizian che honora
Non men Cador, che quei Venezia, e Urbino.'

Visitors may read the novel of Caccianiga — ' II Roccolo di
Sant' Alipio ' — of which the scene (in 1848) is laid in Cadore.

Hence it is a drive of three hours to Cortina d* Ampezzo
—a rough carriage with one horse, 20 frs. (Inns. Stella
d'Oro, Aquila Nera, excellent and reasonable), on the
beautiful Ampezzo pass.

The road passes through Venas, where travellers will be
amused with the sign of the Inn, in which two geese are
drinking out of the inkstand, and finding it delicious.

Cortina is surrounded by grand mountains, of which the
finest are the Pelmo, the Antelao, and the Cristallo, Excur-
sions should be made, on mules or on foot, to the Tre Croci
(\\ hr.) and two hours further to the Misurina Lake. The
ascent of the Gusella scarcely repays its fatigue. Hence
the traveller going north will probably proceed by Landro

360 BASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS.

and Lienz to Heiligenblut, whence he may go by Ferleiten
to Salzburg.

On all these mountain excursions on foot, it will be well
to bear in mind the verdict of the Alpine Club — ' Do not
dispense with a guide, except when and where you are
capable of taking his place.' Travellers should remember
that the charges of porters employed to carry luggage across
the mountains are enormous, much higher than those for
mules — yet these are very expensive, especially for luggage.

INDEX.

Abano, i. 342
Agordo, i. 356
Alagna, i. 217
Alassio, i. 45
Albenga, i. 45
Albizzola Superiore, i. 50
Alessandria, ii. 210
Alzano Maggiore, i. 228
Andora, i. 45
Andraz, i. 356
Angrogna, i. 116
Antelao, the, i. 357, 359
Aosta, i. 119
Aprica Pass, i. 230
Aquileja, ii. 188
Arcisate, i. 204
Arco, i. 254
Arnaz, i. 118
Arona, i. 208
Arqua, i. 345
Asolo, i. 354
Asti, i. 87
Avigliana, i. 87

Balbianello, Villa, i. 198

Bassano, i. 351

Battaglia, i. 344

Battle of—

Lodi, ii. 225
Marengo, ii. 210
S. Martino, i. 152
Montebello, ii. 211

Baveno, i. 211

Belgirate, i. 209

Bellaggio, i. 199

Belluno, i. 355

Bergamo, i. 218-228
Aecademia, 226,
Cappella Colleoni, 223
Cathedral, 225
Churches —

S. Agostino, 225

S. Andrea, 225

S. Bartolommeo, 227

S. Bernardino, 227

S. Chiara, 219

S. Grata, 225

S. Maria Maggiore, 221

S. Spirito, 227

S. Tommaso in Limine,

228

Bergeggi, i. 47
Bisuschio, i. 204
Blevio, i. 197
Bobbi, i. 115
Bobbio, ii. 217
Bologna, ii. 263-307

Aecademia delle Belle Arti, 282
Antico Archiginnasio, 273
Campo Santo, 397
Casa Guercino, 302
Lambertini, 280
Rossini, 290
Cathedral, 274
Certosa, the, 397
Churches —

S. Annunziata, 299

S. Bartolommeo di P.

Ravegnana, 276
S. Bartolommeo di Reno,

302

S. Benedetto, 302
S. Caterina Vigri, 299
S. Cecilia, 279
S. Cristina, 291
S. Domenico, 295
S. Francesco, 301

362

INDEX.

Churches—

S. Giacomo Maggiore, 278

S. Giorgio, 303

S. Giovanni in Monte, 291

S. Gregorio, 303

S. Lucia, 294

La Madonna del Barra-

cano, 293

La Ma 4onna di S. Luca, 306
di Galliera, 274
di Mezzaratta, 303
di Misericordia, 294
in Monte, 303
S. Maria dei Servi, 290
S. Martino, 280
S. Michele in Bosco, 305
S. Niccolo, 302
S. Paolo, 300
S. Petronio, 270
S. Pietro, 274
S. Procolo, 298
S. Rocco, 302
S. Salvatore, 301
La Santa (Corpus Domini),

299

S. Stefano, 292
S. Trinita, 291
S. Vitale ed Agricola, 289
Collegio di Spagna, 300
Crocetta al Trebbio, 307
Giardini Pubblici, 302
Liceo Rossini, 280
Loggia dei Mercanti, 277
Montagnola, 302
Orto Botanico, 289
Palazzo Albergati, 301

Arcivescovile, 274
Bargellini. 291
Bentivogiio, 289
Bevilacqi a, 300
Bianchi, 291
Bolognini, 293
Fantuzzi, 290
Fava, 275
Grabinski, 298
Hercolani, 291
Malvezzi Campeggio,

280

Marescalchi, 301
Montanari, 302
Pedrazzi, 290
Pepoli, 293
Piella, 275
Del Podesta, 269
Pubblico, 268
Zambeccari, 300
Zampieri, 290

Piazza. S. Domenico, 294
Maggiore, 270
Nettuno, 268
Portico dei Banchi, 270
Torre degli Asinelli, 275

della Garisenda, 275
University, 281
Bordighera, i. 35
Borgo S. Donino, ii. 226
Breno, i. 230
Brescia, i. 241-251

BibliotecaQuiriniana, 244
Broletto, 243
Castle, 251
Cathedrals, 243
Churches —

S. Afra, 247

S. Alessandro, 248

S. Clemente, 245

S. Domenico, 250

S. Faustino Maggiore, 250

S. Francesco, 249

S. Giovanni Evangelista,.

250

S. Giulia, 246
Madonna delle Grazie, 248
dei Miracoli, 249
S. Nazzaro e Celso, 9.48
S. Pietro in Oliveto, 250
Museo Civico, 246

Patrio, 244

Palazzo del Municipio, 242
Torre dell' Orologio, 243

della Palata, 250
Brianza, the, i. 194
Brienno, i. 197
Broni, ii. 211
Busseto, ii. 226

Cadenabbia, i. 198

Cadroipo, ii. 186

Caldiero, i. 309

Camerlata, i. 189

Campi, School of the, i. 232

Campidello, i. 356

Campiglio, i. 256

Campione, i. 255

Campo, i. 198

Campo Rosso, i. 33

Canossa, ii, 247

Canzo, i. 194

Capo di Ponte, i. 230

Capolago, i. 204

Caprile, i. 356

INDEX.

363

Carignano, i. 105
Carlotta, Villa, i. 198
Carmagnola, i. 105
Carrara di S. Stefano, i. 343
Casale, i. 126
Casteggio, ii. 211
Castel Arquato, ii. 226
Castel Catajo, i. 343
Castelfranco, i, 350
Castel Guelfo, ii. 228
Castellaro, i. 42
Castellazzo, Villa of, i. 173
Castello della Pietra, i. 354
Castelruth, i. 356
Castelluzzo, i. 114, 117
Castiglione, i. 212
Castiglione d'Olona, i. 206
Cavallermaggiore, i. 106
Cecima, i. 185
Centa, the, i. 46
Cento, ii. 208
Cernobbio, i. 197
Certosa, the, i. 174
Certosa di Pesia, i. 107
Cervi, i. 45
Chiaravalle, i. 170
Chatillon, i. 119

Chiavenna, i. 200

Chioggia, ii. 166

Chiusa, Le, i. 103

Chivasso, i. 123

Cittadella, i. 350

Cividale, ii. 192

Cogoletto, i. 51

Col di Tenda, i. 105-107

Colico, i. 200

Colle, i. 38

Columbus, Birthplace of, i. 51

Comabbio, Lake of, i. 204

Comaccina, Island of, i. 197

Comano, Baths of, i. 254

Como, i. 189

Como, Lake of, i. 196

Conegliano, ii. 185

Coni, i. io5

Conobbio, i. 212

Cornice, the, i. 29

Cortina d'Ampezzo, i. 359

Courmayeur, i. 122

Cremona, i. 231-240
Baptistery, 237
Campo Santo, 238
Castle, 237
Cathedral, 234
Churches —

S. Abbondio, 233
S. Agata, 233

Churches —

S. Agostino, 233
S. Giacomo in Breda, 233
S. Luca, 232
S. Margherita, 233
S. Nazzaro, 233
S. Pelagia, 234
S. Pietro di Po, 233
S. Sigismondo, 238
Palazzo Maggi, 232

Pubblico, 238
Torrazzo, 237

Cristallo, the, i. 359

Crocetta del Trebbo, ii. 397

Cuneo, i. 106

Custozza, i. 294

Desenzano, i. 252
D'Este, Villa, i. 197
Diana Marina, i. 45
Doire, the, i. 118
Dolceacqua, i. 33
Domo d' Ossola, i. 212
Dongo, i. 200
Donnaz, i. 118

Enza, the, ii. 245
Erba, i. 194
Este, i. 344
Euganean Hills, i. 341

Feltre, i. 354
Ferrara, ii. 193-208

Ateneo Civico, 200

Campo Santo, 199

Castle, 195

Cathedral, 197

Churches —

S. Andrea, 208
S. Benedetto, 199
Corpus Domini, 207
S. Domenico, 198
S. Francesco, 206 .
S. Gaeiano, 206
II Gesu, 204
S. Giorgio, 208
S. Maria in Vado, 207
S. Paolo, 198

364

INDEX.

Hospital of S. Anna, 204
Houses of Ariosto, 199, 203
Palazzo Bevilacqua, 200

cle' Diamanti, 200
della Ragione, 197
Roverella, 206
Schifanoia, 208
Zatti. 200
Piazza Ariostea, 200

del Duomo, 197
Pinacoteca, 200
Prison of Tasso, 204
University, 207
Finale Marina, i. 47
Fiorenzuola, ii. 226
Fobello, i. 217
Fort Bard, i. 118
Roc, i. 121

Gallinara, Island of, i. 45
Garda, i. 257
Gargagnano, i. 291
Gargnano, i. 255
Garlanda, i. 47
Genoa, i. 53-86

Acqua Sola, promenade of, 70
Albergo dei Poveri, 74
Banco di S. Giorgio, 60
Campo Santo, 86
Cathedral, 63
Churches —

S. Agostino, 83

S. Ambrogio, 69

S. Annunziata, 74

S. Bartolommeo degl' Ar-

meni, 86
S. Donate, 83
S. Giacomo, 8r
S. Giovanni di Pre, 79
S. Mana di Carignano, 84

di Castello, 82
S. Matteo, 66
S. Siro, 73
S. Stefano, 85
House of Andrea Doria, 67
Loggia dei Banchi, 59
Palazzo —

Arcivescovile, 66

Balbi, 75

Brignole Sale, 72

Doria Tursi, 71

Doria, 67

Ducale, 69

Durazzo della Scala, 76

Palazzo —

Giustiniani, 66
Pallavicini, 70
del Principe, 78
Reale, 77
Rosso, 72
Serra, 73
Spinola, 70
del Universita, 76
Piazza. —

Acqua Verde, 77
Banchi, 59
Carlo Felice, 69
Embriaci, 82
Pontoria, 83
Ponte di Carignano, 83
Porta di S. Andrea, 85

S. Tomnmso, 79
Porto Franco, 62
Scoglietto Gardens, 79
Strada degli Orefici, 60
Via Nuova, 71
Gordola, i. 214
Grado, ii. 191
Gravedona, i. 200
Gravellona, i. 212
Gressoney S. Jean, i. 217
Grivola, the, i. 121
Guastalla, ii. 251
Gusella, the, i. 359

Idro, Lake of, i. 254

11 Deserio, i. 50

Incino, i. 194

Intra, i. 212

Iseo, i. 229

Isola Comaccina, i. 197
Bella, i. 209
Gallinara, i. 45
di Grado, ii. 191
di Lecchio, i. 254
Madre, i. 210
di Murano, ii. 170
dei Pescatori, i. 211
di S. Giulio, i. 214
di Torcello, ii. 175

Ivrea, i. 118

La Fiera, i. 354
Tour, i. 114
Lago di Alleghe i. 356

INDEX.

365

Lago di—

Comabbio, i. 204
Como, i. 196
Garda, i. 253
Idro, i. 254
Iseo, i. 228
Lecco, i. 200
Ledro, i. 254
Loppio, i. 257
Lugano, i. 204
Maggiore, i. 208
Misurina, i. 359
Monate, i. 204
Muzzano, i. 204
Orta, i. 214
Piano, i. 202
Pusiano, i. 194

Lampedusa, i. 42

Latte, i. 31

Laveno, i. 212

Lecco, i. 200

Legnago, i. 349

Lerone, the, i. 47

Limone, i. 255

Locarno, i. 213

Lodi, ii. 225

Lonigo, i. 309

Lovere, i. 229

Lugano, i. 205

Luino, i. 204

Lusignano, i. 46

Macagno Inferiore, i. 212

Macugnaga, i. 212

Maderno, i. 255

Magenta, battlefield of, i. 173

Maggiore, lake of, i. 208

Malcesine, i. 257

Mantua, i. 292-306

Argine del Mulino, 295
Casa di Mantegna, 302
Castello di Corte, 299
Cathedral, 297
Churches —

S. Andrea, 301
S. Maria delle Grazie, 306
S. Sebastiano, 302
Museo, 300
Palazzo Bianchi, 300

Castiglione, 300
Ducale, 298
Guerrieri, 300
della Ragione, 301
del Te, 302

Piazza. Dante, 301

delle Erbe, 301
S. Pietro, 297
Virgiliana, 300

Ponte S. Giorgio, 300

Torre della Gabbia, 297
del Zuccaro, 297
Marengo, battlefield of, ii. 210
Marostica, i. 320
Martino di Custrozza, i. 354
Melzi, Villa, i. 199
Menaggio, i. 204
Mendrisio, i. 194
Mercate, i. 204
Merula, the, i. 45
Milan, i. 129-169

Arco della Pace, 157

Archaeological Museum, 158

Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 154

Brera. the, 158

Castello, 157

Cathedral, 132

Cenacolo of Leonardo da Vinci,

151

Churches —

Chiaravalle, 170

S. Ambrogio, 138

S. Babila, 156

S. Carlo Borromeo, 156

S. Celso, 144

S. Eustorgio, 142

S. Fedele, 156

S. Giorgio in Palazzo, 138

S. Giovanni in Conca, 148

S. Lorenzo, 142

S. Marco, 156

S. Maria del Carmine, 158-
delle Grazie, 151
presso S. Celso,
144

S. Maurizio, 150

S. Nazzaro Maggiore, 145

S. Pietro Martire, 143

S. Satiro, 148

S. Sempliciano, 157

S. Sepolcro, 153

S. Stefano in Broglio, 148
Colonne di S. Lorenzo, 142
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, 137
La Scala, Theatre of, 155
Loggia degli Ossi, 149
Ospedale Maggiore, 146
Palazzo della Citta, 14$

della Ragione, 149
Litta, 151
Trivulsi, 146
Piazza d'Armi, 157

366

INDEX.

Piazza —

del Duomo, 137
della Scala, 155
del Tribunale, 149
Porta Romana, 146
Seminario Arcivescovile, 156
Scuola Palatina, 149
Mirabouc, i. 116
Modena, ii. 251-262
Cathedral, 253
Churches —

S. Francesco, 261
S. Giovanni Decollate, 262
S. Maria Pomposa, 261
S. Pietro, 260
S. Vincenzo, 260
La Ghirlandina, 255
Palazzo Ducale, 257
Piazza Grande, 254

Reale, 257
Pinacoteca, 257
University, 260
Monate, lake of, i. 204
Monselice, i. 344
Moncalieri, i. 101
Montalto, i. 117
Monte Avio, i. 230
Montebello, i. 309
Montebello, battlefield of, ii. 211
Monte Vanderlin, i. 114
Monte Berico, i. 317
Monte di Bolca, i. 291
Monte di Roccia Melone, i. 104
Monte Generoso, i. 194
Monte S. Salvadore, i. 203
Monte Zago, ii. 226
Montecchio, i. 319
Montecchino, ii. 245
Montegrotto, i. 343
Monza, i. 186
Murano, ii. 172
Muzzano, lake of, i. 204

Nervia, the, i. 33
Nesso, i. 197
Noli, i. 47
Novalesa, i. 104
Novara, i, 126

Olera, i, 228
Oneglia, i. 45

Orta, lake of, i. 214

Padua, i. 321-341

Archivio Pubblico, 326
Baptistery, 327
Cathedral, 327
Churches —

S. Antonio, 331

S. Antonino, 341

S. Bovo, 329

Carmine, 324

Eremitani, 337

S. Francesco, 337

S. Giorgio, 336

S. Giustina, 329

S. Maria dell 'Arena, 338

S. Maria Nuova, 336

S. Maria in Vanzo, 329

S. Sofia, 337

Convent of S. Antonio, 336
II Bo, 327
Loggie del Consiglio, 325

Municipale, 329
Orto Botanico, 331
Palazzo —

del Capitan, 325

del Municipio, 326

Papafava, 329

della Ragione, 325
Piazza. —

S. Antonio, 332

delle Erbe, 325

delle Frutte, 325

dei Signori, 324
Prato della Valle, 329
Scuola del Santo, 336
Tomb of Antenor, 337
Torre d'Eccelino, 329

S. Tommaso, 329
University, 325, 327
Pallanza, i. 212
Palma Nuova, ii. 187
Parma, ii. 228-245

Archaeological Museum, 239
Baptistery, 237
Camera di S. Paolo, 243
Cathedral, 233, 235
Churches —

S. Alessandro, 239

Annunziata, 244

S. Giovanni Evangelista,
232

S. Maria della Steccata, 238

S. Sepolcro, 232

INDEX.

367

Collegio Lalatta, 232
Palazzo Farnese, 239

del Giardino, 244
Pilotta, 239
Piazza di Corte, 238
Grande, 232
Pinacoteca, 240
Ponte di Caprazucca, 245
del Mezzo, 245
Verde, 244
Teatro Farnese, 239
Paraiico, i. 228
Parola, ii. 228
Pasta, Villa, i. 197
Pavia, i. 179-184
Bridge, 184
Castello, 182
Cathedral, 180
Churches—

S. Croce, 182

S. Francesco, 183

S. Maria del Carmine, 181

S. Michele, 183

S. Pietro in Cielo d' Oro,

182

Collegio Ghislieri, 183
Palazzo Malaspina, 181
Tomb of S. Augustine, 180
University, 182
Pegli, i. 51
Pella, i. 215
Pelmo, the, i. 359
Penarolo, i. 357
Peschiera, i. 257
Peschiera d' Iseo, i. 229
Piacenza, ii. 211-216
Cathedral, 213
Churches —

S. Agostino, 216

S. Antonio, 213

S. Giovanni in Canale, 216

S. Francesco, 214

S. Maria della Campagna,

215

S. Sepolcro, 215
S. Sisto, 216
S. Vincenzo, 214
Hospital of S. Lazaro, 217
Palazzo Comunale, 214

Farnese, 216
Piazza dei Cavalli, 214
Piano, lake of, i. 204
Piave, the, ii. 185
Pietra, i. 47
Pieve, ii. 209
Pieve di Cadore, i. 357
Pinerolo, i. 114

Pinzolo, i. 254
Pisogne, i. 229
Pizzo, Villa, i. 197
Pliniana, Villa, i. 197
Po, River, i. 97 ; ii. 194
Pollenzo, i. 106
Ponte della Veja, i. 291
Ponte Grande, i. 212
Ponte S. Martino, i. 118
Possagno. i. 354
Pordenone, ii. 185
Porlezza, i. 202
Porto, i. 204
Porto Maurizio, i. 44
Pozzolengo, i. 257
Pradel Tor, i. 116
Pusiano, Lake of, i. 194

Quinto, i. 290

Q-

Racconigi, i. 105

Recoaro, i. 320

Reggio, ii. 250

Rho, i. 208

Riva, i. 255

Rocca di Fontanellato, ii. 228

Roccialla, i. 117

Rora, i. 117

Rossena, ii. 246

Rotonda Capra, the, i. 318

Rovigo, i. 349

Sacro Monte di Varallo, i. 215
di Varese, i. 205
Sala, i. 197
Salo, i. 254
Salute, La, i. 212
Saluzzo, i. 1 06
Sambonitacio, i. 309
S. Ambrogio, i. 101
S. Antonino, i. 341.
S. Caterina, i. 211
S. Cristina, ii. 183
S. Didier, i. 121
S. Giovanni Ilarione, i. 319
S. Ilario, ii. 245
S. Lorenzo al Mare, i. 44
S. Maria delle Grazie, i. 306

368

S. Martino di Castrozza. i. 354

S. Martino, battlefield of, i. 259

S. Mauro, i. 31

S. Michele, i. 290

S. Micheie, II Sagro di, i. 101

S. Niccolo, ii. 211

S. Remo, i. 38

S. Romolo, i. 41

S. Salvatore, Monte di, i. 203

S. Stefano al Mare, i. 44

S. Tommaso in Limine, i. 228

Sandria, i. 204

Sarnico, i. 228

Saronno, i. 171

Sasso di Ronch, i, 356

Savigliano, i. 106

Savona, i. 47

Scrivia, the, i. 87

Serbelloni, Villa, i. 199

Sermione, i. 252

Serravalle, ii. 185

Siviano, i. 229

Slovino di S. Marco, i. 291

Solferino, Battlefield of, i. 253

Spotorno, i. 47

Stenico, i. 254

Stresa, i. 209

Stupinigi, i. 101

Superga, La, i. 99

Susa, i. 103

i, i. 41
Taglioni, Villa, i. 197
Tai Cadore. i. 357
Taro, the, ii. 228
Tavernola, i. 229
Tenda, Col di, i. 107
Termini, i. 357
Ticino, River, i. 18 t
Tione, i. 254
Tirano, i. 230
Torcello, ii. 175
Tortona, ii. 210
Toscolano, i. 255
Trascorre, i. 228
Tre Croci, i. 356
Trebbia, the, ii. 211
Tremezza, Villa, i. 198
Treviso, ii. 182
Turin, i. 88-99

Accademia, 93

Armoury, 91

Capuchin Convent, 98

Cathedral, 92

INDEX.

Churches—

Consola'a, La, 92
Corpus Domini, 92
S. Lorenzo, 93
Madre di Dio, 98
Superga, 99

Palazzo —

Carignano, 93
Madama, 90
Municipio, 92
Reale, 90
Valentino, 98

Piazza—

Carignano, 93
Carlo Alberto, 97
Carlo Felice, 90
Castello, 90
di Citta, 92
Savoia, 92

Public Gardens, 98

University, 97

Udine, ii. 186

Vado, i. 47

Val Anzasca, i. 212

Bavona, i. 214

Camon;ca, i. 230

di Brenta, i. 254

di Camporciero, i. 118

di Prato, i. 214

Lavizzana, i. 214

Lunella, i. 291

Maggia, i. 214

Mastellone, i. 217

Pantena, i. 290

Pesio, i. 107

Sesia, i. 217

Verzasca, i. 214
Valdagno, i. 320
Valdieri, Baths of, i. 107
Valeggio, i. 294
Valenza, i. 126
Varenna, i. 200
Varese, i. 204
Varigotti, i. 47
Varallo, i. 215
Velleia, ii. 225
Venas, i. 359
Venice, ii. 1-181

Abbazia di S. Gregcrio, 53
della Misericordia, 127

INDEX.

369

Accademia, 55
Archaeological Museum, 46
Archivio Pubblico, 150
Armenian Convent, 159
Arsenale, 108
Ateneo Veneto, 115
Attila's throne, 177
Biblioteca, 16

Campanile di S. Marco, 18
Campiello Angaran, 137

della Strope, 151
Campo di S. Agostino, 154

S. Angelo, 119

S. Benedetto, 119

della Carita, 55

S. Giovanni in Bragora,
in

Manin, 120

S. Margherita, 135

S. Maria Formosa, 91, 92

S. Marina, 93

S. Paternian, 120

S. Polo, i S3

S. Provolo, 88

S. Stefano, 118

di Tiziano, 123

S. Zaccaria, 88
Canalazzo, 18
Canonica, La, 88
Cappella Zen, 125
Casa d' Oro, 10

Ferro, 84

Businello, 70

Madonnetta, 70

di Petrarca, 1 12

di Tiziano, 123
Castello di S. Andrea, 163

di S. Pietro, 165
Cathedral of Murano, 172

of Torcello, 177
Cemetery, 169
Chioggia, 166
Collegio Greco Flangini, 89

Marco Foscarini, 125
Calle del Bazatin, 121
Churches —

S. Agostino, 154

S. Alvise, 132

S. Andrea, 137

S. Andrea di Chioggia. 167

Gli Angeli, 173

S. Antonino, 89

S. Aponal, 152

SS. Apostoli, 81, 124

S. Bartolommeo, 74

S. Basso, 32

S. Benedetto, 119

VOL. I.

Churches —

S. Biagio, 108

S. Canciano, 123

S. Cassiano, 152

S. Caterina, 125

della Fava, 93

degli Orfani, 134

della Pieta, 112

S. Donate di Murano, 172

S. Fantino, 115

S. Felice, 125

S. Fosca, 126

S. Fosca di Torcello, 179

S. Francesco delle Vigne,

102

S. Geremia, 78
S. Giacomo dell' Orio, 151
S. Giacomo di Rialto, 72
S. Gian Crisostomo, 121
S. Giobbe, 131
S. Giorgio dei Greci, 89
S. Giorgio Maggiore, 157
S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni,

90
S. Giovanni in Bragora,

in
S. Giovanni Elemosinario,

SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 95

S. Gregorio, 53

S, Giuliano, 121

S. Giuseppe di Castello,

106

S. Giustina, 103
II Redentore, 156
S. Luca, 119
S. Lazaro dei Mendicanti,

1 02

S. Lorenzo, 89
S. Lio, 93, 121
La Maddalena, 126
Madonna dei Miracoli, 121
Madonna del Orto, 127
S. Marco, 21
S. Marcuola, 78
S. Maria dei Carmini, 135
S. Maria Formosa, 91
S. Maria de' Gesuiti, 124
S. Maria del Giglio, 116
S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari,

144
S. Maria Mater Domini,

ISI

S. Maria Nuova, 123
S. Maria del Rosario, 134
S. Maria della Salute, 51
S. Maria di Scalzi, 77

B B

INDEX.

Churches —

S. Maria Zobenigo, 116

S. Marina, 93

S. Martino, in

S. Marziale, 127

S. Maurizio, 116

S. Michele, 169

S. Mo'ise, 115

S. Niccolo, 163

S. Niccolo da Tolentino,

138

S. Pantaleone, 137
S. Pietro al Castello, 104
S. F ietro di Murano, 173
S. Polo, 153
S. Rocco, 143
S. Salvatore, 120
S. Sebastiano, 136
S. Silvestro, 70
I Servi, 126

S. Simeone Grande, 77
S. Simeone Piccolo, 77
S. Stae, 75
S. Stefano, 117
S. Toma, 150
S. Trovaso, 133
S. Vitale, 84
S. Zaccaria, 86
Corte del Maltese, 119
del Milione, 121
del Remer, 80
Dogana, 49
Doges of, 6
Fondaco clei Tedeschi, 81

dei Turchi, 76

Fondnmenta di S. Biagio, 157
dei Mori, 127
Pesaro, 152
Forte di Caroman, 165
Frari, the, 144
Giardini Papadopoli, 77

Pubblici, 106
Giudecca, the, 156
Gobbo di Rialto, 73
Goldoni, birthplace of, 150
Gondolas, 10

Hospital, Gl' Incurabili, 136
Isola di Burano, 174
di Castello, 114
di S. Elena, 161
di S. Giorgio, 158
della Giudecca, 156
di S. Lazaro, i5Q
di Mazzorbo, 174
di S. Michele, 169
di Murano, 172
di S. Nicolo, 114

Isola —

di Pelestina, 165
di S. Pietro, 104
di Poveglia, 165
di S. Seivolo, 164
di Torcello, 177
di S. Marco, 43
Libreria Vecchia, 17
Lido, the, 161

Littorale di Malamocco, 165
di Sotto Marina, 165
di Pelestina, 165
Loggia, 19
Lunatic Asylum, 164
Manufactory of Merletti di
Burano, 174

of Salviati glass, 173
Monastery of S. Maria Glon-

osa dei Frari, 150
Murazzi, I, 165
Museo Civico, 76
Correr, 76
Oratorio del Crocifisso, 154

di SS. Filippoe Luigi,

125
Palazzo Badoer, 112

Baffo, 116, 119

Balbi, 69

Barbarigo della Ter-

razza, 69
Barbaro, 84
Bembo, 81, 122
Bembo alia Celeaia,

104

Benzon, 82
Bernardo, 154
dei Camerlenghi, 75
Capovilla, 76
Cappello, 70, 153
Cavalli, 82, 84
Centani, 150
Cicogna all' Angelo

Ruffaele, 134
Contarini Fasan, 84
Comarini Porta di

Ferro, 104
Contarini delle Figure,

83
Contarini Mocenigo,

119
Contarini degli Scrigni,

67
Corner della Ci

Grande, 84

Corner Mocenigo, 154
dtlla Regina,75
Spinelli, 82

INDEX.

Palazzo —

Dandolo, 76
Dario, 54
Dona, 70
Ducale, 32
Duodo, 76
Emo, 85
Erizzo, 79
Falier, 123
Farsetti, 82
Fini, 84
Foscari, 67
Foscarim, 135
S. Giacomo, 75
Giovanelli, 126
Giustiniani, 67, 85, 93
Giustiniani Lonin, 83
Grassi, 83
Grimani, 70, 79, 83
Grimani a S. Polo, 69
Giustiniani, 85
Labia, 78
Loredan, 82
Loredan di S. Stefano,

118

Malipiero, 91
Manfrin, 78
Manin, 81
Manzoni, 54
Marcello, 79
Martinengo, 82
Micheli delle Colonne,

Mocenigo, 83
dei Molin, 112
Moro Lin, 80
Morosini, 80, 118
del Nunzio Apostolico,

103

Persico, 69
Pesaro, 75
Pisani, 69, 119
dei Polo, 121
da Ponte, 117
Priuli, 88
Querini, 91
Rezzonico, 67
Sagrcdo, 80
Sanudo, 75, 122
Sina, 83
Tiepolo, 69
Trews, 85
Trevisan, 88
Tron, 76
Vendramin, 126
Vendramin Calerghi, 78
dei Veacovi, 67

Palazzo —

Zen, 125
Zenobio, 135
Zorsi, 89

Piazza dei Leoni, 32
S. Marco, 13
Piazzetta, 17
Pietra del Bando, 18
Piombi, 41

Ponte del Corner, 152
Diedo, 126
del Paradiso, 92
dei Pugni, 137
di Rialto, 71
dei Sospiri, 41
S. Toma, 150
Porto di Lido, 163
Pozzi, 42
Procuratie Nuove, 16

Vecchie, 16
Rio SS. Apostoli, 123
del Arsenale, 108
di Ca Foscari, 69
Railway station, 7
Scala dei Giganti, 35
Scuola degli Albanesi, 116

dell'AngeloCustode, 124
dei Carmini, 135
dei Crociferi, 125
di S. Geronimo, 115
di S. Giovanni Evange-

lista, 154
di S. Marco, 101
di S. Rocco, 138
di S. Teodoro, 120
del Vo] to Santo, 127
Seminario Patriarchate, 49
Statue of Bartolommeo Colle-

oni, 93

Statue of Daniele Manin, 120
Torre dell' Orologio, 16
Via del Paradiso, 92
Zecca, 17
Ventimiglia, i. 32
Vercelli, i. 123
Yernex, i. 118
Verona, i. 258-290

Accademia Filarmonici, 272
Amphitheatre, 272
Arco dei Borsari, 277

del Leone, 289
Baptistery, 279
Biblioteca Capitolare, 279
Castel S. Felice, 281
S. Pietro, 280
Vecchio, 272
Cathedral, 278

372

INDEX.

Churches —

S. Anastasia, 261
S. Bernardino, 273
S. Elena, 279
S. Eufemia, 277
S. Fermo Maggiore, 287
S. Giorgio in Braida, 281
S. Giovanni in Fonte, 279
in Valle, 282
S. Maria Antica, 265

della Campagna,

290

Matricolare, 278
in Organo, 282
SS. Nazzaro e Celso, 284
S. Pietro Martire, 263
S. Siro, 282
S. Stefano, 281
S. Tommaso Cantuariense,

283

S. Zeno, 274
Gardens —

Giusti, 283

of the Orfanotrofio, 289
House of Giolfino, 277
Mercato Vecchio, 265
Museo Civico, 285

Lapidario, 272
Oratorio di S. Zen one, 276
Palaces—

Bevilacqua, 277
Canossa, 277
Cappelletti, 289
del Consiglio, 264
Giusti, 283
della Guardia, 272
Pompei, 285
Portalupi, 277
della Ragione, 265
Piazza. Bra, 272

delle Erbe, 271
Navona, 264
dei Signori, 264
Pinacoteca, 285
Ponte Acqua Morta, 283
Castello, 272
delle Navi, 287
Nuovo, 283
Pietra, 280
Porta Stuppa, 273

dei Borsari, 277
Roman theatre, 282
Tomb of Count of Castelbarco,
262

Tombs of the Scaligers, 265
Vescovado, 279
Walls, 290
Vicenza, i. 309-318
Basilica, 312
Casa di Palladio, 314
Pigafetta, 313
di Ricovero, 317
Salvi, 313
Cathedral, 311
Churches —

S. Corona, 313

S. Lorenzo, 317

S. Maria al Monte, 317

S. Pietro, 317

S. Stefano, 313
Museo Civico, 314
Palazzo —

Bnrbarano, 317

Chiericati, 314

Conte Porto al Castello,

Loschi, 312
Porto, 317
della Ragione, 312
Annibale Tiene, 312
Marc Antonio Tiene, 317
Valmarana, 317
Piazza dei Signori, 312
Rotonda Capra, 318
Teatro Olimpico, 316
Torre dell' Orologio, 312
Villa Valmarana, 318
Villa Barbaro, ii. 183
Carlotta, i. 198
d'Este, i. 197
Giulia, i. 199
Masena, ii. 183
Melzi, i, 199
Pizzo, i. 197
Pliniana, i. 197
Villafranca, i. 294
Villanuova, i. 46
Villar, i. 115
Villastellone, i. 105
Voghera, ii. 210
Vogogna, i. 212
Voltri, i, 51
Vorazze, i. 50

Waldenses, the, i. 108

Spottiswoode & Co. Printers^ New-street Square, London,

HARE, AUGUSTUS, J.C. PR

AUTHOR

Cities of Northern

.H2
AT

,^ TT

Italy

DATE

ROOM

HARE, AUGUSTUS, J.C. PR

Cities of Northern

Italy
Volume II Part 1

.H2
Al

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