Ef YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CITIES OF NORTHERN ITALY VOL. I. CITIES OF NORTHERN ITALY AUGUSTUS J7C. HARE AUTHOR OF "WALKS IN ROME," "DAYS NEAR ROME," ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES Vol. I. * ' -V.-'': - THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE, AND IN \ PIEDMONT AND LOMBARDY , - . \>f-. LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1884 [A 11 rights reserved] 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. H01.MHURST : April 1883. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PACE INTRODUCTORY ......... I CHAPTER I. THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE .... 27 CHAPTER II. GENOA ....... • • • S3 CHAPTER III. TURIN 88 CHAPTER IV. THE WALDENSES 108 T CHAPTER V. THE VAL D'AOSTA IlS CHAPTER VI. VERCELLI AND NOVARA. . . . . . . . 1 23 CHAPTER VII. MILAN I2t> x CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE PAVIA . . x74 CHAPTER IX. •MONZA AND 'COMO .. . ... . . . • l86 CHAPTER X. THE ITALIAN LAKES 195 CHAPTER XI. BERGAMO AND THE LAGO D* ISEO 2l8 CHAPTER XII. CREMONA . 231 CHAPTER XIII. BRESCIA ... 24.I CHAPTER XIV. THE LAGO DI GARDA 252 CHAPTER XV. VERONA ... .... . 258 CHAPTER XVI. MANTUA . . 2g2 CHAPTER XVII. VICENZA ,0() CHAPTER XVI I'l. PADUA AND THE EUGANEAN HILIS . . . -,2l CHAPTER -XIX. BASSANO AND THE VENETIAN ALPS . . ,,_ INDEX . . .... ' • v • 3DI Lren Timrtra . , 0 rNoviev. j tfor,/u ^-.,„ A„,mo5> Husnlta \ W/t 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 vttturino 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 INTRODUCTORY. 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 railway! 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 INTRODUCTORY. 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 medieval 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 INTRODUCTORY. 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 Clough — ' 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. INTRODUCTORY. 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 ' 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, ' 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 assassino 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 too 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 INTRODUCTORY. g 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 Universo 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 pensione (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 to INTRO D UCTOR Y. 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 thei 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, auntj or cousin INTRODUCTORY. u ' in religion,' upon whom a portion of 1,000/., 5,000/., or 10,000/., 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 (10/?.) is now received as an equivalent in all questions of fees to a paul ($d.). 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, Genova la superba, Bologna la grassa,' Firenze la bella, Padova la dotta, Ravenna l'antica, Roma la santa ; ' or in the old song : — ' Bela di santita 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 marquisette by the Este. Bologna, seigneury .... Bentivogli. RavennaImola . Faenza . ^Forli Rimini and Cesena SinigagliaPesaro Camerino S. Angelo, &c. . Citta di Castello Perugia Fermo Urbino, dukedom Spoleto. Id. Polentani. Alidosi and Sforza. Manfredi. Ordelarfi and Riarii. Malatesta. Delia Rovere. Malatesta and Sforza. Varana. Brancaleoni. Vitelli. Baglioni. Fogliani. Montefeltro. not hereditary. INTRODUCTORY. 13 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 Livorao 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, 14 INTRODUCTORY. 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 topainther as a Jewess.' — Raskin, ' 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. ' 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. *5 child smiles in the angel, and the olive and the wheat are fadeless on their ground of gold and blue ; and by the lomb 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, Amolfo (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 I Ihtstrata. 16 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 truth, 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 INTROD UCTOR Y. 1 7 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 (Le. 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 perfecdy 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, to 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. 1. c 18 INTRODUCTORY. 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 manualc, i.e. a day- labourerat from 80 c. to 1 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 far V 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 '2 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 standsat 120 (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 lbs. 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 lbs. of leaves suffice. On the sixth day the worms sleep their second sleep, then eat 100 lbs. of leaves ; and on the seventh day sleep for the third time. After eating 300 lbs. 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 lbs. 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- ¦worvi 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 20 IN TROD UCTOR Y. 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. 21 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, hid its face in its mother's bosom ; Grassi said he was sorry to have caused the child paura, " fright '• ; but the mother replied immediately, " Non i paura, via timort " ; the difference between the two being this, that paura 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, itscio and porta, supcrbia and alter czza, &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 INTROD UCTOR Y. 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 Horner, 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 Firenze.' 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 ' LTtalie ' and ' Les Monasteres Benedictins ' of Alphonse Dantier. The ' Corinne ' of Madame de Stael should not be forgotten, or 'I Promessi Sposi' of Manzoni, while M 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 Lubke, translated by F. E. Bunnett, are also useful, though perhaps INTRODUCTORY. 23 more so from their many engravings than from their letter press. The art-student will read Kugler's 'Handbook of Painting,' 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. Gimignano, 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 Ponente. 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. 124 INTROD UCTOR Y. The Lago d'Iseo. 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. Prato. 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. Orvieto. The Cathedral. Views outside the Porta Romana. Bolsena. The Lake. Endless minor subjects. Montefiascone. S. Flaviano. Civita Castellana. The Gorge. S. Maria di Faleri. Soracte. Cortona. Views near S. Margherita and on the shores of Thrasymene. Perugia and Assisi. An inexhaustible mine for artists. Spolelo. 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. INTRODUCTORY. 25 Days Riviera . 3 Genoa 2 Spezia, for Lerici 1 for Porto Venere I Carrara \ Massa Ducale \ Pietra Santa \ Lucca .... .... I Excursion to Bagni di Lucca . . . . 1 Pistoia and Prato 1 Florence ....... 7 The Casentino . . . ¦ ¦ 3 (Return) Pisa 1 Leghorn \ Volterra 1 S. Gimignano . . . . . 1 Siena 2 Montepulciano, Pienza . . I Chiusi ........ i Orvieto . . . . . . . . i Nami ........ \ Temi . . . . . • • ¦ 4 Spoleto and the Clitumnus .... I Foligno ........ i Spello i Assisi 1 Perugia ........ 2 Cortona ........ 2 Arezzo ........ i Borgo S. Sepolcro . . . . . • i Citta di Castello Gubbio . . . . • • • • Pass of Furlo Urbino ......•• Pesaro Ancona. ......•• Loreto ........ Fano ........ Rimini ¦ ¦ Excursion to S. Marino and S. Leo . . . Forli Faenza .....••• i Ravenna ....-¦¦ 2 Bologna . . . . • • . . 2 26 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 .... PiacenzaExcursion 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 Deiim, 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 1 ' Navagero. Ode to his Country. 1530. 27 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 ah'difeange 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 Phcebus. 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 ironrgrated MORTOLA, LATTE. 3I 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 espJrance 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. 33 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,. yoL. 1. D 34 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. 35 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, 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 r,ooo 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 varibus foliage ; the rough deep markings of the rich brown stems ; and now and then the burning chrome of the fruit-stalks hanging1 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 Juda.a 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 Ruffini. ' 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 pale-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'houeite 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 ofa 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, havmg 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 Mediterranee ; Hotel Bellevue or Paradis, small but good ; Hotel Palmieri ; Hotel de Nice ; Pension Anglaise, about 1 fr. cheaper than Hotel Royal ; Hotel d'Angleterre. Smaller hotels and S. REMO. 39 pensions are the Continental, Tatlock, Villa Flora, Pension Suisse, Angto-AmMcaine, Allemagne. 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 delta Guardia, 7 frs I., io frs. ; to Ospedaletti, 6 frs., 8 frs. ; to Bordighera, Colle, Taggia, 8 frs., 12 frs. ; to Ceriana or Venti miglia, 14 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 wifh 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 4o THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE. sides. The olive is the characteristic tree of San Remo.'— Saturday Review, 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 here in 1 8 14. Some way 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 triere 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. 4i 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 Lampedusa 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 took 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 61 Stefano al Mare, and £. Lorenzo al Mare, and then Porto Maurizio comes in sight, covering the steep sides of a promontory.1 The church here is 1 Places hf 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 fagade. 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 town is a Roman bridge, Ponte Lungo. The place is so unhealthy that — ''Haifaccia 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 Albenga 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 46 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 Lusignano, 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 Albenga 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 medieval walls and towers of Villa Nuova, a curious and tiny city. Near the road is a round church, built of FINALE MARINA, SAVONA. 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 Dotnenichino — 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 Poussin.) After leaving Albenga, the high-road passes through Loano (Inn. Europd). 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 ; and an Annunciation and Presentation, by Albani. The Church of S. Giovanni Battista contains a 48 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE. Nativity, by Girolamo da Brescia, 1519, and a picture falsely attributed to Albert Diirer. In S. Maria di Castellff 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 hve, 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. 1. . E So 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 IL, 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 IL, 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 £. 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 II Deserto, founded by a lady of the Pallavicini family, who is represented there as the Madonna in an altar-piece by Piasella, COGOLETTO, PEGLI. 5< Cogoletto ' is the reputed birthplace of Columbus, in 1447, and the house of his father Domenico (doubtful a) is pointed out by the inscription — ' Hospes, siste gradum. Fuit hie lux prima Colombo : Orbe viro majori heu nimis arcta domus ! Unus erat mundus. " Duo sunt," ait ille. Fuere.' * 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 1 836-1 846, 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. 3 In his will Columbus says—' Que siendo yo nacido en Genova, como natural d'alla porque d' ella sali y en ella naci.' * GagliufE. E 2 52 THE RIVIERA DI PONENTE. settled at Genoa 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 D'oria 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. S3 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 Genova 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, Lectures on Modern 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 ergendo 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 treiholar delle frondose cime, Col torreggiar dell' appuntate moli, Lo sventolar delle velate antenne. ' — Bettinelli. Genoa, anciently Genua (probably from Janua, 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 of 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 coni- 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 12th 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 1 2th century the plan of government by a foreign Podesta was introduced, assisted by a council of eight, but by the 14th century the rivajries 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 J339 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 1 6th. ¦ The last Doge chosen was Girolamo Durazzo. In 1805 Genoa was incorporated with 56 GENOA-. France, and its trade was stopped. In 1814 it was stormed by the English. The Vienna Congress made it over as a Duchy to the King of Sardinia, and it has since followed the fortunes of the house of Savoy. The imports of Genoa are now estimated at three hundred million francs, its exports at a hundred and twenty million. The number of vessels annually calling at its port is considered to be 7,000 sailing- vessels and 2,300 steamers, including 1,700 sailing-vessels and 800 steamers from foreign countries. The architectural features of Genoa are, first, its mediaeval churches, with striped facades of black and white marble, and, secondly, its magnificent sixteenth-century palaces. The residence of Rubens and Vandyke in the town has greatly enriched it with their paintings, which for the most part remain in the hands of those families for whom they were originally executed! The Genoese painters — Ludovico Brea, c. I483 ; Luca Cambiaso, 1527-1585 ; Castello il Bergamasco, 1500- 1570 ; Bernardo Strozzi (called ' II Cappuccino ' or ' II Prete '), 1581- 1644 ; Carloni, 1593-1630— were of inferior importance. Petrarch, whilst reproaching Genoa with her disorders, gives a brilliant picture of her happier days : — Dost thou remember the time when the Genoese were the happiest people upon earth, when their country appeared a celestial residence such as the Elysian fields are painted ? What an aspect it presented from the sea ! Towers which seemed to threaten the heavens, hills clothed with olives and oranges. Marble palaces perched on the top of the rocks, with delicious retreats beneath them, where art conquered nature, and at the side of which the very sailors paused upon their oars, intent upon gazing. Whilst the travellers who arrived by land beheld with astonishment men and women right royally adorned, and luxuries abundant in mountain and wood, unknown elsewhere in royal courts. When the foot touched the threshold of the city it seemed as if it had reached 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 La Fanale (built 1547). 247 feet, high, which closes the port at its western extremity, and occupies the site of the port La Briglia, which Louis XII. of France erected to keep the SIGHTS OF GENOA. 5/ Genoese in check after his conquest of the city in 1507. The harbour will recall the history of the Crusades, and that hence the 'Gran Paradiso' and the 'S. Niccolb' bore the ill-fated expedition of S. Louis to the coast of Africa. Hotels. Albergo a" Italia, kept by Bottacchi, the proprietor of the once well-known Croce di Malta, now closed ; Albergo delle Quattro Nasioni, excellent and very reasonable (pension 10 frs.) ; Hotel de la Ville ; Hotel Feder ; Hotel de France ; and the Hotel de Londres near the station. Visitors to Genoa in warm weather will do well to go for luncheon or ices to the really beautiful and thoroughly Italian cafe, ' La Concordia,' in the Strada Nuova : its garden, on summer evenings, is perfectly delightful. Carriages (in all the piazzas), the course, 80 c. ; at night, I fr. 25 c. The 1st hour, 1 fr. 50 c. ; at night 2 frs. Every half-hour after the first, 75 c For the day, with two horses, 15 frs. ; with one horse, 10 frs. For the half-day, with two horses, 10 frs. ; with one horse 5 frs. Omnibus (public) from the station to the Piazza S. Domenico, and all over the town, 20 c. Boats, with one rower, in the harbour, for two to four persons, 2 frs. the hour. Post Office, 18 Piazza Fontane Amorose. The English Church, of Genoese Gothic, is from designs by Street. The principal sights of Genoa may be comprised within a single walk, and may be visited in the following order : The Strada degli Orefici, Cathedral (S. Maria di Carignano), S. Matteo, Palazzo Spinola (Acqua Sola), Palazzo Doria Tursi, Palazzo Brignole Rosso, L'Annunziata, Albergo dei Poveri, Palazzo Balbi, Palazzo Durazzo della Scala, Palazzo del Principe Doria. But there are many other objects in Genoa full of beauty and interest, and several days may be well spent in the examination of its glorious palaces, and the treasures they contain. Those who are unequal to much exertion will find constant amusement in the view from their windows, for which it is most desirable to secure rooms on the third story. 'Genes rend paresseux. De sa fengtre on yjouit trop pour qu'il n'en coute pas d'aller chercher au- loin ses curiosites. Le voyageur assez heureux pour plonger sur cette vaste mer, sur ce port magnifique qui en est comme le vestibule, sur cette forgt de mats que les flots 58 GENOA. balancent sous les yeux, ne peut 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 des matelots .adoucis par l'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'oeil I'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 l'on chercherait vainement ailleurs, les differents plans sur lesquels la ville de Genes est batie, semblent comme autant de gradins disposes pour faire jouir les habitans de l'eternelle naumachie 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. Young. 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.' Alfieri, 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— raised 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, * There are 180 different kinds. 6p 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 Orefici, 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 ,l 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 facade 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, &&, 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 Cceur 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 Facchini 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 facade 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 stiffest 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. trader 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 Bent's f Genoa.' 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 intarsia-work. 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 delta Porta and Matteo Civitalidi 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 Dantele 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 Sn one day in the year : the ladies of the Sauli family were lone 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 1101, 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 emeraude. ' Genes ne croit plus que cette emeraude ait et^ donne"e par la reine de * Itineratio. VOL. I. F 66 -GENOA. Saba a Salomon ;— Genes ne croit plus que dans cette emeraude Jesus^ Christ ait mange" I'agneau pascal. Si aujourd'hui Genes reprenait Cesaree, Genes demanderait sa part du butin, et laisserait aux Pisans le Sicro 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. Russell 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 by 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 : Senat. Cons. Andreae de Oria Patriae Liberatori Munus Publicum. ' This house was Andrea Doria'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 Montorsoli, 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 5. AMBROGIO. 69 keys are always kept by the present Prince Pamfili Doria. The figures behind the high altar and the beautiful balconied organ-loft are by Montorsoli. 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 cacci6 tutti i corsari : Pero che quelli al piu possente regno Che fosse mai, non poteano esser pari ; Ma questo Doria sol col proprio ingegno 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 princjpio 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 Sanf Ambrogio, built by the Pallavicini. It contains three large and good pictures, which are shown by the Sacristan : — Guido. The Assumption of the Virgin. Rubens. The Circumcision (over the high altar). Id. S. Ignatius healing a Demoniac. From the Piazza Carlo Felice opens the street of the 76 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 dei Marmi, built of black and white marble in the fifteenth century, andadorned 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, spinolava) 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 Cafe 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 TURSL 71 The street beneath the arch of Acqua Sola leads to the English Church.) From the Piazza delle Fontane Amorose opens the Via Nvova, 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 Gen'uenses 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. 18, in the Via Nuova, is the magnificent Palazzo Brignole Sale, 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 : 3W Chamber (Sala delta Primavera): Vandyke. Portrait of a Prince of Orange. */d. 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. Id. Our Saviour bearing his Cross. Paris Bordone. A portrait with red sleeves— splendid in colouring. 4th Chamber (Sala di State) : Guercino. The Buyers and Sellers expelled from the Temple. Guido. S. Sebastian, a replica of the famous picture at the Capitol . S. SIRO. 73 $th Chamber (Sala tT Auhinno); Bonifasio Venesiano. The Virgin and Child, the Mothe in a white veil, in an open portico, receiving the adoration of the Magi. 6th Chamber (Sala cP Inverno): P. Veronese. Judith and Holofernes. 1th Chamber (Sala delta Vita dell' Uomo): Vandyke. Young man in a Spanish dress. *Id. 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 name 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.' — Theodoi'e Bent, ' Genoa.' 74 GENOA. Here we enter the Via Nuovissima, a street of shops less aristocratic than the others. It leads into the Piazza dell' 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 174I) 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 illur 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. ' — Fergusson. (The Via S. Agnese, behind the Annunziata, leads to the immense Albergo dei 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, andj 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 h&pital sont peuplfe des statues, des bustes et des medaillons des fondateurs, PALAZZO BALBI. 75 donateurs et bienfaiteurs ; or, comme ces types gdnois sont singuliere- ' ment originaux, et que les artistes qui les repre'senterent 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 l'art. Toutes les grandes families genoises sont Ik : 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 denr^e, qu'elles versent largement, mais qu'elles mesurent cependant. On sent que ces bienfaiteurs restent maitres de leur argent alors m8me 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 Monttgut. ) 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. 11 Cappuccino. Joseph interpreting the dream of the Chief Butler. 1st Chamber : Guido Reni. 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. yd Chamber : Caravaggio. The Conversion of S. Paul. , Ann. Caracci. Portrait of a girl. A most refined and lovely (.icture. Gallery : Garofalo. Holy Family. " H. Hemmling. Crucifixion, 76 GENOA. On the right (No. i) is the magnificent Palazzo Durazzo delta 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 — ist Chamber'. Ann. Caracci. A grand portrait. 2nd Chamber'. Andrea del Sarto. Virgin and Child. Guido Reni. Sleeping, Child. Rubens. Portrait of himself. . tfh 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 delta Colonna.' AHert Diirer. Virgin and Child. * Vandyke. The family of James I. of England, Luca d Olanda. The Descent from the Cross. No. 5 of the Via Balbi is the Palazzo delV Universith, 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 .ACQUA VERDE. 77 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 Masseria, 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.'1 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 IIII. 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 de7 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 his 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 Bent's ' 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 ,80 . 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 decays 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 rjf 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, i Se ayairav, 9e$ 1fii\ Sfioios, — 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. Arnolds 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 16th 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 IL, 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-tqwer, 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. * The Fieschi were one of the four noble Genoese families which a'one had thd 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 IL), against Andrea Doria, led to its total destruction by the vengeance of the great admiral. The Church of S. Maria di Carignano was built in 1552, entirely at the expense of the Sauli family. ' Voici a quel evenement cette eglise, I 'une des plus 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 l'emplacement mane 011 s'eleve aujourd!hui l'eglise de Carignan. Comme il n'avait point de chapelle a lui, il avait l'habitude d'aller entendre la messe dans celle de Santa Maria in Via Lata, qui appartenait a la famille Fiesque. Un jour, Fiesque fit Mter l'heure de I'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 elever a, la place l'eglise de Sainte Marie de Carignan. ' — Dumas. ' 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 nost unpleas'iug ; neither of them has any real connection with the design, and yet ihey 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 Maratta. 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. Cambiaso. The Deposition. Procaccini. The Virgin with S. Francis and S. Carlo Borromeo. Guercino. S. Francis receiving the stigmata. In the sacristy is the gem of the church — an Albert Diirer, 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 dei Lanieri — the 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 (12 12) 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, \\ 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. Europa, 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 Suisse close by. Restaurant. Caffe del Cambio, Piazza del Carignano. Banker. Negra, 19 Via del Arsenale. English Church. 15 Via Pio Quinto— services 11 a.m., 3.30 p.m. Egli'se Vaudoise. Corso del Re. Services, 9 A. M. , Italian ; iia.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 No vara, 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. . . . 9o 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 facade, 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 Senato, 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 I., 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 delta Guardia, is a great picture of the battle of St. Quentin by Palma Giovane. Here servants are waiting (fee 1 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 1 st 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, 15 57, 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. 93 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 Sudario, 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 Besangon,- 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. Principe Tommaso di Carignano. Gaggini. Carlo Emanuele II. (1675). Fraccaroli. Amedeo VIII. (1451). Cacciatori. 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 ihe Piazza di Citta, which contains the Palazzo del Municipio. 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 161 7. 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- vbtos." 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. Quentia 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. 1 565, 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 used 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 Flamingo. 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. 3°. 37. 39. 4°- Macrino d' 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 d Alba. Virgin and Child in glory, with saints and angels below. 52> S3. 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 L'anini 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 Monferralo (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, 14th to 16th century. 93. Angelico da Fiesole ? Madonna and Child. 94, 96. Id. Twoangels— undoubted and beautiful specimens of the master. 97. Ant. Pollajuoto. Raphael and Tobias. 98. Sandra Botticelli. Tobias and three angels. 100. Spinel'o Aretino. Siege of Jerusalem. 101. Francesco Francia. The Entombment. 103. Lorenzo da Credi. Madonna and Child. 106. Bugiardini. Holy Family. III. « Scuola LombarJa.' Holy Family — a lovely picture. 11S. Gian Pietrino. SS. Catherine and Peter Martyr. *H7- Girolamo S. Croce. S. Jerome— a grand landscape. *m. 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 Raffaelle. 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. 17th and 18th centuries. 167. Jacopo Bassano. The Forge of Vulcan. 96 ¦'-""¦ TURIN. ¦-V- 170. i7. -ffatf. Cres'pi.', 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, 16th to i8lh 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. Gaspar Poussin. Landscapes. 239. Guercino. S. Francesca Romana— the head of the. saint very grand. 241. Eliz. Sirani. Death of Abel. 242. Guercino. Ecce Homo. 244. Orazio Lomi. Annunciation. 245. Bassano. The Rape of the Sabines. 249. Aurelie 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. Guercino. The Return of the Prodigal Son — magnificent in light and shadow. 263. F. Albani. Salmacis and Hermaphroditus. 276. Carlo Dolce. Madonna. 283, 288. Canaletlo. Views of old Turin — good specimens of a bad master. Sala XII. German and Dutch Schools. ?338. Vandyke. Children of Charles I. of England. *35l. 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. Ckristopkscn. Virgin and Child. '363. Vandyke. Prince Thomas of Savoy on a white horse— one of the nob'est portraits in existence. *369. Sandro 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. Sandro Botticelli. Madonna and Child. *375- Donatello. Virgin and Child — a marble relief. 376. II Sodoma. Lucrezia. *377- PaulPotter. Cows. 3X4. 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. Mytens. 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 Fluviorum 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 culla In mare purpureum violentior etfluit amnis. ' Georg. iv. 371.1 1 See also Lucan, ii. 408 : vi. 273. VOL. I. H 98 TURIN. On the opposite side of the river is the Chitrch 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 'P ' y'f 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 SUPERGA. 99 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 della Regtna, 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 1 \ mile from the town. Hence donkeys (1 \ 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 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 IL, 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.' Th,e French were totally defeated in the battle of Turin, Sept. 7, 1 706, and Juvara was then employed to build the great Church of La Superga, which was begun in 1717 and finished in 1731. The Churchis 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 vaufts 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 IL, 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 il 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. Stupinigi (5 m.) is a handsome palace, built as a hunting- lodge by Juvara 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 ioth century, by a certain ' Hugo de Montboissier, on a spot where Bishop Amisone had II Sagro di S. Michele, already been directed to found an oratory, 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- ' 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 litde platform overhanging the rock called 77 Salto della 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 d' 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 on the spot. Susa, the ancient Segusio, situated amid sterile rocks, isj a picturesque place, full of mediaeval towers and gateways,-. 104 TURIN. land 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 Roccia 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 bom 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, 106 TURIN. was the favourite residence of Charles Albert. Trissino (1510) sang the beauty of the women of Racconigi : — ' E quel di Scarnaresso e Racconigi, Ch' han bellissime donne.' 45 kil. Cavallermaggiore (stat.). . (Hence there is a branch-line to Savona, passing through Brh, which has a handsome Church of S. Chiara, built by Vettone in 1742. The town is united by an avenue to the Sanctuary of £. 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. Bernardo are the tombs of the Counts Della Torre. Saluzzo was in 1789 the birthplace of the poet and political martyr, Silvio Pellico, to whom a statue was erected in 1863.1 88 kil. Cuneo (stat), (Inn. Posta ; Londrd), usually spoken of as Coni, so called from the wedge of land upon which the town was erected, in the 12th 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 (2J hours) between Saluzzo and Finerolo. CERTOSA DI PESIA. 107 and Borgo S. Dalmazzo : also (1 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. 108 THE WALDENSES- CHAPTER IV. THE WALDENSES. PROTESTANTS will be interested in an excursion to 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 13th century. The Protestant villages were situated in the dominions of the Duke of Savoy, from whom, early in the 15 th 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 no 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 ,£38,241 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 exturba- 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 praeteriium fuit? Fumantia passim tecta, et laceri artus, et cruenta humus ! Virgines, post stupra, SUFFERINGS OF THE WALDENSES. in ditferto lapillis ac ruderibus utero, aetate ac morbo clinici, in lectulis combusti? 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 H2 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 defiles 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 Vatidois 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. 1 1 . 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. 1. 1 j 14 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.' ' 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 Acland. The Waldensian Valleys may be reached in ij- hour from Turin by taking the train to ' Pinerolo (3 frs. 55 c. ; 2 frs. 55 c; 1 fr. 70 a). 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 1 hour's drive to La Tour (Torre Luserna), (Inns. Ours, Lion d'Or), which may be considered the capital of the Vaudois, but is only a large country village, with a clear stream funning 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 Morlzn&'s History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont and The Waldenses of W. S. Gilly. VILLAR, BOBBIO. "5 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 1 799, 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 u6 THE WALDENSES. Mirabouc} and beyond it (3 \ hours from Bobbio) to the Bergerie de Pra. II. It takes about z\ hours from La Tour to the Pra del To.r. 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 — ' AUons a la Montagne de l'Eternel et a la maison du Dieu de Jacob, et il nous montrera de ses voies, et nous marcherons dans ses sentiers.' 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 pai's-la pour en faire particulierement le theatre de ses merveilles, et l'asyle de son arche, l'a naturellement et merveilleusement fortifie.' 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, ' 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 thei-e when it surrendered.' • Histoire des Eglises Va-udoises. 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 bric Casteluzzo,' ' the famous Cavern of Vandelin or Casteluzzo, 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 letdown 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 Briangon.) 1 From Bricea, a steep, craggy place. u8 THE VAL D' 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. ; 1 fr. 85 a), is-^he 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. Martino (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 (10 19 feet), which for eight days checked the advance of the French army under Bonaparte in 1800 (before the battle of Marengo), being garrisoned by only 400 Austrians. Passing the entrance (left) of the Val di Cam- porciero, and the village of Arnaz, we reach (7^ 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 if 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 oflf. z Longfellow's Evangeline. 120 THE VAL D> 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 treasury 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 — 1 5 frs. Places in the corriere to S. Didier 2 J 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 Blana 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 Duqmo 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 maybe made to the Great S. Bernard. It is about 5$ hours to the Hospice. 2 The scenery around Cogne is very fine. The Hotel de la Grivola is a fair inn. 122 THE VAL D' 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 of 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 Une 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. Vercellt, 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. 124 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 Pelle- 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 ; Rex 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 veiy 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 warm 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 : — I. 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 axe : — I. 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 15 13, 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 Iolanthe 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, 1st 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. Procaccini 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 VERCELLI 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 VIL MILAN. ^T OTHING of much importance, except Vercelli and 4 Novara, is passed between Turin and Milan (16 frs. 95 c. j n frs. 95 c. ; 8 frs. 55 c.) The journey occupies 3^ hours. Hotels. De la Ville, Corso Vittorio Emanuele ; Continentale, 7 Via Manzoni — very good ; Gran Bretagna (smaller and quieter, kept by the proprietors of the Continentale), 45 Via Torino ; Cavour, Piazza Cavour j 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-i °y night I fr. 25 c. for the course or by the half-hour ; for each succeeding half-hour, they are 75 c. and 1 fr. ; each piece of luggage is charged 25 c. Banker. 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. Strabo 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 Pavia, 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, 1 162, 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 VII. was crowned at Milan with the Iron Crown of Monza 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 14th 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 15 12, 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 1535, 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 1 7 10 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, t. 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 oTOggione, Andrea Salaino, and the great Bernardino Luini, c. 153°- 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 francais de Milan, si fort accru dans ces derniers temps, avait ete deja remarque" par Montaigne. II trouvait que "Milan ressembloit assez a Paris, et avoit beaucoup de rapport avec les villes K 2 132 MILAN. de France." La mSrne ressemblance avait frappe le Tasse lorsqu'il vint passer a Paris deux annees a. la suite du cardinal dTiste, et qu'il ecrivit son etrange parallele de l'ltalie 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. »33 designs of Croce ; the ugly western facade in 1790. The Roman doors and windows in this facade 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 well 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 three 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.'— Forsyth. ' 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 under 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 Marble 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-irradiated 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 toa scenical effect unparalleled in Christendom.' — J. 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 rilled 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. 1st altar. F. Zucchero. S. Agata. 2ndallar. 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 Petro, Zarabatta, Bussola, and Brunetti. Then comes the entrance to the subterranean passage to the archbishop's palace. Then a relief of the Presentation of the Virgin (15 10), 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 Ambulatoiy, at the back of the choir, which is itself copiously adorned with bas-reliefs of the 17th 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 hiyh 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 f\ 0).' 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, Angelo 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 Aisle we have a picture of S. Ambrose absolving Theodosius, by Baroccio, and the Marriage of the Virgin, by F. Zucchero; 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 mediseval 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 mediaeval 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 Caffes, 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 Ragione, Loggia degli Ossi, Palazzo della Citta, Bro- 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 5. Maria del Carmine, Brera Gallery. 138 MILAN. I. 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 :— Gaudenzio 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 hrreparable 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, 5. 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 only 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 Sfilicho. 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 1 6th 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 ; I4Q MILAN. Henry IV., 1081 ; Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 131 1 ; Louis of Bavaria, 1327; Charles IV., 1355; and Sigismund, 1431. The golden front of the altar was presented by Archbishop Angilbertus IL, 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 cPoro 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 siHes, 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. ' •]th Chapel (of S. Satiro), called the Basilica of Fausta in the time 5. 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, 776-810, 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 x In honour of these saints an annual procession has taken place, hut 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 1 i4-2 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 107 1. Hence we enter the curious octangular Church of S. Lorenzo, rebuilt by Pellegrino and Martino Bassi, in the 16th 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 13th 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. Borgognone, is a Madonna and Child with saints. 2nd Chapel (of S. Dominic). Exquisite tomb of Pietro Torelli, 1416, son of Guido, Lord of Guastalla. 4M 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. Eustof- 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 de' 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 Iohannes 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 15th 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 infiuence 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 149 1, 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 Gaieazzo 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 Fordone. 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 15 18, 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, 15 18 (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, Giaii-Niccolo, 15 12, 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. 1. 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 Balduccio, 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, Tuscan 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. 1 1 76) 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 honcurs 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 OSPEDALF. 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 162 1. 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 m 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 facade, although a few very able works appear among them. ' — Lubke, ' History of Sculpture.' L 2 •148 MILAN. A little behind the Ospedale Maggiore is the Renaissance Church ofS. Stefano in Brqglio, 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 Boiognese 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- friodius 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.' — Symonds' '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 9th 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 DE TRIBUNALI. 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 di Tribunali, now intersected by the modern Via Mercanti, surrounded by some of the most curious buildings in the city. In the centre rises the Palazzo della 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 13 16. 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 Cilta (with a clock-tower), a town hall of the 16th century. It is adorned with a statue of S. Ambrose, replac ing that of Philip II. of Spain, destroyed by the mob in 150 . ... mjlam. 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' Bentivbgli 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, h 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. 5. 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 but 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 Litla, 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, Signor 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 Gaudenzio 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. ' 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 colossal ; 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 y 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 is S. John ; he has just been addressed by Peter, who beckons to him that he should ask " of whom the Lord spake" :— his disconso late atiitude, 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 :— "Questi risurgeranno dal sepolcro Con pugno chiuso." "These from the tomb with clenched grasp shall rise. ' ' His face is seen in profile, and cast into shadow ; without being vulgar, or even ugly, it is hateful. S. Andrew, with his 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. 5. SEPOLCRO. 153 '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 — " 1 The Prior gave him no more trouble.' — Notes to Rogers' 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. Sepolcro, modernised, but with towers of the 1 ith 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. ' Bramantino 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 inimitr 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 7 th 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 Argenteus, 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 G'aleazzo 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. Borgognone. Virgin and Child throned, with saints. Virginand Child with S. John, unfinished— attributed to Raffaelle? Andrea Mantegna. Daniel and the lions. AMBROSIAN LIBRARY. 155 Sala IV. Sketches of the Old Masters. Sala V. * Raffaelle. Cartoon for the School of Athens. B. Luini. Holy Family, copied from the Paris Leonardo. * Cesare 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. * B. Luini. St. John and the Lamb. ' 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. * B. Luini. Tobit and the Angel — a most beautiful sketch. Id. The Madonna reading — a sketch. Leonardo da Vinci. Two portraits in chalk. Sala VI. Moroni. A standing Portrait, 1554. Sala VII. 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 Scala, 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 Magistrato 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 Santo ; ' 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, 3> d Chapel. Lomazzo. Virgin and Child, with Saints. 4th Chapel. A magnificent bronze candlestick. 8th 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 Balduccio diPisa of Lanfranco Settala, the first General of the Augustinians, 1243, and 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, 5. SEMPLICIANO, ARCO DELLA PACE. 157 being coloured, the effect is life-like and striking.' — Perkins, Tuscan Sculptors. The 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 Barbarcssa 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 modern 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 l'arc de l'Etnile, donne a cette entree un caractere monumental que le reste ne dement pas. Sur le haut de l'arc, un figure allegorique, la Paix ou la Victoire, con duit un char de bronze attele de six chevaux. A chaque angle de l'en- tablement, des ecuyers tendant des couronnes font piaffer leurs montures d'airain ; deux colossales figures de fleuves accoudes sur leuis urnes s'adossent au cartel gigantesque qui contient l'inscription votive, et quatre groupes de deux colonnes corinthiennes marquent les divisions du monument, soutiennent la comiche et separent les arcades au nombre de trois ; celle du milieu est d'une prodigieuse hauteur.' — Thhphile Guutier. 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 IL, 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 Procaccini. ' 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 son Camillo, 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- feriato. '— Rugler. Following the Via del Carmine to1 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 I., 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 Archceological Museum (entrance 50 a), 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, 15 12, in the battle of Ravenna, after a short career of two months — ' qui fut toute sa vie et son immortalite.' l The statue was brought from his famous 1 Henri Martin, Histoire de France. THE BRERA. 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 over-rated, 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 pagss 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 della 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 Sculptors. Among other monuments here, we must notice the beau tiful Renaissance tomb of Bishop Bagaroto, 15 19, 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, Histoiy of Sculpture. The tomb of Lancino Curzio, 15 13, 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.'— Lubke. THE BRERA. 161 Ascending the handsome staircase in the courtyard, we reach (right) the entrance to the Pinacoteca, 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 Luini. 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 playing at 'II guancialino 1' oro ' (forfeits)— from Villa la Pelucca. 13. A Young Woman standing at a Door — from the convent of La Pace. 14. A Flying Angel — a beautiful figure. *ig. 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 Pelucca. 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 fiom nature. VOL. I. M 1 62 MILAN *52. The Burial of S. Catherine— one of the gems of the gallery, from the Villa la Pelucca. '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 Art.' 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 — 71. Vincenzo Foppa. The Martyrdom of S. Sebastian — the only fragment saved from a cycle of frescoes by this rare master, pupil of Mantegna, in S. Maria di Brera. 4. Bartolommeo Suardi, detto il Bramantino. Madonna and Child, with angels — from the Archivio Notarile. 25. Gaudenzio 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 Pace. Hence we enter the Main Gallery, and may observe : 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 Mariire, signed and dated 1502. 91. Cesare da Sesto (Milanese). Madonna and Child, with SS. John Baptist, Joachim, and Joseph. 92. Borgognone. Christ Bound — from S. Maria della Vittoria. 96. Marco d 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 Solario ('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. *I07. 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.' — Jameson's ' 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.' — Lubke. 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. Montagna da Vicenza, 1499. Madonna and Child, with SS. Andrew, Monica, Ursula, and Sigismund. *l68. Centile 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, 1 507. S. Ursula and her companions. From S. Pielro Martire at Udine. 175. Giacomo Francia 1544. Madonna and Child, with saints and worshippers. From SS. Gervaso and Protaso at Bologna. 176. Baldassare Carrariai Ravenna, c. 15 12. 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. 178. 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 Alunno, 1465. Virgin and Child, with angels — from the Church of the Conventuali 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. 188. Giovanni Sanzio (father of Raffaelle). The Annunciation. 191. Cima da 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. 193. Carlo Crivelli. Madonna and Child throned. Gorgeous in its decorative accessories. 195. Timoteo delle Vite. Annunciation, with SS. John Baptist and Sebastian — from S. Bernardino at Urbino. Mentioned by Vasari. 196. Francesco and Bernardino ZaganelH, 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 §. 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 Molse : la scene n'est qu'une partie de plaisir pres de Padoue ou de Virone 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, eeuyers, 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, l'£p£e au c6te ; elles, rieuses, causent en ecoutant. Leurs robes de soie et de velours, tantot rousses et rayees d'or, tant&t glauques ou d'azur fonc£, leurs manches bouffantes a creves font deS groupes. de tons magnifiques sur les profondeurs de la feuilMe. 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 pailletee de semis d'or avive par sa blancheur la chair satinee du col et du menton, et des perles s'enroulent avec de molles lusurs dans les torsades de ses cheveux roussatrcs. ' — Taine. 210. Giovanni Busi 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. I* [ The doors to this picture — the Fathers of the Church. 224. H 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 M agi. 227. Paul Veronese. SS. Cornelius, Antouino, and Ciprianus — a noble picture, from Torcello. ¦230. Tintoretto^ SS. Elena, Maoario, Andrea, Barbara, and two suppliants — from the Church of S. Croce. Lorenzo Lotto. Magnificent portraits. 1 66 MILAN. *234. Girolamo 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- 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. *295- 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 Raffaelle. *26"j. 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. *270. 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. 1C7 la premiere aube de son invention. La couleur est presque dure et decouple 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 t£le ronde, les memes yeux petits, la m§me 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'&end derriere les personnages. Au fond, un temple en rotonde, muni des portiques, profile ses lignes regulieres sur un ciel par. L'azur s'ouvre amplement de toutes parts, com me dans la campagne d' Assise et de PeVouse ; 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 c&te des deux epoux, et le grand prStre fait le centre. Au milieu de ce calme universel 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 l'anneau de mar age . Elle ne sait que faire de 1'autre main, et, avec une gaucherie adorable, la laisse collee a son manteau. Un voile diaphane et delicat efHeure a peine ses divins cheveux blonds ; un ange ne l'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 tourne avec la fierce" d'une deesse. C'est deja la beaute paiienne, le vif sentiment du corps agile et actif, l'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 Mantegna. 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 Crivelli. 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. 288. 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. *300. 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 BasaiWi S. Jerome — from S. Daniele in Venice. Sala VII. 306. Francesco. Verla of Vicenza. Madonna with Angels and Saints. *3°7> 3°9- 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. Guido 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, l'orgueil feminin la roidit ; 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 l'ceil avec une mechancete satisfaite. Abraham est un pere. noble qui. represente bien, mais dont la te"te est vide ; il &ait difficile de lui trouver un autre r61e. ' — 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 ^yoman suffers, when the stay Her trusting heart hath lean'd on falls away — THE BRERA. 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 — li 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- L)ossi 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. Benvenulo Garofalo. The Crucifixion — from S. Vito in Ferrara. Sala IX. 390. Velasquez. Dead Monk. 391. Sahator Rosa. S. Paul the Hermit, in the wilderness. 401. Gaspar Poussin. S. John Baptist as a child in the wilderness — from S. Maria Vittoria. 402. Pietro Berrellini da Cortona. Virgin and Child with saints. 415. Sa'soferrato. Madonna and sleeping Jesus. 442. Vandyke. Madonna and Child with S. Anthony of Padua. 446. Vatutyke. Portrait of a Lady. Sala XX. At the end of many rooms of sculpture. The Three Graces and Cupid of Thorwaldsen, as a monument to Andrea Appiani. In the Galleria Oggioni, 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. po MILAN. j No one should leave Milan without making an excursion to the wonderful old church of Chiaravalle, about 3J miles distant, beyond the Porta Romana. ' 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 1 134 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, 1 241. 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 tobk 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. S A RON NO. , 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 Wilhelmina 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 n 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 Wilhelmina, 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 had thrte 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. Wilhelmina were dug up and burned ; Mayfreda and one Andrea Saramita expiated at the stake the long unregarded blasphemies of their mistress.' — Milman's 'Latin Christianity.' A ' Strada Ferrata Economica,' with a station in the Piazza d' Armi (tram from the Piazza del Duomo), has trains every two hours for Como, 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, 173 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 Raffaelle. 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 (1 j hr.) from Milan. ' 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). 174 PA VIA. 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. •75 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 facade 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 facade 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 176 .' PAVIA. the nave, Horizcntally 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 facade, 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 this 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 facade, 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 facadej' 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.' — Fergussan. 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. A , ' I 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. *2nd Chapel. Madonna and Child, with two Cistercian saints (Anselmo, and Hygoni, Bishop of Lincoln), by Macrino if Alba. The other compartments by Borgognone. yd Chapel. Carlo Cornara, 1668. S. Benedict seeing the assump- tidn of his sister Scholastica in a vision. *i,1h Chapel. Borgognone. A Crucifixion, with angels floating round the cross. *Sth Chapel. Borgognone. S. Syrus, Patron and first Bishop of Pavia. THE CERTOSA. 177 6th Chapel. Guercino. The Virgin, with SS. Peter and Paul. Jth Chapel. Procaccini. 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, represen'ing 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 dei Monaci, 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 beautirul stained glass here is by Cristoforo de' 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, i486. Leaving the choir, we enter (right) the Sagreslia 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 figure's, by Cristoforo Solari, of Ludovico il Moro ' 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 H 178 PAVIA. ' 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 Lampugn'ano, 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 fluctuating 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 Sculptors. ' 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. Satiro, his sister S. Marcellina, and SS. Nazaro e Celso (in a curious costume with spurs). 6th 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 PAVIA. 179 The Chiostro della 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. 'Brantome raconte qu'apres sa defaite, Francois I", pris prisonnier dans le pare de la chartreuse, se fit conduire a l'eglise pour y faire sa priere, et que la, le premier objet qui s'offrit a ses yeux fut cette inscrip tion tiree d'un psaume : Bonum tmhi quia humiliasti me, utdiscamjus- tificationcs tuas. ' C'etait une grande, une touchantelecon, que la religion seule pouvait donner au roi qtii avait tout perdu fors Phonneur.' — 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- appellator' ') sank to the rank of an 1 Paulus Diaconus, ii. 15. N 2 i8o PAVIA. ordinary provincial town. In 924 it was stormed by the Hungarians under Berengarius ; in 1004 it was destroyed by fire; in 11 39 it was stormed by the Emperor Lothaire.; in 131 5 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 Rocchi 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, 5. 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 Sculptors.' ' 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 ties 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 PAVIA. 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 d'Oro, which had a curious octangular cupola and was full of architectural interest, but has been rebuilt, 1880-82, into a facade 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. 1 Le.tombeau de Luitprand, d'abord place a l'eglise Saint Adrien, fut dans la suite porte a la basilique de Saint Pierre in ciel d'aitro : il avait voulu par son testament etre enterre aux pieds de Boe'ce, 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, etait soutenu par quatre petites colonnes de marbre ; au-dessus etait sa statue en habits royaux. Le concile de Trente fit descendre le cerceuil, parce qu'il avait decre"te que la sepulture seule des saints pouvait s'elever au-dessus de terre. Les cendres de Luitprand furent depos^es au pied d'un pilastre du chceur ; l'ancienne epitaphe, qui rappelait sa religion, sa vaillance, la sagesse de ses lois, sa conqu.te de I'etat romain, 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 : ici sont les os du roi Luitprand, simple inscription qui, elle-meme, devait erre un jour ignoblement enfouie sous des bottes de foin, et que je ne pus retrouver.' — Valery. Near these is the Castello, tne 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 Guelfie machicolations. The interior is npw a barrack. Following the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, opposite the castle, we reach a monument erected to ' Pavesi caduti per la patria, 1859-69.'- Opposite this are the buildings of the University, whose foundation is attributed to Charlemagne the Great in 774. 5. FRANCESCO, S. MICHELE. 183 It was greatly enriched in the 14th 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 Collegia 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 661, 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 fire 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 fighting 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 VIA. 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 ¦orrtes^ 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 VI. Cons. Hon. 194. ' Caeruleas Ticinus aquas, et stagna vadoso 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. ' Sit. Hal. 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. r85 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 Cecima, 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. 186 MONZA AND COMO. CHAPTER IX. MONZA AND COMO. (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 days 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. l| 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 14th 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 COMO. have their names inscribed, the Count of Saxony holds the sword of state. Right of Choir. Cappella del Santo Chiodo. 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. Jt is only exhibited on the 1st Sunday in September. A representation of it is given on the tablets which commemorate the coronations of Napoleon 1., 1805, and Ferdinand I., 1838. Henry VII. of Luxemburg was crowned with the iron crown, but at Milan, in 131 1. Frederick Barbarossa was amongst those who were crowned here. Napoleon I. placed the crown on his own head with the words ' Dieu me l'a donne, garea qui iatouche.'' 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 9th century. Left of High Altar. Bern. Luini. S. Gherardo - a very beautiful figure. Chapel If t of Choir. Troso da Monza (15th century). The History of Queen Theodolinda — the vision which urged her to build the church at Monza — greatly injured. Tomb of Queen Theodolinda. Left 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 COMO. 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 1st Chapel contains the Baptistery, by Pellegrini ; and, Guercino, The Visitation. Close by is the very picturesque Gothic Broletto (Town- hall), and dating from the 13th 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. (It is l\ hour from Milan to Camerlata (5 frs. 45 c. ; 4 frs. ; 2 frs. 85 c), which is the station for Como, about 1 mile distant. Here omnibuses set travellers down wherever they like (50 c. ), and carriages await the trains. The sights of Como are the Cathedral, Brnletto, 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 facade is of later date than the rest of the building, and was entirely erected in the latter half of the 15 th century, under Lucchino da ftnlano, an architect who chose the transition style, the greater, part of his work being igo ' 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 149 1, 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 175a. 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 Gallio, i860— '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 Gaudenzio Ferrari, Scene on the Flight into Egypt; Bern. Luiid, BROLETTO OF COMO. 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 ll.c 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 Pompeo 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 (he 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 12 15, 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. Tn the Borgo S. Annunziata, 1 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 some 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 Incino, 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. i9S 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 7 our 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 prp- 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 (well worth while), and further, to Varallo. Travellers may return to Milan by rail from Orta or from Arona. In all cases heavy liiggage 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, 1. Como o 2 1 96 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. ) TRAVELLERS who pass straight through Como with 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, 3J 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 (bared) throughout the lake generally costs 1 1 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 maxime — ' 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, umbrosS qua vestit littus oliva Larius, et dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu, Parva puppe lacum praetervolat. Ocius ihde Scandit inaccessos brumali sidere montes.' De Bello 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 Odescalchi, 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 Gallio 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 Archduhe 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 J?. 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 1 98 THE ITALIAN LAKES. contracts, which were not, however, conceded to their assistants.' — Perkins's ' Italian Sculptors' 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, Princes- George of Saxe Meiningen. The interior (1 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 Martino 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 d 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 Brelagne, 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 lovely 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 1 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 Melsi, 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 CHI A VENN A. 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 that 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 delicioiisly 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 202, 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 with the top of the fall, while the turf underneath them was steeped in a perpetual dew from the spray. ' 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 sucairsale in the Villa Bean Sejour (close by), with lovely gardens and terraces upon the lake. Other hotels are the Washington, Bellevue, 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. Over 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, 1st 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 21 hrs. from Lugano to Luino (diligence 2\ frs. ; carriage with 2 horses, 20 frs. ; with 1 204 THE ITALIAN LAKES. horse, 10 frs.) The road passes the little Lake of Muzzano, and, entering the Italian frontier at Fornasette, descends to Luino (Inn. Hotel du Simplon). Here Bernardo Luini was born, 1460. In the principal church are some of his frescoes. The steamer from Lugano to Porto (1 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 Capolago. 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 (1^ 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 and Arcisate and, in about 2 hrs., reaches Varese, a handsome dull town. (Inns. Europa, Corona, Stella ; or, 1 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 Gervin, and a hundred other peaks, ending with Monte Viso. 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. It is a drive of about \ 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 1 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 : — 1. 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-play intro duced, is very effective. 4. The Nativity. 5. The Circumcision. This chapel is an architectural gem. 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. io. 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. 12. The Crucifixion. 13. The Resurrection. 206 THE ITALIAN LAKES. 14. The Ascension. 15. The Day of Pentecost, 16. 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 « hole 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. Maria 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. Arnolds Journals. It is about 1 hour's drive (carriage 8 frs.) from Varese to Castiglione d' Olona, a pleasant village, beautifully situated CASTIGLIONE D'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 (ob. 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 qn 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 Tribune is God the Father-. On the vault of the Baptistery, The Four Evangelists, with the Lamb. 2o8 . THE ITALIAN LAKES. Varese is cohnected with Milan by a branch from Gallon rate on theJine which goes by Rho 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 Angera, 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 1^ 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 inherited 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 1 6 1 o 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 Pes Borromies, 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 points to be visited (1 fr.)— the Palace- vol. 1. p 010 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 walk's, shaded by orange and lemon trees, and adorned with all the statues and grottoes which were beloved in the 1 7th 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. 211 leur veg&ation tropicale ; des allees de citronniers tournent le long des murailles, et leurs fruits verts ou jaunes se collent contre les quartierS de roche. Quatre etages d'assises vont ainsi se superposant sous leur parure de plantes precieuses. Au sommet, Pile est une touffe de ver dure qui bombe au-dessus de l'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 fian$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'ane"mones ; les paons et les faisans y promenent pacifiquement leurs robes d'or e'toilees d'yeux ou vernissees de pourpre, souverains inconteste"s dans un peuple de petits oiseaux qui sautillent et se r^pondent. ' — Taiue. The third island, Isola dei 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 garden and lovely views ; Beau Rivage ; Grand Hotel.1) 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. Caterina, 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. Posta), 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 Po-nte 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 view 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, Intra (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. Posta). 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, 1 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 (Inns. Grand Hotel, Corona, Svizzero). There is nothing to see in the village, but good . walkers should hot 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 2,14 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 5. 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 \\ m. broad. At the upper end of the lake is the picturesque but dirty town of Omegna ; 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 J 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, 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 £. Giulio, and Leone 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 Isola di San Giulio, throwing bright reflections upon the water. ¦ It contains a very curious church with a ORTA, VARALLO. 215 grand old pulpit, and the grave of S. Giulio, who died here in 379. He is said to haye 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, 1 524)'. 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 Sesia, 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 zi6. 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 15 16-15 13, illustrating the principal events in the life of our Saviour. 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 arid 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. The Raising of Lazarus. The Entry into Jerusalem. The Last Supper. , 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. The Cross-Bearing. The Nailing to the Cross. The Crucifixion (the beautiful frescoes here are by Gaudenzio > Ferrari). 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 Mastellone, celebrated for its exquisite and ever-shifting landscapes, to Fobello (good inn). Thence the easy Barranca mule-pass leads (5 hrs.) to Ponte Grande. 2iS BERGAMO AND THE LAGO D'ISEO. CHAPTER XL BERGAMO AND THE LAGO 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 d 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. ('335) 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 1370, 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 10th 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 snapdragon 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 LAGO 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 Maggiore (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 faces, 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, throug'h 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, ii. 448. Also Lett. I?ied. Ixxxii. lxxxvi. 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. 5. MARIA MAGGIORE. 221 pull down S. Margaret's in order to let Westminster Abbey lie 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. .SI Maria Maggiore is a grand Romanesque church of black and white marble. It was begun in 11 34. 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 the trefoiled 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 cuspirig of -grey. The construction of the whole is very weak, and depends altogether for its stability upon iron ties in every direction. ; ' 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 ;n 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 LAGO. 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 ecclesiplo- 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.' 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 Procaccini. ¦ The inlaid -stall- work, begun 1520, i& 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 NLast 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 COLLEONI. 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, 1 603, 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, 6b. 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 Colleoni, 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 LAGO 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, 1 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 ' 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 Chriiien, 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' '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 17th 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 devotion 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. 1. Q Morone. Portraits. 226 BERGAMO AND THE LAGO D'ISEO. 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. 106. 107. 117. Girolamo- Colleoni. Virgin and Child, with saints. 120. Morone. S. Jerome. 121. Gaudenzio Ferrari. Virgin and Child. 150. Palma Vecchio. Virgin and Child, with saints. 151. Marco Basaiti. The Resurrection. In the room opening of this — 195. Beato Giustiniani. Portrait. 198. Bartolommeo Vivarini. S. Peter. 199. Id. Virgin and Child (1422). 200. Id. 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. Gentileda Fabriano. Virgin and Child. 26. Sebastiano Lazzaro. Coronation of the Virgin. ACCADEMIA CARRARA. 227 Sala II. 85. Vittore 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. ?135. 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. 1 56. Palma Vecchio. Holy Family. 173. Correggio. Dead Portrait. 174. Id. Madonna. 183. Vittore Carpaccio. S. Roch. 184. Girolamo Giovenone da Vercelli (signed I527)- Virgin and Child, with the donors presented by angels. 187. Altobello Melone (wrongly attributed to Giorgione). Portrait. 1S9. 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 £ Bernardino, S. Spirito, and S. Bartolommeo, all near together and near this. In S. Spirito is a noble group of saints by Andrea Previtali, 15 15, 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. Q2 228 BERGAMO AND THE LAGO 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 Raffaelle 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 carved 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 D'ISEO, 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 AND THE LAGO D ISEO. the Madonna in 1534. Then we cross to Lovere, 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. Antoniv— 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 Canova. 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 Avio, 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 Tirano. 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, Reale. CREMONA may easily be seen in a day, but should not be omitted. A hurried traveller may visit the tgwn by taking a carriage at the station (1 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. ' 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.lino, 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 Sacchida 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 (i537)- ' 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 .& 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 31 Agostino, sometimes called 3. Giacomo in Breda, of 1558. The modernised interior is covered with Campi decorations. Right Aisle, 2nd Chapel. Barbarini da Como. Curious stuceo 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. 6th 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, 1 590. 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 6". 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 filled with pictures of the Campi school, none very remarkable, also : — Left Aisle, 2nd Altar. Bernardino Gatti, 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. ' Orl. 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 was begun in 1107, consecrated in 1190. The transepts were added 1342, the choir in 1479. The magnificent facade 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 149 1. 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 Innocents. 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, 15 14. I Francesco Bembo, 1 5 1 5. | Altobello Melone, 1 5 1 7. > Boccaccino (turning to the other I side of the nave). Altobello Melone. 236 CREMONA. Christ before Pilate. \r M ft' Christ bound. I ' Christ before Herod. ' Romanino. Christ bearing the Cross. \ Christ falling under the Cross. Christ najiled to the Cross. The great Crucifixion (at the west ^-Pordenone. end). The Marys lamenting over . the 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. yd 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 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. 1 . , • /- tu \r _j 1 • .v r- j r Antonio Campi. 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 Malosso. On the south wall, a fine fresco of Christ bound, Malosso. 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 Catla- pane, 1593. In the 2nd Chapel, St. Eusebius raising a person dead of the plague to life ; a sculpture in wood by Arighi 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 windows until -near the summit' ' It is celebrated in the distich : Unus Petrus est in Roma Una Turris in Cremona. ' 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. ' — Milman's ' 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 Genovese. The best of the other pictures here is a Salutation by Antonio 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, 1 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. Sigismund 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 Camillo 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- lions 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 one 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 | hr. by the quick train from Bergamo to Brescia (7 frs. 15 c. ; 5 frs. 20 c.) Inns. Albergo a" Italia, very good ; Albergo Reale ; Gambero. , Carriages. The course, 85 c. ; the hour, 1 fr. 25 c.) BRESCIA can be seen in a day, but it is a pleasant place to linger ia The traveller who wishes only to see tlie 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 throuch VOL. I. R 242 BRESCIA. them became the mpst 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 Ms 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.' — Burckhardt. An arcaded street at the end of the Corso del Teatro, which contains the principal hotels, will lead to the Palazzo del Municipio, 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 DUOMO. 243 the second story, and the finishing touches were given by Palladio. 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 della Porta. On the opposite side of the Piazza is the Torre dell' 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 11 87 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. Baltista 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 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 7th 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 Caligari. Close to the new cathedral is the Bibliotsca 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 II 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 Niccolb 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 Chabel. 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. Sv 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. Criiara — much retouched. yd Chapel. Melchizedek bringing bread and wine to Abraham. High 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 Calcher.a, 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 ^. 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 61 Maria in Solario 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. Vicenzo 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. 16. Id. Supper at Emmaus. MUSEO CIVICO, S. AFRA. 247 17. Romanino. Christ bearing his cross. 38. Moretto. Holy Family. Sala III. 18. Moretto. The Pentecost. 20. Cesare da Sesfo. 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 tf 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. Bassano, 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 harmonie avec elle. La femme est de la plus grande beaute et d'un coloris ou le Titien parait s'e'tre surpasse lui- meme. Sa contenance est modeste, mais n'exprime ni confusion, ni repentir ; ce sont ses juges qui I'ont entrainee devant le Sauveur, et non pas le cri de sa conscience. A I'expression de ce visage, on sent que l'admirable pardon n'a point etc" prononce, et que le miracle de la conversion attend encore le miracle de la misericorde. ' — Madame Siveichine. 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^. Nazaro e Celso, which contains : — Over the Side Entrances. Foppa. The Martyrdoms of the patron saints. Right Aisle, 1st Chapel. Moretto. The Transfiguration, w