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[Illustration: image of the book's cover: CATHEDRAL CITIES
OF ITALY
ILLUSTRATED BY
W. W. COLLINS R I]
CATHEDRAL CITIES
OF ITALY
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
CATHEDRAL CITIES OF ENGLAND. By GEORGE GILBERT. With 60
reproductions from water-colours by W. W. COLLINS, R.I. Demy 8vo,
16s. net.
CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE. By HERBERT and HESTER MARSHALL. With 60
reproductions from water-colours by HERBERT MARSHALL, R.W.S. Demy
8vo, 16s. net. Also large paper edition £2 2s. net.
CATHEDRAL CITIES OF SPAIN. Written and illustrated with 60
reproductions from water-colours by W. W. COLLINS, R.I. Demy 8vo,
16s. net. Also large paper edition (limited) £2 2s. net.
_BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY JOSEPH PENNELL_
ITALIAN HOURS. By HENRY JAMES. With 32 plates in colour and
numerous illustrations in black-and-white by JOSEPH PENNELL. Large
crown 4to. Price 20s. net.
A LITTLE TOUR IN FRANCE. By HENRY JAMES. With 94 illustrations by
JOSEPH PENNELL. Pott 4to. Price 10s. net.
ENGLISH HOURS. By HENRY JAMES. With 94 illustrations by JOSEPH
PENNELL. Pott 4to. Price 10s. net.
ITALIAN JOURNEYS. By W. D. HOWELLS. With 103 illustrations by
JOSEPH PENNELL. Pott 4to. Price 10s. net.
CASTILIAN DAYS. By the Hon. JOHN HAY. With 111 illustrations by
JOSEPH PENNELL. Pott 4to. Price 10s. net.
London: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
21 Bedford Street, W.C.
[Illustration: S. PETER'S, ROME]
CATHEDRAL CITIES
OF ITALY
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED
BY
W. W. COLLINS, R.I.
[Illustration: colophon]
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
NEW YORK: DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1911
_All rights reserved
Copyright, London, 1911, by William Heinemann
and Washington, U.S.A., by Dodd, Mead & Co._
PREFACE
The cathedral cities of Italy, the heir of all the ages in art, are as
full of enchantment to the lover of architecture as to the poet, the
painter, and the historian. Side by side with the great churches that
give them their crowning splendour are the public buildings,
universities, palaces, and fountains that tell the story of the glorious
past, and form the best monument of their great creators. These
architectural jewels are often set amidst scenes of great natural
beauty, which relieve and enhance the perfection of their art. Every
traveller in Italy will recall the emotion with which he first saw Rome
rising from the green stretches of the Campagna, recognised the domes
and campaniles of Florence, or lifted up his eyes to one of those
towered "cities set upon an hill, which cannot be hid"--Siena, Perugia,
or Orvieto. Among the many appeals which Italy makes to æsthetic
appreciation is that of infinite variety. In no country are the
different styles and periods so wonderfully exemplified. Here we may
range from Rome and Verona, with their relics of the antique
world--amphitheatres, temples, and thermæ--to the Byzantine glories of
Ravenna and Venice, the Romanesque grandeur that finds typical
expression in the cathedral of Pisa, and thence to the manifestations of
that Gothic art which, though it was alien to the climate and character
of Italy and so struck no deep roots into the soil, intervened between
Romanesque architecture and that of the Renaissance as a brilliant
episode, and finds stupendous expression in the thousand pinnacles of
Milan.
It is with Christian Italy that we have to deal, the Italy of
cathedrals, and it is at Ravenna and at Venice that we may trace the
decline of Roman architectural methods and the gradual merging of these
into Byzantine forms. Though the great Basilica Ursiana of the fourth
century has disappeared, Ravenna has preserved many famous monuments of
the fifth century: the votive church of Galla Placidia, sister of the
Emperor Honorius, the Baptistery, the aulic church of the Gothic
conqueror Theodoric, Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, and the churches of San
Vitale and Sant' Apollinare in Classe. Venice, rising to power and
splendour when Ravenna fell on evil days, secured the heritage of her
glory, and carried on the Byzantine tradition in the cathedral of
Torcello, the church of San Zaccaria, and above all in the incomparable
San Marco. At Pisa the Romanesque evolution culminated in a unique group
of buildings, famous throughout the world, while at Milan and in the
surrounding district the local type of Romanesque became sufficiently
individual to figure as an independent style under the title of Lombard
architecture. Of this subdivision of Romanesque the prototype seems to
have been the great church of Sant' Ambrogio at Milan, while San Michele
at Pavia is another early and important example. Italy's essays in
Gothic are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the peninsula,
from Como to Naples. The Broletto at Como and the monastic buildings at
Vercelli are said to have inaugurated them. Good examples are the
cathedral at Como, the church of San Francesco at Assisi, the cathedral
of Orvieto, San Petronio and San Francesco at Bologna, and San Lorenzo
at Genoa.
But it is to the Renaissance architecture of Italy that many of us will
turn as the most intimate expression of the Italian spirit, to the works
of Brunellesco, Michelozzo, and Cronaca at Florence, of Palladio at
Venice and Vicenza, of Bramante, and, above all, of Michelangelo at
Rome, notably in his great life-work, the church of St. Peter. The
exuberant later style that resulted from a too ardent application of the
principles of Michelangelo and is known as Baroque, though generally
reprobated at present, must not be too sweepingly condemned. It had an
exponent of great talent in Bernini, and it will hardly be denied that
it gave grandiose expression to the tendency of a splendour-loving age,
and that Rome owes to its exponents much of the scenic effectiveness of
her streets and the impressive magnificence of her interiors.
CONTENTS
PAGE
COMO 1
MILAN 7
PAVIA 17
BERGAMO 23
BRESCIA 29
VERONA 35
PADUA 49
VENICE 61
RIMINI 91
FERRARA 99
RAVENNA 107
BOLOGNA 123
PARMA 137
GENOA 145
PISA 157
LUCCA 169
FLORENCE 179
PERUGIA 199
ASSISI 211
SIENA 217
ORVIETO 229
ROME 239
NAPLES 265
SALERNO 279
PALERMO 285
ILLUSTRATIONS
_To face
page_
Como. The Brotello and Cathedral 2
Milan. The Cathedral 10
Pavia. The Cathedral 18
Bergamo 24
Brescia 32
Verona. The Porch of the Cathedral 38
Verona. Interior of S. Zeno 42
Verona. The Market Place 46
Padua. The Cathedral 50
Padua. S. Antonio 56
Venice. St. Mark's 62
Venice. Interior, St. Mark's 70
Venice. The Palazzi Foscari e Giustiniani 80
Venice. The Lion of S. Mark's 84
Torcello. Sta Fosca and Cathedral 90
Rimini. Isotta's Tomb in the Cathedral 96
Ferrara. The Cathedral 102
Ravenna 110
Ravenna. S. Apollinare Nuovo 116
Bologna. Interior of S. Petronio 130
Bologna. S. Domenico 134
Parma. The Cathedral and Baptistery 138
Genoa. An Old Street 146
Genoa. Façade of the Cathedral 152
Pisa. The Baptistery 162
Pisa. The Campanile and Duomo 164
Lucca. The Porch of the Cathedral 170
Lucca. From the City Walls 174
Lucca. S. Michele 176
Florence. Or S. Michele and the Palazzo dell'Arte di Lana 180
Florence. The Campanile 186
Florence. Ponte Vecchio 190
Florence. The Duomo, from the Boboli Gardens 198
Perugia. The Cathedral and Old Town 200
Perugia. The Porta Susanna 204
Perugia. The Piazza Garibaldi 206
Assisi. The Cathedral 214
Siena. The Cathedral 218
Siena. Interior of Cathedral 222
Siena. The Arco di S. Giuseppe 226
Siena. Under the Walls 228
Orvieto. La Porta Maggiore 230
Orvieto. The Façade of the Cathedral 232
Rome. On the Palatine 240
Rome. S. Peter's Frontispiece
Rome. The Arch of Titus 250
Rome. S.S. Trinità de' Monti 256
Rome. The Isle of S. Bartolomeo 260
Naples. Interior of the Cathedral 268
Naples. S. Domenico Maggiore 272
Posillipo. The Bay of Naples from 276
Salerno. A Pulpit in the Cathedral 282
Palermo. The Cathedral 286
Palermo. The Cloisters of S. Giovanni degli Eremiti 296
Palermo. Mte Pelligrino 298
Monreale. The Cloisters 302
COMO
On a flat piece of land at the southern extremity of Italy's most
beautiful lake, the ancient Lacus Larius, stands a city whose history
dates back to the days when a Grecian colony nestled at the foot of the
mountains which lie east and west of the modern Como. Numerous relics of
Roman days found at different times, testify to the truth of the younger
Pliny's letters that the Comum Novum of Julius Cæsar was in a
flourishing condition during the writer's life, and enjoyed all the
privileges attached to a _municipium_.
At the present day Como is best known as a starting-point for tourists
who board the steamers at the quay and leave their decks at one of the
many delightful spots which fringe the shores of a lake whose
attractions cannot be overwritten. The sun shines on an endless panorama
which changes every minute as the steamer pants over the blue waters,
breaking up and dispelling the reflections of verdure-clad slopes and
stern crags which lie mirrored on the surface. Hamlets like Nesso cling
to the rocks and bridge the _orriao_ or torrent, as it enters the lake
in a foaming cascade. Monster hotel settlements like Bellagio and
Cadenabbia lie further up the water, opposite to Varenna with its golf
course and English caravanserai. Little is left to remind one of those
bloody sixteenth-century days when Il Medeghino from his stronghold of
Musso ruled the lake, and with his fleet of seven big ships and
countless smaller craft blockaded the City of Como, held for Charles V.
by the Marquis of Pescara, and compelled the Spaniards to come to terms.
Nothing more warlike nowadays ruffles the serenity of the waters than
the evil-looking little _dogana_ craft which flash their light along the
shores, sweeping every tiny bay in search of _contrabbandieri_. Though
much could be written about the internecine wars the mountains have
seen, it is not with Gian Giacomo de' Medici this chapter is concerned,
but with the city itself, which lies away out of sight of the great
corsair's Castle of Musso.
[Illustration: THE BROTELLO AND CATHEDRAL, COMO]
The Cathedral of Como, built entirely of marble, was commenced in 1396
from the plans of Lorenzi de' Spazi. The west façade, begun in 1460, was
finished by Tomaso Rodario in the last few years of that century. It is
Italian Gothic, with the exception of the three doorways, which are rich
Lombard work; and, like all façades of the same style in Italy, has the
appearance of simply facing or being stuck on to the building
itself. Despite the adornment of statues and bas-reliefs, scrolls and
arabesques, it has a very severe and flat look, which is unrelieved by
the recesses containing busts of the two Plinys on either side of the
central doorway, or the deep-set windows and canopied niches above. A
fine wheel window occupies a position above the principal door and
between these is a good Gothic screen with figures in five niches
flanked by a couple of windows on either side.
The north side of the façade adjoins the Brotello, through the arches of
which one reaches the north doorway. This is decidedly good. The porch
is supported by elegant pillars and adorned by arabesques with birds,
animals, and other figures. It was executed from designs by Rodario, and
with the south portal possesses all the merit that good Renaissance work
gives to both. The windows of the aisles are beautifully ornamented with
decoration of the same character, and the slender pinnacles with their
pierced galleries, albeit they remind one in their whiteness of the
superior pieces of an ivory chess set, break the line of the roof in a
most agreeable manner. The dome lacks proportion and is of the over-done
style of French eighteenth-century work.
The interior of the cathedral is Gothic and Renaissance. The nave and
aisles belong to the earlier date. The groining is good, but spoilt, as
is generally found to be the case throughout Italy, by gilded and
coloured bosses which mar the otherwise simple effect of the vaulting.
The transepts and choir are Renaissance, and though the sympathies of
the northman are more with the sterner style, it must be owned that in
Como's cathedral the scheme of decoration found in these is more fitting
and better of its sort than in the Gothic half of the building. At the
west end of the nave stands the circular Baptistery attributed to
Bramante, close by which are a lion and lioness, the former grasping a
deer and the latter suckling her young. They support the two holy water
basins. Among the pictures of interest which the cathedral contains is a
good Bernardino Luini of the Virgin, and two glazed and framed frescoes
of the Nativity and Adoration by the same hand.
The illustration shows the Brotello or old town hall, and the pinnacles
and north walls of the Cathedral. The Brotello is faced with banded
black and white marble, the common device for exterior walls in most
Italian Gothic churches, and in this case justified by the beautiful
colour it has taken on with age. The building stands mellowed by the
hand of Time, a memorial of the days of the old Italian Republics; and
its counterpart existed in every Lombard city. Above the arches, under
which the good citizens were wont to discuss the affairs of their town
while sauntering to and fro in the cool shade, is the great hall wherein
the chief of the municipality assembled. From the window in the centre
access was obtained to the bar, or _ringhiéra_ outside, from which
addresses were delivered to the crowd below, who in constitutional
language formed the _parliamento_ and from whom the powers of government
emanated.
Two of the old city gateways still exist, the latter of which, the Porta
del Torre, leading out on the high road to Milan is to-day but an empty
five-storied shell. The old walls may be traced even now on the three
sides of the city away from the water-front. But for these there is very
little left to show the extent of a place which was once a serious rival
to Milan. The staple industry is stone-working, for which the Comaschi
have for centuries been widely known. In former times Como was justly
celebrated for the products of its looms, excelling in number those at
Lyons. Nowadays it exports the raw silk; the looms have sadly fallen off
and diminished, and small industries have taken the place of those that
brought considerable wealth to the pockets of its merchants.
MILAN
When the great wave of conquest which swept mid-Europe in the fifth
century broke against the walls of Châlons-sur-Marne and the westward
march of Attila and his Huns was checked, the defeated hordes of the
East followed their chief across the Alps and invaded the plain that
stretches away now, just as it did in those far-off days, to the sunny
seas that beat against the southern slopes of the Apennines. In the
centre of this plain stood Mediolanum, a city ranking second only to
Rome, and her greatest colony in the Peninsula. So rich and prosperous a
place became of necessity the object of attack, and the hosts that
looked to "the Scourge of God" as leader, swept into and through the
fair city, sacking it completely. Rebuilt, but once again undergoing the
same fate at the hands of Frederick I. in 1162, there remain but a
colonnade of sixteen Corinthian columns near the Porta Ticinese, a few
tablets and fragments let into the walls of other gateways, and some
relics in the museum, to tell of the past glories of Rome's great
colony.
Milan, as we know it now, is the centre of commercial Italy. Intersected
by an excellent system of tramways, with beautiful public gardens and
magnificent buildings, it is up to date in every way and stands quite
apart from all the other cities with which this book is concerned. The
one thing that, perhaps, above all others places it in this position is,
however, no product of this commercial age, but its world-famous work of
art, the great cathedral, through the lofty aisles of which still
reverberates the grand music of the Ambrosian Ritual. The exterior of
this immense church, next in Italy to St. Peter's in size, is adorned by
a forest of spires, pinnacles, turrets and lace-like tracery. In the
midst of all this rises the central tower with its airy spire, from the
base of which on a clear day the snow-clad peaks of the Alps may be seen
stretching miles on miles away, and bounding the whole of the northern
horizon by a lovely dreamland of colour.
Very few buildings compel one's admiration as this does, an admiration
wrung in my case from a mind out of sympathy with everything that lacks
the dignity of repose; but such is the effect obtained by hundreds of
pinnacles and statues, by the turreted flying buttresses, by the filling
of every available foot of space with ornament, that one cannot but
appreciate the result of the skill and patience so truly Italian, which
has carried out these infinite details and produced the great work that
stands in the Piazza del Duomo. The present fabric, dedicated "Mariæ
Nascenti," is the third cathedral built on the site: the first was
destroyed by Attila in 452, and the second by Barbarossa in 1162. The
foundation-stone was laid in 1387 by Gian' Galeazzo Visconti, who from a
northern clime sought his architect, Heinrich Ahrler, of Gmünden. From
that time down to the present day many have had a hand in its making,
among them Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci, and Giulio Romano, and the
wonder is that the great structure is not far more full of incongruities
than it is. The whole exterior is built of white marble from the
quarries of la Gandoglia on the Simplon Road, given by the founder for
this purpose.
The façade rises with a course of open Gothic work to the gable above,
and is divided into five sections which terminate in clusters of Gothic
turrets surmounted by pinnacles and statues. The central doorway is
surrounded by excellent Renaissance sculpture, the door itself being a
magnificent piece of seventeenth-century bronze work. On each side are
two more portals. The bases of the intervening buttresses contain
splendid panels, and the Caryatides, which support the slender Gothic
shafts right and left, by Rusca and Carabelli, are extremely good in
pose and execution. The great façade designed by Pellegrini for S. Carlo
Borromeo in 1560 was never carried out owing to the saint's death while
Pellegrini was away in Spain working on the Escorial for Philip II. The
east end is the oldest part of the building, and is almost entirely
taken up by three grand Gothic windows. The east window, which is of
most beautiful tracery, was executed from the designs of a Frenchman,
Nicholas Bonaventure. Both the other windows are fine, but the upper
portion or rose pattern, although in itself very delicate, appears
"stuck in," and not part of the design; some of the glass in these is
very rich in colour. The archivolts of the arches are filled with
figures which follow the curve in a rather uncomfortable style, not only
here but in every other window save the fine classical of the façade.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, MILAN]
The interior is grand, and of immense height, albeit the vaulting with
its admirably painted tracery is evidence of the great skill of the
Italian at "faking." The mellow light from the amber coloured glass of
the octagon and the twilight filtering through the gorgeous hues of the
other windows is remarkably and impressively pleasing. The columns of
the nave, in clusters of eight shafts, are eighty feet high, and carry
narrow capitals of foliage which form the base to eight canopied niches
occupied by figures of saints--a fine feature. The aisles are double,
the outside being lower than that next the nave. The four columns at the
crossing which support the octagon are of larger dimensions than those
in the nave. Two semicircular pulpits covered with bas-reliefs of gilded
bronze stand on either side of the steps leading into the choir, to the
solemn darkness of which the shadows thrown from the sounding-boards
above make pictorially a good foreground introduction. These pulpits are
supported by caryatides representing the Evangelists and four doctors of
the Church.
The choir was designed by Pellegrini, and contains a fine
sixteenth-century tabernacle of gilded bronze. Beneath is the
subterranean church, through which one enters the tiny chapel, under the
central spire, wherein is deposited, in a magnificent silver shrine the
gift of Philip IV. of Spain, the body of S. Carlo Borromeo dressed in
full pontificals. Born in 1538 he was created cardinal by his uncle,
Pius IV., in 1561. After the close of the Council of Trent he assisted
other prelates to draw up the epitome of Catholic doctrine, the
"Catechismus Tridentinus"; but it is more for his good works and great
charity, especially during the plague of 1576, that he lives in the
hearts of the Milanese.
In the north transept is a very good example of the metal work of the
thirteenth century, in the shape of a fine bejewelled bronze
candelabrum. It forms a tree and has many quaint figures in its
intricate design. In a chapel in this aisle is the old wooden crucifix
which S. Carlo carried when barefooted he tramped the streets during the
plague, tending the sick. In the south transept close to the corner near
the staircase leading on to the roof is a monument to Giacomo and
Gabriele de' Medici, brothers of Pius IV., and a bronze statue of S.
Bartolommeo which represents him flayed. The south sacristy door is a
fine specimen of Gothic work. Unlike the exterior effect, nothing
obtrudes inside this great cathedral. The eye on entering looks straight
up to the east, conscious as it travels there, of great pillars rising
into the gloom of the vault above, of fine glass and restful solemnity,
in which even the chapels in the aisles are lost, to be discovered later
on only when searched for.
Next to "Mariæ Nascenti," but taking precedence in archæological
interest, is the church of S. Ambrogio, a basilica dedicated by the
Saint when bishop of Milan in 387 to SS. Gervasius and Protasius. It was
enlarged and rebuilt in 881 and restored by Ricchini in 1631, all the
original features being faithfully preserved. A closed courtyard stands
below the level of the piazza outside and forms the Atrium beyond which
no catechumens were allowed to pass. The capitals of the columns here
have the tendency of early Christian Art and adaptations of Runic and
Byzantine carving. The church is Lombardo Romanesque. Beneath the
gallery over the peristyle is the celebrated door, well guarded by an
iron grille, some of the cypress-wood panels of which formed portions of
the gate of the Basilica Portiana closed by S. Ambrose against the
Emperor Theodosius after his cruel slaughter in Thessalonica. The nave
is entered by two side doors and is composed of eight bays, the columns
of which are slender in proportion for the deep shadows of the dark
aisles. Pilasters run up to the low round vaulting, the large galleries
over the aisles being divided by these. Up a few steps which cross the
nave at the last bay, and behind a low marble balustrade, is the High
Altar, enclosed by one of the finest extant relics of the goldsmith's
art. This magnificent casing bears the name of its German maker,
Wolvinius. Some of the panels, notably that of the Transfiguration, are
very Greek in treatment. The back is almost of better workmanship than
the front and is more interesting, as Wolvinius has here illustrated the
principal events in the life of the founder. The enamelled borders of
these silver-gilt panels are of exquisite design. One of the saint as a
child asleep in his cradle with a swarm of bees hovering around,
considered a presage of future eloquence, is very naïve. The
_baldachino_ above this altar is borne by four grand columns of black
porphyry.
Up twelve steps are the choir and tribune, and at the end of these is
the primitive throne of the Archbishop of Milan, known as the chair of
S. Ambrose. The eighteen seats occupied by the suffragans of the
province no longer exist, having been replaced in the sixteenth century
by carved wooden stalls, and thus has perished a feature identical with
the Cathedral at Torcello. The semi-domed roof of the Tribune is covered
with a fine ninth-century mosaic which represents the seated figure of
the Almighty, beneath whom are SS. Candida, Gervasius, Protasius,
Marcellina and Satirus, and a representation of the cities of Milan and
Tours--Tours because there, when S. Martin was undergoing martyrdom, the
spirit of S. Ambrose went to give him strength. Beneath the choir is the
crypt, and at its termination, exactly under the high altar in the
church above, in a splendid casket of silver and crystal, repose the
remains of three Saints, Ambrose, Gervasius and Protasius. There is a
curious pulpit in the church of very early Lombard work, with an "Agape"
or love feast carved upon its panels. Close by upon a granite pillar
rests a bronze serpent, said to be the brazen serpent of the desert and
presented to Archbishop Arnulphus by the Emperor of Constantinople. S.
Ambrogio was the church in which the Lombard rulers were crowned with
the Iron Crown that is the chief attraction in the neighbouring city of
Monza.
So well known are the art treasures of Milan that it is hardly necessary
to do more than allude to the many works of great interest in the Brera,
formerly a Jesuit college, and in the celebrated Biblioteca Ambrosiana;
or that greatest wonder of all which has drawn so many pilgrims to the
Cenacolo, the refectory near the church of Santa Maria della Grazie--the
much restored Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. The Castello of Milan
was at one time the residence of the great Visconti family, and at the
death of the last male representative passed by marriage into the hands
of the first duke of the Sforza line. It was during their reign that
Milan took the lead in the fashion of Europe (whence we have the word
"milliner") and it was then that Leonardo wrought his masterpieces,
including that great equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza which was the
wonder of Milan, and of which posterity was so unhappily robbed by the
French invasion.
PAVIA
From its position close to the confluence of the rivers Po and Ticino,
Pavia, the "City of a hundred Towers," was for centuries a point of
strategic importance. It is at present a great artillery station. Of its
hundred towers that stood at intervals around the eleventh-century
walls, hardly one remains, and the old fortifications which had been
reconstructed at a later date, are rapidly being converted into a
spacious and shady boulevard. The celebrated bridge is however still
intact, despite many violent floods, a delight to the eye and a pleasant
promenade on a hot day. This notable structure, which spans the Ticino,
was built by one of the great Visconti family--Gian' Galeozzo--and is
roofed in.
Pavia at one time was rich in noble churches. Many have been demolished,
others have fallen into decay. The cathedral, dedicated to S. Stefano,
stands on the site of one erected in the seventh century. The present
edifice was designed by Bramante and constructed under the direction of
one of his pupils, Cristoforo Rocci. In the original plan the nave,
transepts, and choir were all of one size, but the nave is the only part
in which the great architect's measurements were followed. The façade,
approached by a good flight of steps, is unfinished. On the north, and
adjoining a fine example of a late Romanesque gateway, stands the
_campanile_.
The interior of the main building is grey stone which has not been
spoilt by the application of the whitewash brush. A fine pulpit,
somewhat similar to those at Milan, stands out from one of the massive
piers that support the octagon. It is of singularly large dimensions and
is supported by well-carved wooden figures of the Fathers of the Church.
The octagon, which carries a good dome and tower and is best seen from
the market square, rises well above the roofs of the nave and choir. A
gallery running round the entire cathedral forms a triforium, broken
only by _trasparente_ lights in the apse and side chapels of the choir.
These windows accentuate the bad points of the _barroque_ altars
beneath. The clerestory lights are circular. If it were not for the
magnificent tomb in which repose the remains of S. Augustine, the
greatest of the Fathers of the Latin Church, the cathedral would be,
notwithstanding the fame of its designer, the least interesting
ecclesiastical building in Pavia.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, PAVIA]
Experts disagree as to who was responsible for the fine monument which
covers S. Augustine's remains. The body of the saint had been removed
from Hippo, a suffragan see of Carthage, to Sardinia during the Arian
persecutions. It rested there until Liutprand, the Lombard king, having
purchased it, placed it in the church of S. Pietro in Cielo d'Oro; and
when this church was destroyed it was conveyed to the cathedral. On
certain festivals the silver casket, portions of which are the original,
that contains the bones of the saint robed in full pontificals is
removed from its usual position and hoisted up behind the tomb, so that
the devout can mount a temporary wooden stair and look on all that is
left of the great father.
A figure of the saint lies stretched on the sepulchral urn that usually
holds the silver casket. This rests on the basement, or lowest, of the
four tiers that compose the monument. Around it are figures of the
lesser saints of his Order. Above are bas-reliefs of the chief events in
his life and the miracles which after his death were performed in
different places through his intercessions. The liberal arts, the
cardinal virtues, and many symbols adorn the tomb, which is also
decorated with statues of saints and angels, two hundred and ninety in
all. They are extremely well executed and enhance the beauty of the
design.
The church of S. Michele is a primitive structure and bears traces of
being the precursor of all ecclesiastical edifices of the Lombard style
of architecture. It was originally a basilica, but short transepts have
been added and the roof, which is groined, is vaulted with stone. The
oldest part of the church is the crypt, which is under the choir. This
is probably the building, or part of it, in which Unulfus sought
sanctuary in 661 when fleeing from King Grimoladus. Four compound piers
in the nave are adorned with an extraordinary series of sphinxes,
symbols, animals and other figures. The façade is decorated with reliefs
in a richly coloured sandstone, and has a gabled gallery that is
continued round the exterior as far as the apse.
The portals are covered with a profusion of very archaic imagery in
which Pagan as well as Christian subjects form most of the decoration.
Sculptured bands of sandstone are placed in courses along the whole
front and medallions let into the walls. These are very massively built
of stone, and though restoration is evident throughout the church it
still bears the impress of great age.
Sta. Maria del Carmine is a fourteenth-century building of Gothic
design, and is one of the very best examples of brickwork in all Italy.
The beautiful rose window of the west front and the three pointed doors
with their well-moulded terra-cotta ornament could hardly be finer.
Seven elegant pinnacles stand on the rather heavy cornice, forming a
good set off to the _campanile_, which, surmounted by a brick spire, is
a landmark in the district. The brick piers of the interior are
exceptionally good; four squares constitute the nave, the arches of each
carry simple groining. Two small lancet-shaped arches, out of all
proportion with the massive brick piers that support them, open into the
aisles. They have double capitals, the upper being of stone, the lower
of carved brick.
In the ruined church of S. Pietro in Cielo d'Oro stood the tomb of
Boethius, who under Theodoric held high office in the state. Boethius
was executed in Pavia after a long and rigorous confinement in the Casa
Malsap ina, during which he wrote his incomparable "Consolations of
Philosophy." This work was translated into many languages and was one of
the most widely known treatises in the Middle Ages. Alfred the Great
translated it into Saxon. Another connection with England exists through
Archbishop Lanfranc who accompanied William the Conqueror across the sea
and was made prelate of Canterbury. The district round Pavia is not
healthy, a condition due probably to the intricate system of irrigation
by which the pastures are kept green with a rank-growing grass. Between
Pavia, Piacenza and Lodi--a triangle with the last-named at the
northern point--lies the country which yields the best Parmesan cheese.
The fields are of three kinds, those nearly always under water, those
irrigated, and those used for rotation crops. The cattle that are
utilised for cheese-making are mostly Swiss bred, and being valuable are
well looked after. They are stalled at sundown in the buildings attached
to the great farms, where farmhouse, cottages, barns and stables are all
enclosed within a high wall. The little rectangular patches of meadow on
which they feed are enclosed by rows of poplars or willows which make
the landscape very monotonous. In winter a dense fog often shrouds the
countryside and a deadly chill pervades the atmosphere, while the
humidity of summer, when the sun draws the moisture from the soaking
earth, is very enervating.
BERGAMO
When October comes in its yearly round and the autumn afternoons close
in, it is sometimes good to sit idly outside a caffè with the pernicious
cigarette and ruminate on the glories of a past summer--better this than
to hustle up the street a sight-seeing. A hot day was ending and the
Bergamo of mediæval times towered above the haze of a sun-baked land and
the smoke that curled upwards in thin wreaths from the city below. "La
Città Alta" thus raised its head proudly against the copper-coloured
sky, thrusting its bulwarks to the edge of one of the last spurs of the
Alps that here creep down on to the plain. What a grand prospect from
the shady boulevard on those ramparts which encircle the old fortress!
The sun has not yet set; beneath lies the Borgo S. Leonardo, the lower
city, a busy place with factory chimneys on its outskirts; beyond, a sea
of verdure, cut by lines of tall poplars and here and there a slender
_campanile_, stretches away over Lombardy until lost in the haze past
the towers and domes of Monza, Cremona, and distant Milan.
There is something very fascinating in the quiet and exclusive old city.
Its streets are steep and narrow, its houses seem to rake the sky, the
rattle of wheels does not often disturb the aristocratic silence, a
silence accentuated tenfold when one has left behind its busy plebeian
partner on the plain below, and whisked upwards by the funicular, found
oneself suddenly amidst high walls. Great spaces of faced stone are
these walls, pierced by tiny windows, almost forbidding in their
austerity; and though glimpses of foliage and flowering creepers break
through, the pervading air is one of mystery and intrigue.
In the wars with Austria, Bergamo was a great rallying-point for
patriots and a continual thorn in the side of that polyglot empire. The
names of heroic Bergamasque who died for their country are inscribed on
sundry tablets on the walls under the old Brotello. This interesting
building stands at one end of the little Piazza Garibaldi, and is
somewhat similar to the one which forms the illustration to Como, with
the difference that here a fine open stairway leads up to the first
floor. The great hall is now occupied as a library. In a corner at the
head of the stairs rises a massive quadrangular belfry, one of the
prominent features in the outline of "La Città Alta."
[Illustration: BERGAMO]
Beyond the Brotello lies the Cathedral, a well-proportioned Renaissance
building, which, by its juxtaposition to the much more ancient church of
Sta Maria Maggiore, looks comparatively of recent date. It is
constructed entirely of white marble and has a good dome. A Madonna by
G. Bellini behind the high altar is its great treasure, and the only
thing in it worthy of notice.
Sta Maria is an early Lombard pile of buildings, with a very lofty tower
and an octagon over the crossing, which rises in four galleried storeys
surmounted by a low spire. Good galleries extend round the exterior of
the apse, and side chapels are thrust out at odd places with no
particular plan. The east porch is by far the most interesting feature,
and is an elaborate piece of work in _breccia_ and white marble. The
supporting pillars rest on the backs of two lions, the old
ecclesiastical symbol of strength, the columns of the portal are
beautifully sculptured, and one of them, encircled with admirable
figures, is very fine. Above is a canopy under which, on his horse, sits
King Lupus with two attendants, while beneath a second canopy on top are
statuettes of the Virgin and Child, and the two Marys. The west porch is
almost similar to this, but of not so intricate a design. It has also no
canopies, but is surmounted by a turret niche, let into the wall of the
main building, in which is the figure of the patroness. The doors of
these two portals are of superbly grained rosewood. They open into the
transepts, which are the finest portions of the interior, the carved
choir stalls and screen by Stefano da Bergamo are considered the best in
Italy.
Adjoining the east porch is the Capella Colleoni, the mausoleum of
Bartolommeo Colleoni the celebrated _condottiere_ of the fifteenth
century, whose equestrian statue in front of the church of SS. Giovanni
e Paolo in Venice is remarkable, not only as a work of art, but as
exemplifying the power and rugged strength of a great man.
The façade is terribly ornate, with chequer work in white and black
marble, red and yellow busts and medallions, twisted pillars and strange
arabesques. The interior contains the tomb of Bartolommeo who sits
astride his horse. It is rather too elaborate to be entirely pleasing.
At the south end is one of the finest examples of _intarsia_, or inlaid
wood-work, in Italy. The subjects of the three panels represent the
entry into Jerusalem, and scenes from the stirring times in which the
great _condottiere_ played so prominent a part. The backgrounds are
evidently of landscape in the neighbourhood. Not only is the spirit and
execution of this fine work extremely good, but the colour surpasses
anything of the sort I have seen. It is kept under lock and key,
enclosed in three rosewood panels of well-selected grain. Not far from
the chapel is the house in which Donizetti died. The Borgo S. Leonardo
is of older date than "La Città Alta," although it is the more modern of
the two. On the base of a damaged Corinthian column standing in the
small piazza of Sta Maria d'Oleono is an old Latin inscription which
tells that the column was erected where once stood a heathen temple, and
that S. Alessandro, standard-bearer to the Theban Legion, overthrew the
heathen pillar by a miracle, the column being erected by members of the
municipality with the alms of the faithful. It is doubtful whether the
Pergamus of ancient writers is the city on the hill or its sister on the
plain; this relic rather points to the latter as the site. In the Borgo
a fair, held for a month from the middle of August, and known as the
Fiera di Sant' Alessandro, has taken place without intermission since
the tenth century--surely a record; and there is no doubt that in the
ancient Italian drama, harlequin, personifying the manners and jargon of
the neighbouring Val Brembana, was a Bergamasque, and originated at this
ancient festival.
BRESCIA
Brescia, like Bergamo, is situated on the fringe of the mountains and
the plains, and like Bergamo played an important part in the wars
against Austria. Its _castello_ stands high above the rest of the city,
but in the face of the power possessed of modern arms it would not be
worth a garrison. So its ramparts and entrenchments have been wisely
converted into a pleasant garden from which wide views of rolling
country and level plain extend.
Many traces of the Roman colony of Brescia remain, but it was due to a
small boy of the virile race that populate the city that the most
interesting was unearthed. When a child, Girolamo Ioli was much
exercised in mind about a Corinthian column that stuck out of the ground
and around which he was wont to play. In maturer years the curiosity of
youth was still the ruling passion, and he made it his business to
agitate. Like many another agitator his demands were in time gratified,
and excavations were commenced which resulted in the unearthing of a
building erected by Vespasian it is supposed in the year 72--the
supposition resting on fragmentary inscriptions. Palace of Justice or
temple, this building is now the museum, and contains one of the finest
bronzes Italy can boast of. Found in 1826, this beautiful winged figure
of Victory, which is six feet high, still bears a trace of the silver
fillet interwoven with a wreath of laurel-leaves that bound her hair.
The last-century additions of a shield, which she was thought to have
held, and a helmet under one of her feet, have been removed, and Victory
stands in the state in which she was discovered. The head and limbs are
finely modelled, and the arrangement of the drapery could not be
excelled.
Down the wide street in front of the Museum a Corinthian column and
heavy frieze, supported by massive brick pillars, have been excavated.
Opposite these relics is the huge Martinengo Palace. In a line due south
is the church of Sta Afra built on the site of a temple to Saturn. Most
of the houses in the vicinity have Roman masonry in their basements and
Roman inscriptions let into their walls. From this one gathers that
ancient Brixia occupied this part of the later city. Write it down to
the credit of Brescia that her citizens passed a law as early as 1480
that all antiquities found should be preserved and given up to the town.
There are two cathedrals in Brescia, La Rotunda and the Duomo Nuovo.
The former is one of the most interesting ecclesiastical buildings in
Italy. Constructed of stone, with a red brick dog-tooth cornice and
twenty-four brick arches, supported by white marble pilasters forming an
arcade into which the exterior is divided, a most pleasing effect is
obtained. In the interior a circular colonnade, composed of eight
extremely massive four-sided piers bearing round arches, supports the
stone dome. It is supposed to be of seventh-century construction, and is
evidently on the site of an earlier Roman building, as fragments of a
mosaic floor exist beneath the present one. This, which is partly
tesselated, is much below the level of the ground outside. Lower still,
beneath the presbytery and choir, down twenty steps, is a very ancient
crypt, in which forty marble columns support the round arches that carry
the weight of the fabric above. None of these columns is more than five
feet high. Half a dozen blocked up lights, with bases not more than
three feet from the floor, are evidence that outside, the level of the
ground was at one time far below where it is at present.
The Duomo Nuovo is a finely proportioned edifice and one of the best
seventeenth-century churches in the country. The façade is immense and
gains by its simplicity. The fine dome is said to be the third in size
in Italy; and the lofty interior of white marble, unspoilt by any colour
or decoration, gains in space from the fact that there is but one bay to
the nave, producing the effect on the senses that one is everywhere
standing under the spacious height of Brescia's greatest landmark. The
houses of the piazza outside are chiefly occupied by metal-workers, and
those who know the incessant din produced by the tapping of their
hammers, will quite understand that it was impossible to make a sketch
of these two churches as they stand together.
[Illustration: BRESCIA]
Adjoining the Duomo Nuovo is the Brotello with its fine Torre del
Popolo, an embattled tower. The inner courtyard is partly of red brick
with a good corridor of the thirteenth century, formed of pointed and
round arches and brick groining. Another fine tower stands in the Piazza
Vecchia, the Torre del' Orologio. Its enormous dial marks the hours from
I to XXIV, the course of the sun and moon, and has the signs of the
Zodiac displayed on its face. Two figures that stand on top of the tower
strike the hours in a similar way to those on the Clock Tower of Venice.
At the west end of the piazza is La Loggia, the town hall, a good
example of an early sixteenth-century building. It was commenced, to be
accurate, by Tornasso Formentone in 1492 and continued from his
designs as far as the first floor. Sansovino was responsible for
the second, and Palladio completed what the other two had begun. The
building, however, as a whole, is superb. Magnificent arches support the
first floor, to which a grand open staircase leads. The medallions and
figures which adorn the exterior are extremely good, and the frieze and
cornice are equally so. The rich colour of the marble employed lends a
beautiful tone to a beautiful building. Unfortunately the interior was
burnt out in January 1575. The fire which consumed it is supposed to
have originated at the instigation of those who wished to destroy
certain ancient charters granting liberties to the inhabitants.
The Torre della Pallata is in a corner of the square--a good specimen of
castellated architecture, which rises from a sloping base of immense
stones and terminates with a projecting turret.
Brescia contains many fine palaces, and from the streets into which they
open one often gets a glimpse, through the iron grille of their portals,
of a charming arcaded court. The splash of a flower embowered fountain
is music to ear and the cool shade under the arches a rest for eye.
VERONA
Those who enter the Brenner Pass, and with faces set towards Italy,
leave Innsbruck behind, may have noticed how, after toilsome puffing and
straining uphill, the train suddenly seems to draw breath and glide
smoothly onwards with increased pace. At the side of the iron road a
little thread of water dances merrily over a pebble bed in its haste to
reach the sunny plains that lie to the south of the great mountain
barrier. Further on the rail and its sparkling attendant part company to
join later, when, from their slender origin, the waters have become a
rushing river--the river Adige. The mountains are behind, to the north;
the character of the landscape has changed, and within a horseshoe bend
of the swift stream, well-nigh enclosed by it, lies Verona.
Verona "La Degna," Verona the Worthy, a city crammed with the history of
past wars, a city of colour, in its bricks, in its stones, in its marble
walls and fresco adorned palaces. Wherever one turns, be it the pale
green of the river on which the wheels of those watermills, so like the
Noah's Ark of childhood's days, for ever turn, or the brilliant and
keen blue of the sky, there is always colour for the eye in Verona.
Colour for the mind too lies concealed in its streets and buildings.
Greek, Roman, Ostrogoth and Frank, Italians and Austrians, have all
ruled here. Ruled and gone and left their trace on this beautiful
city--the key to Alt' Italia--which Italy once more holds and guards
with jealous eye. Long may she keep it.