The Church of the Trinity: St. Maria: Church of Onesemus: The Grand
Corso: The British and Foreign Bible Society: Outside view of the
Quirinal: Nero’s House: Leaving Rome: Scene at a wayside station: Arrival
at Florence: Visit to the Cathedral.
The wonderful Church called the Church of the Trinity, up a very broad
staircase of some 330 steps; then a very fine piazza or square, and an
obelisk, at the top of which they say is a piece of the cross on which
St. Peter suffered martyrdom. In this square we found artists’ models
waiting to be engaged. Some of them very pretty Italian peasant girls
fresh from mountain homes, in costumes quaint and queer; old men with
white beards and capacious cloaks; shepherd boys from the Campagna;
bag-pipers from Abruzzi; also mendicants of more than one nationality;
also vendors of wares of various kinds, principally small brooches, photo
frames and pins, with nic-nacs that were considered to be attractive. A
scene of very great interest to the Britisher. We left here to have a
stroll in the streets, to watch with interest the customs and habits of
the people. Hotels almost without number; beer-houses, only a few;
cafes, many; confectioners, many; chemists and doctors, fairly numerous;
dentists, several at any rate; restaurants, many, and some on a very
large scale; telephone call offices; lavatories; specialities, as
jewellers who sell Roman pearls, mosaics, religious ornaments, bronzes,
marble, etc.; porters standing in various places to give you a hand with
a parcel; omnibuses running to the station from all parts of the city;
carriages for hire at about eightpence per mile, English money. So we
passed an hour in watching the ever changing street scenes, until tired,
then to our hotel and to rest once more. Returning to our further
inspection of churches, museums, and places of interest, we went to see
the old St. Maria. This is a very interesting place, and is said to be
built upon the site of what was Paul’s “own hired house in which he dwelt
for two whole years,” see Acts, ch. 28, v. 30. It is said that on this
spot, Onesimus, the runaway slave, was converted, and that he received
the gifts sent by the Philippians and the Colossians, by Epaphroditus,
which he so thankfully acknowledges. Philippians., chapter 4, verse 18.
“I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent
from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
well-pleasing to God.” Three rooms in the basement of the church are
shown as the very rooms in which St. Paul and St. Luke taught and wrote.
Col., chapter 4, verse 14.
Leaving this place we enter the Corso, the principal street of the city.
To our surprise and delight we saw a depot of the British and Foreign
Bible Society; the window full of Italian copies of the scriptures spread
open, some showing clearly one passage, and some another; so that he who
runs can read. We found we could buy the New Testament for threepence in
English money. A separate gospel for less than one penny. It is not
many years since when this would not have been allowed in Rome or in
Italy. Before the Pope’s power was broken, I mean his temporal power, he
did not allow a circulation of the Bible, nor did he allow a public
assembly of heretics (Christians) within the city. Now, thank God, there
are numerous Protestant Churches in the city. The Wesleyans have one or
more churches. The Americans, the Lutheran, the Greek, the English
church and others are now allowed the privileges not long since denied to
them. We had the pleasure of an outside view of the Quirinal, the
present residence of the King of Italy in Rome. It was at one time the
residence of the Pope. It is an old building, 1574 is the date. It is
said the Popes prepared this residence because the air was so fresh, and
the neighbourhood so healthy. While the King is in Rome the Quirinal
palace is not open to visitors. The gardens are on an extensive scale.
Within the palace are sculpture, museums, library, paintings by Raphael,
Michael Angelo and Luigi Serra. Some of the subjects are simply
masterpieces. We went from the Quirinal to the Baths of Titus, erected
by the Emperor of that name, it is said upon the same place where once
stood the house of Nero. The excavators in 1811 laid bare many
interesting facts concerning the times of Titus, about the year 80 A.D.
Only a semicircle can be seen showing the foundations, yet it seems to be
clear that these are the only remains of the baths referred to. We left
here feeling we were satiated with sight seeing, and our time for leaving
Rome was near at hand, so we determined upon a few purchases. Then to
our hotel to reflect, to think, to recall, if possible, to memory what we
had seen and heard. To fill up our diary, to settle our hotel accounts,
and to get ready to leave the “Eternal City.” We reviewed in our mind at
leisure, where we had been, and what we had seen in Rome. And we read up
history which tells us in the palmy days of Rome, there would be within
the city over 400 temples, and over 17,000 palaces, over 13,000
fountains, more than 30 theatres, 8 amphitheatres, 11 baths, some of
which would accommodate some 1,500 bathers at once, 80 gilt statues, and
over 3,700 bronze statues, 82 statues of figures on horseback, so we
think of Rome in her imperial pride, when luxury lay on the lap of so
many of her nobles. Since then she has been humbled to the dust. Many
of these costly buildings and statuary are in ruins, but there is enough
left to show her once illustrious position.
We had certainly made the best of the time at our disposal, so we leave
thee, Oh! Rome! the great, the illustrious. “It may be for years, or it
may be for ever.” We said good-bye, and soon we were en route for
Florence. The scenery for some distance is not particularly attractive.
The usual Italian villages, in some cases just a cottage or two, the
tenants of which are out with their ox and plough, or a pair of donkeys
and a rickety old cart, or the man is draining his farm. We saw about
eight or ten women at a large stone trough by the side of a highway
washing. It seems this is their custom, for the women of several
families to have a joint washday, and go to the nearest clean flowing
water.
As we proceeded northward, we noticed the country became more undulating
and richer in fruits and flowers. The season for the grapes being ripe
was just on, and we noticed as we journeyed, on all sides, grape vines;
there seemed to be miles of them, and still, as we hurried along, more
vineyards. Oxen in wagons in the rows of vines, were being loaded with
the luscious fruit. Six white oxen in each wagon mostly. The husband,
wife and children, all seemed to be engaged in plucking and loading the
fruit. We passed scores of miles of vineyards of this sort. We stopped
at a station called Cartona. I saw a typical Italian girl with a grape
stall on the platform. I alighted and selected two large bunches of
beautiful ripe grapes, and as I could not ask the price, not speaking
Italian, I held out my hand with a number of coins of various value for
her to take the cost of the grapes. She selected twenty centimes, that
is about twopence in English money; so very cheap are grapes. The
country is a lovely country and rich beyond compare. Our train, we could
perceive at times, was climbing, so slow was the speed, but as we got
higher the scene became more lovely; the Italian lakes in the distance;
the towns with the usual Duomo or Church always noticeable.
[Picture: Team of oxen in Tuscany]
At every road crossing we noticed an Italian woman, usually aged, sat at
the gate crossing, with horn in hand ready to give warning of an
approaching train. About four o’clock in the afternoon we came in sight
of Florence. The first view was entrancing. The city lies in a hollow,
the surrounding hillsides are, here and there, dotted over with castles
and mansions, each in their own lovely and extensive grounds. They were
mostly of white marble. The river Arno runs through the city. Florence
is essentially a city of flowers, as its name indicates. All around for
miles castles, mansions, villas, gardens and shady nooks fill the soul
with a consciousness that Nature here has bestowed her gifts of beauty in
no stinted degree. Florence has been called, and I think very aptly, the
Athens of Italy. This city possesses the memories of some of the world’s
greatest men, “the priceless heirlooms of a glorious past.” Here the
peerless bard, “Dante” sang his deathless song and made his lovely
Beatrice immortal. Was it not from these very hills and fields on which
we were gazing, that Galileo every night scanned the heavens to compel
the distant orbs to reveal their secrets?
Here we see her peerless domes and towers rise in all their stately
grandeur beneath a lovely Italian sky. We are now at the station.
Alighting, we soon found the ’bus for “Hotel Minerva” (this we had
selected before hand) so were soon once more settled for a little while.
Our hotel was very comfortable, and we found mine host most gracious, and
evidently most desirous to satisfy us, and so keep our patronage as long
as possible. The rooms were lofty and furnished with taste, dinner
served in good style, which included everything we could wish for. A
look round the city for a little while, was our first thought, so out we
went into the great open square, facing which is the Duomo or Cathedral
Maria del Fiore, so called from the lily which figures in the arms of
Florence. This vast pile of buildings was begun in the year 1298, and
finished in the year 1462. It is stated it was built on the foundations
of an earlier church. It is a grand example of the Gothic art. The
length of the building is 185 yards, and its width, 114 yards. The dome
is 300 feet high, and with the lantern 352 feet. On the 8th of
September, 1298, a representative of Pope Boniface VIII. blessed the
foundations of this new grand temple in the presence of the “Gonfaloniere
Borgo,” many bishops, “the chapter,” all the Florentine clergy, the
captains of the arts, and the magnificent and sublime “Signori of the
Republic,” as they were called. The words with which the community gave
charge of this sumptuous building were, literally translated, “to make it
so magnificent and so sublime that it would be impossible that it should
be surpassed.” And it seemed to us that for size and strength and
adornments, few can compare with it. Many vicissitudes occurred during
the building—wars, deaths of architects, etc.—till in the year 1492 it
was something like a completed building. In April, 1860, King Victor
Emmanuel laid the foundation of a new facade, which was to replace one
taken away, as the design was considered unsuitable. Above the south
door is a Madonna between two angels. Inside we were struck with its
massiveness, more than with its decorations. On the right there is a
fine equestrian statue of John Hawkswood, of date 1384, an English
soldier of fortune, who had served the Republic with unswerving fidelity.
Over the portico is a fine picture of the Virgin Mary in mosaic. On the
right side are some fine marble figures of great men of ancient dates.
In the east nave are fine statues of St. John and St. Peter; a fine
stained-glass window with most attractive and telling designs. Inside
the great dome is a very peculiar, very grotesque frieze, by a great
painter named Vasari, depicting the flames of hell and awful monsters
around them. Also the heaven of delight and bliss.
Near the Cathedral is the wonderful Campagna or tower, which visitors
through centuries have visited and admired. A distinguished visitor once
said, “The Florentines should enclose this tower in a glass case, and
only let it be on exhibition during the great festivals.” It is solid
and strong, though it rises to the height of 292 feet. It has four
stories, the lower ones are richly fixed with variegated marble, and
covered almost with statues of illustrious men. A view of this tower
from a distance is very fine. We had seen nothing like it before in all
our travels on the continent.