mulberries, which they collect while gathering the leaves for the
silkworms. I had left in doubt the hire of my lodging for the month
of June, wherefore I now deemed it meet to come to an agreement with
my landlord, who, when he perceived that I was sought after by all the
neighbours and especially by the owner of the Palazzo Bonvisi, who had
offered me lodging for a gold crown a day, decided to let me have my
rooms as long as I liked for twenty-five gold crowns a month, the term
to begin on the first of June, up to which day the old agreement was to
be in force.
The people here are consumed with envy and secret deadly spite one
against the other, though they are all akin. A lady repeated to me the
following proverb:--
“Chi vuol, che la sua donna impregni
Mandila al bagno, e non ci regni.”
One convenience of my lodging pleased me greatly, to wit, that I could
pass from my bed to the bath by a short and level path of thirty paces.
I resented the stripping of the leaves from the mulberry trees, which
looked as other trees look in winter.
Every day people from all parts may be seen bringing hither samples of
wine in small bottles, so that any of the strangers here may send, if
they will, for some in bulk, but of good wine there is very little. The
white wines are thin, sour, and crude, or very heavy, harsh, and rough.
By sending to Lucca or Pescia the white Trevisano may be procured,
which is strong and well-matured, but none too delicate on the palate.
On Thursday--Corpus Domini--I remained an hour and a half in a lukewarm
bath, sweating very little and not conscious of any effect therefrom. I
held my head under the douche, for twelve minutes or so, and on going
back to bed got a short sleep. I found this use of bath and douche more
pleasant than anything else. I felt a certain itching in my hands and
elsewhere, and I learned moreover that many of the peasants are given
to the itch and the children to scabby ailments. It is the case here
as elsewhere that the peasants make light of that which we come to seek
with such great trouble. I saw many who had never tasted these waters,
of which indeed they had a very poor opinion. With this disposition
they are short-lived.
On Saturday I remained two hours in the bath and took the douche for
a good quarter. On Sunday I took a rest, and on this day a Bolognese
gentleman gave another ball. The scarcity of clocks here[55] and in
most places in Italy is most inconvenient. At the bath-house there is a
statue of the Madonna with the following verses:--
“Auspicio fac, Diva tuo, quicumque lavacrum
Ingreditur, sospes ac bonus hinc abeat.”
Both on the score of beauty and usefulness it is impossible to
overpraise the practice here used of cultivating the mountains from
base to summit, fashioning them into stairs of one level circle above
the other, and strengthening the top of each platform with stone or
some other material if it be not solid enough in itself. They sow corn
on the level portion of each degree, be it wide or narrow, and on the
edges of each, nearest the low ground, they train vines. Towards the
summit, where there is no level space, they plant it all with vines.
At the ball lately referred to a lady danced with a vessel of water
on her head. She kept it steady all through her dancing, though she
skipped about in lively fashion. The physicians are wonderstruck to see
how the majority of French guests here take the waters in the morning
and bathe the same day.
I may say with confidence that up to this time, in the scanty
intercourse I have had with the people of this place, I have failed
to notice any of those wonders of talent and eloquence which report
ascribes to them. I see no evidences of uncommon capacity in them;
on the other hand, they are too prone to overrate my own slender
faculties. Thus to-day it chanced that certain physicians had to hold
an important consultation in the case of Signor Paulo de Cesis (nephew
of Cardinal de Cesis[56]), who was visiting these baths. They waited on
me on his behalf to beg me to listen to their opinions and arguments,
adding that he had determined to be guided entirely by my decision,
whereupon I could not help laughing in my sleeve. The same request was
made to me with regard to other matters both here and at Rome.
At times I felt my eyes dazzled when I exerted them in reading or in
gazing on any glittering object. I was greatly troubled thereanent,
remembering that I had suffered from this weakness ever since I was
seized with headache at Florence, that is to say, heaviness about the
forehead without any pain; a haziness before the eyes which, though it
did not limit my vision, disturbed it in a way I cannot describe. Since
this time this headache had recurred twice or thrice, and now became
more persistent, but left me free otherwise. But after I used the
douche to my head it came back every day, and my eyes watered freely,
but without pain or inflammation. Moreover, until I had this attack I
had not suffered from headache for more than ten years; and, fearing
lest the douche may have induced this weakness of the head, I did not
use it to-day--Thursday--and remained only an hour in the bath.
The cost of living here in a private room comes to a little more than
seventy-two gold crowns a month, to call for what you will; and as much
again for a servant. Any one without a servant will find ready and
convenient service done by the landlord in the way of catering.
If Calvin had known that the preaching friars in these parts call
themselves “ministers” he would doubtless have found some other style
for those of his own sect.[57]
At this season many people come to the bath and from the cases I have
seen, and from the opinions of the physicians--especially of Donato,
who has written concerning these waters--I am sure I have not made any
great mistake in using the douche for my head, seeing that patients
still use it when in the bath for soothing the stomach. This Donato
permitted bathing and drinking at the same time, wherefore I regret I
did, not venture always to take a draught during my morning bath as I
wished to do. He was loud in praise of the water of Bernabo; but, for
all this professional argument, this water seemed to have no effect
upon certain others untroubled with gravel, which infirmity never left
me. I cannot persuade myself that the water produced the gravel in my
case.
On Friday I took a rest. The Minister Franciscan brother (for so
they call the Provincials here), a worthy man of great learning and
courtesy, who chanced to be at the baths with divers other friars, sent
me a fine present of excellent wine and marchpanes and other eatables.
On Saturday also I did no cure, but went to dine at Menalsio,[58] a
fine large village on the top of one of these mountains. I took some
fish with me, and found accommodation at the house of a well-to-do
soldier, who had travelled much in France and in other countries and
had made money and married a wife in Flanders. His name was Santo.
In these parts are fine churches, and great numbers of the peasants
have been soldiers and have travelled abroad, the division between
the partisans of France and Spain being very sharply marked. Without
thinking what I did, I set a flower over my left ear, and thereby
offended greatly the French faction. After dinner I went up to the
fort, which is built with high walls right up to the top of the hill.
The place is very steep, but highly cultivated throughout. Indeed, all
through this region, amongst yawning chasms and precipitous ridges and
cliffs and splintered crags, there are vines and grain planted, and
even patches of pasture, which is not to be seen on the level plain
below. I descended by a direct path on the other side of the mountain.
On the Sunday I bathed in company with certain other gentlemen, and
remained in the bath half-an-hour. I received from Signor Ludovico
Pinitesi a fine present of a horse laden with the finest fruit, amongst
which were some early figs, the first which had been seen this season
at the bath, and twelve flasks of the most mellow wine. Just at the
same time the friar aforenamed sent me a great quantity of other sorts
of fruit, wherefore I was able to make presents of the same to the
villagers. After dinner there was a ball where I saw several ladies
finely dressed, but not over comely, though they were some of the
handsomest Lucca could show.
In the evening Signor Ludovico di Ferrari of Cremona, a gentleman
well known to me, sent me a box of quince marmalade, musk flavoured,
and some lemons, besides some oranges of extraordinary size. A little
before daybreak I was seized with cramp in the calf of the right leg.
The pain was sharp, intermittent and not continuous, and lasted about
half-an-hour. I had a similar attack not long ago, but then it passed
in a twinkling. Just at this season we began to be conscious of the
heat and of the noise of the grasshoppers, but neither trouble was
worse than in France. The air up to the present has seemed fresher than
in Gascony.
In free nations you do not find, as otherwhere, the sharp division
of classes, and here even the lowest bear themselves with a certain
dignity. Even in asking alms they will always ask as if they had a
right. “Give me something, will you?” “Give me something, do you
understand?” Whereas in Rome they cry, “Do me a kindness for your own
sake.”[59]
On Wednesday, June 21, I left Della Villa early in the morning, having
received from the ladies and gentlemen there sojourning every mark of
friendship that I could desire as I said good-bye. I travelled through
a hilly country, fair and well wooded, for twelve miles as far as
Pescia, a small town under Florence on the river Pescia, with fine
houses and wide streets. Here the famous wine of Trebbiano is grown
in a vineyard surrounded by thick olive woods. The people show great
friendship to France, which accounts for their adoption of a dolphin as
a crest.[60] After dinner we traversed a fair plain, thickly set with
villages and houses. I had resolved to visit Monte Catino, where is the
hot salt spring of Tettuccio,[61] a place a mile to the right of the
direct road, about seven miles from Pescia, but through my heedlessness
I forgot all about it till I got to Pistoia, a distance of eleven miles.
I found lodging outside the town, where I was visited by a son of M.
de Ruspigliosi. Any one who travels in Italy otherwise than by hiring
horses is a bad manager, for to me it seems far less irksome to change
horses here and there, than to be in the hands of a single _vetturino_
for a long journey. The twenty miles between Pistoia and Florence cost
for horse hire only four julli. From Pistoia we passed Prato and came
to Castello in time for dinner. We alighted at an inn opposite to the
Grand Duke’s palace, and after dinner we went to view more particularly
the garden belonging thereto, which I found to be less fair in reality
than I had figured it, an experience I had often met before. The last
time I saw it was in winter,[62] when it was bare and desolate, and
then I imaged its loveliness in the sweet of the year, but my fancy ran
away with me. We had come seventeen miles to Castello, and after dinner
we rode the remaining three and arrived at Florence.
[Illustration: FLORENCE
_Reproduced from Civitates Orbis Terrarum_
_To face p. 94_, vol. iii.
]
XI
FLORENCE
On the Friday, I saw the public procession when the Grand Duke rode in
his coach.[63] Amongst the other sights was a gilded car made in form
of a theatre, in which were four little children, and one in the garb
of a friar, who represented Saint Francis, holding his hands as the
Saint is depicted, and bearing a crown over his cowl. This last was
either a friar or some one in friar’s dress with a false beard. Some
children were dressed as warriors, amongst whom was Saint George, and
when they entered the piazza they came upon a huge dragon which was
clumsily borne along by some men concealed. The dragon rushed forward,
belching fire from his mouth and roaring, whereupon the young Saint
George made at him with sword and lance and cut his throat.
I was most kindly received by one of the Gondi, a family living at
Lyons: this gentleman sent me some of the Trebisiano, the finest wine
of the country. Meantime it was so hot that even the people of the
country marvelled at the heat, and this morning at dawn I had an attack
of colic on the right side which lasted some three hours. I now tasted
the first musk melon of the season: in Florence they have plenty of
cucumbers and almonds from the beginning of June.
On the 23rd, the chariot races took place in a fine large piazza,
surrounded on all sides by fair houses, the length thereof being
greater than the width.[64] At either end was erected a squared obelisk
of wood, and between these was stretched a long rope to prevent any
one from crossing the square. In addition, several men were stationed
all along the piazza to keep the people off the rope aforesaid. All the
balconies were filled with ladies, and the Grand Duke, with the duchess
and the court, occupied one of the palaces. The people stood all along
the piazza and upon some platforms which had been put up, where also I
found a place. Five chariots, empty, entered for the race, the station
by the side of one of the obelisks being assigned by lot, some people
affirming that the coach on the outside had the best place from being
able to make the round more easily. A trumpet gave the signal to start,
and the coach which reached the starting-point beside the pyramid, at
the end of the third round, was to be declared the winner. The Grand
Duke’s coach held the lead up to the last round, but then the driver of
the Strozzi coach, who had always hung close on the leader, urged his
horses to make extraordinary efforts with loosened reins; and, having
collected all his forces, brought his coach in line with the Duke’s at
the end. I marked how the people began to clamour, as soon as they saw
Strozzi gaining on the leader, and how they applauded him to the utmost
though their ruler was there present. And afterwards, when the dispute
was referred to the arbitration of certain gentlemen, the Strozzi
partisans appealed to the verdict of the people assembled, who shouted
with one voice in favour of Strozzi. The prize was finally awarded to
him, unjustly as I thought, its value being a hundred crowns. No sight
I had seen in Italy pleased me so much as this, on account of its
resemblance to the ancient races.
This day being the vigil of Saint John the Baptist, they set certain
small lamps on the top of the Duomo, making three rows thereof in
circles, which gave light all round. They told me it was not the custom
in Italy, as it is in France, to make bonfires on Saint John the
Baptist’s Day.
Saturday was Saint John’s Day, the chief festival in Florence, and the
one of the greatest fame, seeing that all, even the young maidens, take
public part therein. I did not mark much beauty abroad. In the morning
the Grand Duke appeared on a platform, raised against the wall of the
Palazzo and overlooking the piazza. He was shaded by an awning adorned
with the richest needlework, and on his left hand stood the nuncio of
the Pope, and at some little distance apart, the Ferrarese ambassador.
Then representatives of all his territories and cities passed before
him, being summoned by a herald. Thus, Siena was represented by a
youth, clad in black and white velvet, and bearing in his hand a large
silver vase and an effigy of the Sienese wolf. This representative pays
tribute to the Grand Duke every year, and makes a short speech. After
he had passed, a succession of young men, shabbily dressed and riding
wretched mules or horses, came by as they were called, this carrying a
silver cup and that a tattered flag. A great number of these went by
without speech, or obeisance, or the least order, and seeming to treat
the whole affair as a jest. They were supposed to represent the various
villages and places dependent on Siena, and they go through this form
every year.
Next came by a car carrying a square pyramid of wood, fashioned in
steps, upon which sat a group of children clad in various fashions, and
angels and saints. On the apex, which was as high as the highest of the
houses, stood a man dressed to imitate Saint John, and tied on to an
iron bar. Following this car came a number of officials, those of the
Mint being most prominent. At the end of the show came another car, on
which were youths who carried three prizes for the various races, and
alongside went the Barbary horses which were going to compete; also the
riders thereof with the devices of their masters, who were some of the
highest of the nobility. The horses, though small, were very shapely.
I did not feel the heat more severe than in France, nevertheless, to
moderate it as much as possible in the inn bed-chamber, I had my bed
made up every night on the table in the large room. I could not find
here a single lodging which suited me, for this city is not a good
one for strangers to inhabit, and the vermin with which the beds are
infested must always be reckoned with. There is a scarcity of fish, and
trout and the like are never eaten except when salted and brought from
a distance. I remarked that the Grand Duke sent to a certain Milanese,
Giovanni Mariano, who was lodging in my inn, a present of wine, fruit,
bread, and fish, the last-named being small and kept alive in cool
earthen jars.
All day long my mouth was parched and dry, with a feeling not of
thirst but of internal heat, such as I have felt before during our
hot seasons. I ate nothing but fruit, and some salad and sugar. I was
indeed far from well.
The outdoor diversions, which we in France take after supper, these
people take before that meal, which in the longest days is not eaten
till night, and in the morning they begin the day between seven and
eight o’clock.
After dinner the race of the Barbary horses took place, the prize being
carried off by the horse belonging to the Cardinal de’ Medicis.[65]
Its value was two hundred crowns. The spectacle is not one to give
pleasure, as those on the road could see nothing but the rush of the
horses.
On Sunday I saw the Pitti Palace, where, amongst other things, I
remarked the marble statue of a mule, modelled from one still alive,
which was executed on account of the long service done by this beast
in carrying material for the building of this palace. At least that is
what the Latin verses say.[66] In the palace I saw the image of the
Chimera, the head of which, with horns and ears; springs from between
the shoulders, while the body is like that of a small lion.[67] On
the Saturday the Grand Duke’s palace was open in every part to the
country-folk, the great hall being filled with parties of dancers, some
here and some there. I have a notion that this licence, which they
enjoyed on the great feast day of the city, seemed to them a sort of
shadow of their lost liberty.
On Monday I dined with Signor Silvio Piccolomini, a man of well-known
worth and especially skilled in the art of fence. Many subjects came up
for discussion, as there was a large gathering of other gentlemen. He
has a poor opinion of the art of fencing as practised by the Italian
masters, such as Veniziana di Bologna, Patinostraro, and others.
Indeed, the only one he favoured was a certain pupil of his own, who
now lives at Brescia, where he teaches the art to the gentle-folk of
the city. He declared that the ordinary teachers of fencing follow
neither art nor rule, and he condemned especially the far-reaching
lunge which leaves your sword at the mercy of your adversary, and
the practice of making one assault after another and then coming to
a pause. This, he declared, was entirely against all experience of
sword-play. He was on the eve of printing a treatise on this subject.
In speaking of warfare he made light of artillery, greatly to my
satisfaction, and he praised Machiavelli’s work, _Della Guerra_, and
was quite in agreement with the writer’s opinions. He declared that the
most skilful military engineer living was one in the service of the
Grand Duke in Florence.
They have a fashion here of putting ice in the wine-cups, but of this I
took very little, being uneasy in my body and troubled with pain in the
side, besides passing an incredible quantity of gravel. My head still
troubled me, and I could not get rid of the sensation of dulness and a
certain indefinable heaviness over the brow, the cheeks, the teeth, the
nose, and all parts. I imagined this discomfort arose from drinking
the sweet, heady wines of the country, because my headache returned
after I had drunk heartily of the Trebisiano. I must have been inflamed
through travelling in the summer heat, and it needed a great quantity
of the wine to quench my thirst on account of its sweetness.
I have come to the conclusion that Florence has a good right to the
title “La bella.”[68] I went out to-day alone to amuse myself by
inspecting those ladies who may be seen by any one who may be so
inclined. I saw those of the greatest note, but they were not of much
account. Their lodgings are all in one part of the city, and are
wretched even for what they are, being in no way equal to those of
the Roman or Venetian courtesans, any more than their occupants can
compare with the aforesaid ladies in beauty, or grace, or carriage. If
any one of them is minded to dwell outside these bounds she must not
make herself conspicuous, and must hide her real calling under some
fictitious one.
I went to see the workshops of the silk-spinners, where a woman by one
turn of a wheel can set to work five hundred threads. On the Tuesday
morning I passed a small red stone.
On Thursday I went to visit the Casino[69] of the Grand Duke. What
struck me most there was a rock of pyramidal shape made of all sorts
of mineral stones, the mass being composed of one fragment of each.
From this rock a spring of water gushed forth and set in motion a
great number of devices, water-mills, windmills, bells, soldiers,
animals, hunting scenes, and many others of the same sort, all placed
in a chamber inside. On Thursday I did not care to stay in the city to
witness another horse race, so I went after dinner to Pratolino, which
I inspected minutely for the second time, and, being requested by the
steward of the palace to give my opinion as to the relative beauties
of this place and of Tivoli, I said what I had to say without making
any general comparison, but setting detail against detail, with the
different things to be considered in each case, and letting now this
place and now Tivoli have the advantage.
On Friday to the shop of the Giunti, where I bought a collection of
Comedies, eleven in number, and certain other books. I saw there
Boccaccio’s will,[70] printed together with some lectures on the
_Decameron_, which displays the amazing poverty into which this
illustrious man must have fallen. He left some of his linen and bedding
to his sisters and his other relatives, his books to a certain friar
with the instructions that the legatee is to allow the use of them to
any one who may demand the same. He made mention of everything down to
earthenware and the meanest utensils, and arranged for his burial and
masses. This is printed exactly from the original, which was written on
parchment greatly injured and decayed.
The courtesans here stand at the doors of the houses to attract lovers,
just as those of Rome and Venice sit by the windows. They take their
station at suitable hours, and may be always seen, some with large and
some with small company, talking and singing in the streets.
On Sunday the 2nd of July I quitted Florence after dinner, and, having
crossed the Arno by the bridge, we left the river to the right hand,
following its course nevertheless. We traversed a fine fertile plain,
which produces the finest musk melons in Tuscany, but the best of these
are not ripe before the 15th of July. Those grown at Legnara, three
miles from Florence, are the best. Our road lay through a country
for the most part level and fertile, everywhere studded with houses
large and small, which made it seem one continuous string of villages.
Amongst others we passed a charming place called Empoli,[71] the name
of which seemed to me to smack of antiquity. Its site is most lovely,
but I saw no sign of old times save a ruined bridge near the road which
had an indescribable look of age.