palace of Cardinal Farnese, and the most famous in all Italy.[106] I
have seen nothing in this country to be compared with it. The upper
part of the structure is in the form of a terrace built so that the
tiled roof is invisible. It is pentagonal in shape, but has all the
look of being a square. The interior is a perfect circle with wide
corridors running round, arched and painted all over. The mass of
building is immense, all the chambers being square and the large rooms
very beautiful. Amongst these is one, a marvel, which has in its
vaulted roof the celestial world with all its constellations, and on
its walls the terrestrial with all the regions accurately displayed,
every detail being richly painted on the wall aforesaid. In other
places are pictorial representations of the most heroic deeds of Pope
Paul III., and of the house of Farnese. The personages represented
are so life-like that the portraits of our Constable, of the Queen
Mother, or of her children, Charles, Henry, the Duke of Alençon, and
the Queen of Navarre, will be recognised at once by any who may see
them; and the same may be said with regard to King Francis, Henry II.,
Pietro Strozzi, and others. At the opposite ends of one of the saloons
are portraits of King Henry II. and King Philip. Under King Henry’s
portrait--which occupies the place of honour--is written, _Conservatore
di Casa Farnese_, and under King Philip, _Per li molti beni da lui
ricevuti_: in addition to these, there are many beautiful objects worth
seeing, amongst others, a grotto in which an artificial spray of
water falling into a basin conveys, both to ear and eye, the notion of
natural rain. The villa is situated in a barren mountainous country,
and the water for the fountains must needs be brought from Viterbo,
eight miles distant.[107]
We pursued our way over a level road running through a vast plain of
wide pastures, in the midst of which we came upon certain spots where
there was no grass, and where springs of clear cold water gushed forth,
but this water reeked so strongly of sulphur that it might be smelt a
long way off. After riding twenty-three miles we slept that night at
Monterossi, and on the morrow, Sunday, twenty-three more brought us to
Rome.
[Illustration: THE AQUEDUCT OF NERO
_From Piranesi’s Views of Rome_
_To face p. 166_, vol. iii.
]
The weather at this season was very cold, with an icy north wind. On
the Monday and several days following I suffered from indigestion, and
for this reason I took my meals apart, so I might eat less. From the
effects of a purge I felt an improvement in my general health, but my
head still gave me the same discomfort. On the very day of my arrival
at Rome I received a letter from the Jurats of Bordeaux, who wrote to
me most courteously concerning my election as the Mayor of their city,
and begged me to repair thither to take up the office.
On Sunday, October the 8th, I went to the baths of Diocletian on
Monte Cavallo to see the performances of an Italian who, during a
long captivity amongst the Turks, had learnt some wonderful feats of
horsemanship: for instance, while the horse was going at full speed, he
would stand upright on the saddle and hurl a dart with all his force,
and at the same moment drop down into his seat. Again, in full course
he would get off the horse, grasping the saddle-bow with one hand,
touching the ground with his right foot and keeping the left in the
stirrup. He mounted and dismounted several times in this fashion, and
turned somersaults on the saddle while the horse was going full speed,
and shot arrows from a Turkish bow in front and in the rear with the
utmost rapidity. He next rode the horse standing upright on his feet,
and bending his body downwards so that his head and shoulders rested on
the horse’s neck, and then he took a club in hand and, having thrown it
off into the air, caught it again during his course. Standing on the
saddle he took a lance, with which he struck a glove and transfixed it
as if he were running at the ring. On foot he caused a staff to revolve
in a circle round his neck, having first set the same going with his
hand.[108]
[Illustration: THE BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN
_From Piranesi’s Views of Rome_
_To face p. 168_, vol. iii.
]
On the 10th of October the French ambassador sent a messenger to me
after dinner to inform me that he would call in his coach to take
me, if I might be willing, to see the goods of Cardinal Ursino[109]
which were to be sold, the cardinal having died in Naples last summer
and left all his vast wealth to an infant niece. Amongst other rare
things was a counterpane of taffetas lined with swansdown. In Siena it
is common to see the skins of swans entire, covered with feathers, and
ready for use, at the price of a crown and a half, and as they are of
the bigness of a sheepskin, it takes but few of them to make a coverlet
of this sort. Then there was an ostrich’s egg carved and beautifully
painted, a square jewel casket with certain gems therein, and fitted
inside with mirrors in such fashion that the casket, when opened,
seemed in every way much larger than it really was, while the gems
were multiplied tenfold, each stone being exhibited many times by the
reflection in the mirrors. Meantime it is hard to perceive that these
are really mirrors.
On Thursday, October the 12th, the Cardinal of Sens fetched me in
his coach to visit the church of St. Giovanni e Paolo, from which he
takes his title: he is, moreover, Superior of those friars who make
distilled waters and perfumes at their house on Monte Celio, of whom
I have already spoken. It would seem that the loftiness of this site
is artificial, the whole of the space beneath being vaulted with vast
corridors and apartments underground. Legend says it was formerly the
Forum of Hostilius. From the garden and vineyards of the friars the
prospect is very beautiful, for both old and new Rome lie open to the
view. The whole place, from its precipitous height and the deep ravine
at its foot, is cut off and inaccessible from almost every point.
[Illustration: ROME
_From Civitates Orbis Terrarum_
_To face p. 170_, vol. iii.
]
This same day I handed over to a carrier a well-packed box for transit
to Milan, a journey which the muleteers generally make in twenty days.
The box weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, and I had to pay four
baiocchi or two French sous per pound. Inside it were many things of
value, notably a very fine neck-chain of the _Agnus Dei_, the finest to
be had in Rome. This ornament had been made specially at the order of
the ambassador of the empress, and a gentleman had taken it to the Pope
so that he might bless it.
XV
JOURNEY HOME
On the morning of Sunday, October the 15th, I departed from Rome,[110]
where I left my brother with forty-three golden crowns, which money he
decided to spend by remaining in Rome for five months and learning the
art of fencing. Before I set forth he hired an elegant little apartment
for twenty giulios a month.[111] I was accompanied in the first stage
by the Signors d’Estissac, di Montu, the Barone di Chase, Morens, and
certain others. And if I had not started before the appointed time,
so as to save them the trouble which this courtesy of theirs would
have entailed, many more--to wit, the Signors di Bellai, d’Ambres,
d’Alegra, and several others, would have also gone with me, having got
their horses all in readiness. We went thirty miles and slept that
night at Ronciglione, having engaged horses as far as Lucca at twenty
giulios a horse, the _vetturino_ paying all charges on the road.
[Illustration: PONTE MOLLE
_From Piranesi’s Views of Rome_
_To face p. 172_, vol. iii.
]
On the Monday morning I was astonished at the intense cold, cold such
as I had never before felt at this season, and to mark that the vintage
was still unfinished in these parts. We dined at Viterbo, where I put
on my furs and got ready for winter, and went on twenty-nine miles
farther to S. Lorenzo for supper, and slept at S. Chirio, after riding
another thirty-two miles. All these roads have recently been levelled
by the order of the Duke of Tuscany, a work of the greatest service to
the public. May God reward him, seeing that he has made what were the
hardest roads to traverse to be as easy as the city streets. The influx
of travellers Rome-wards is a marvel; for this reason the charge for
horses going thither is exorbitant, while coming away they may be had
for nothing. Near Siena, as in many other places, we came upon a double
bridge--that is, one with a structure on a higher level by which a
stream of water is carried over the chasm. We reached Siena in the
evening, after travelling twenty miles.
This night I suffered for two hours from colic, and I fancied I felt
the movement of a stone. Early on Thursday morning I went to see one
Guglielmo Felix, a Jewish doctor, who talked to me some time as to
my general rule of living with regard to my kidneys and the gravel.
I then left Siena, and was again troubled with colic for three or
four hours. Then the pain came to a crisis, and I was assured that a
stone must have passed. We travelled twenty-eight miles and supped at
Ponteaelce,[112] where I passed a stone bigger than a grain of millet,
with a quantity of red gravel, but I suffered no pain. We left on the
Friday morning, and halted sixteen miles along the road at Altopascio,
where we stopped an hour to feed our cattle. On the road we saw divers
peasants gathering up the vine leaves, which they keep to use as fodder
during the winter; others were collecting ferns wherewith to feed their
cows. We slept at Lucca, eight miles farther on, and there divers
gentle-folk and craftsmen came to visit me.
On Saturday, October 21st, after having eaten a bunch of grapes (in
these travels of mine I have eaten fruit sparingly or not at all in
the morning), I set forth without waiting for certain gentlemen who
had made plans to accompany me. We travelled over a good road, for the
most part level; on the right hand the mountains, thick set with olive
trees, and on the left the marshes, with the sea beyond.
At a certain spot in the dominion of Lucca I came upon an engineering
work which has partially fallen into ruin through the neglect of the
government, a neglect which has been the cause of great loss to the
country round. This was a construction devised to drain and render
fertile the marshes aforesaid. In the first place, a deep ditch was dug
through the marshes, at the end of which were fixed three wheels, kept
in motion by a stream of running water brought down from the mountains
so as to fall upon them. To these wheels were attached a number of
buckets in such fashion that they took up water from the ditch on one
side and threw it over on the other side of the bank into another
channel on a higher level. This last-named channel, cut for the purpose
and lined with bricks throughout, conveyed the water to the sea, and
thus drained all the country round.[113]
We passed through Pietra Santa, a fortified town in the territory of
the Duke of Florence, with houses in plenty but great lack of people,
the report being that most of them either die or fall into ill-health
on account of the badness of the air. After riding twenty-two miles, we
reached Massa di Carrara, a place belonging to the Prince of Massa, of
the family of Cibo, in time for supper. Here is a fine castle on the
top of a little mountain, and half-way up the ascent, around the castle
and below it, are the streets and the houses of the town, surrounded by
fine walls. On still lower ground, outside the walls aforesaid, a large
town is built on a level site and protected by walls recently erected.
The situation, the streets, and the houses are all very seemly, the
walls being adorned with paintings. I was forced here to drink new
wine, as no other is to be had in these parts. By storing it in casks
made of a certain wood, and by treating it with the white of eggs, they
clarify it so that it looks like old wine, but it has a taste which is
not natural.
On Sunday, October 22nd, we set out over a very level road, with the
Tyrrhenian Sea about a crossbow-shot distant on the left hand. Along
this road, between us and the sea, we saw a few scattered ruins, which,
according to the report of the country-folk, marked the spot where once
stood the great city of Luna.[114]
We came next to Sarrezana,[115] a town under the sway of Genoa, where
we marked the Genoese device, Saint George on horseback, and the
garrison of Swiss soldiers. The place formerly belonged to the Duke of
Florence, and if the principality of Massa did not intervene between
the two States it is well-nigh certain that the frontier towns, Pietra
Santa--Florentine--and Sarrezana--Genoese--would constantly be at blows.
We left Sarrezana, where we were forced to pay four giuli for each
horse for a single post, and where there was a great firing of cannon
by reason of the arrival of Don Giovanni dei Medici, the natural
brother of the Duke of Florence, who was returning from Genoa,
whither he had gone, on behalf of his brother, to pay a visit to
the Empress.[116] Many of the other Italian princes had gone there
also, and every one was talking of the pomp displayed by the Duke
of Ferrara on this occasion. He came to meet the Empress with four
hundred carriages. He had asked leave of the Venetian Signory to pass
through their territory with six hundred horses, and their answer was
that he might cross their boundaries, but with fewer horses; whereupon
he bestowed his followers in coaches, and was thus able to take all
he desired with a smaller number of horses. I met Prince Giovanni on
the road, a handsome young man, with a train of twenty well-equipped
followers riding on hired horses, a practice which is no derogation
from dignity in Italy, even for princes themselves.
After quitting Sarrezana we left the road to Genoa on the left hand,
but for those going to Milan it matters little whether they go by
Genoa or not. I had a strong desire to visit Genoa and see the Empress,
but I was troubled over the journey I should have to undertake. Two
roads lead thither, one of forty miles direct from Sarrezana, which
takes three days, and runs through the roughest and most mountainous
country. The way itself is stony and precipitous, the inns bad, and
the road little used. The other goes to Lerici, three miles from
Sarrezana, and there travellers embark and reach Genoa in twelve hours.
I could not face the sea voyage on account of my weak stomach, and I
shrank from the trouble of finding lodging in Genoa in its present
crowded state, even more than from the discomforts of the journey by
land. Moreover, I heard that the road from Genoa to Milan was haunted
by thieves, and as I was exceedingly anxious to get home, I resolved
to leave Genoa aside, and follow the right-hand road through the
mountains, keeping always to the valley of the Magra, with the stream
to our left. We passed through the lands of Genoa, of Florence, and of
the Malespini severally. The road was good except in one or two rocky
broken places; and, after riding thirty miles, we arrived at Pontremoli
in time for bed.
This is a straggling town, full of old buildings, which are in no wise
beautiful. There are also some ruins, and a legend goes that the town
was known to the ancients as Appua. It is now under Milan, its last
rulers having been the Fieschi. The first thing served to us at table
was cheese, such as is made round Milan and Piacenza, and they offered
likewise the most excellent olives, stoned and served with oil and
vinegar as a salad in Genoese fashion. A basin full of water placed on
a stool was handed round for the washing of hands, and each person had
to use the same water. The town stands at the base of the mountains,
which rise on all sides.
I left this place on the morning of Monday, the 23rd, and began the
ascent of the Apennines from the moment I left the inn. Though the
mountains are high, the road is safe and easy. We were going up and
down hill all day, the country being alpine in character and barren,
and, after riding thirty miles, we slept that evening at Fornovo, in
the dominions of the Conte di S. Secondo. I was glad, indeed, to get
out of the hands of the thieves who dwell in the mountains, who use the
most barbarous extortion imaginable towards travellers in the charges
they make for food and stabling.[117] At table here they put before us
various kinds of excellent mustard sauces, one of them being made of
quince apples. In this region the price of horse hire is exorbitant,
the business being in the hands of men who have no fixed charge and
cheat all strangers who may fall into their hands. Travellers, as a
rule, pay two giuli a horse for each post, but here they asked me to
pay three or four or five, wherefore every horse I hired cost me
more than a crown per diem; and again, they would often reckon one
post as two. This place, Fornovo, was two posts distant from Parma;
and, in going from Parma to Piacenza, I had to traverse the same road
as if I went from Fornovo to Piacenza, save that by going to Parma I
should lengthen my journey by two posts. I determined not to go to
Parma, being anxious not to interrupt my plans.[118] Fornovo is a
small village of six or seven cottages, situated on a plain and near a
river called the Taro, along which we went a short distance on Tuesday
morning on our way to Borgo San Doni,[119] twelve miles distant.
This is a small town which the Duke of Parma is now enclosing with
a fine wall well set with bastions. Here at table they gave us
_mostarda_[120] made with honey, and in it oranges cut in strips like
quince marmalade, and half-cooked. Cremona is about as far as Piacenza
from this place; and, leaving it on our right, we travelled over a fine
level road running through a very fertile country, in which there was
not a hillock to be seen as far as the eye can reach. We changed horses
at every post, and for two posts I made them go at full gallop, so as
to test the strength of my loins. I felt no ill effects or weariness
therefrom.
Close to Piacenza are two large columns, one on each side of the road
at a distance of about forty paces apart. On the bases is written
in Latin a prohibition to plant trees or vines, or to raise any
building between them. I know not whether this notice aims merely
at the preservation of the width of the road or to keep the view
uninterrupted, as it is now, from the site of those columns to the
town, a distance of about half a mile. At the end of twenty miles we
reached Piacenza, where we purposed to sleep.
This is a large city. As we arrived in good time I spent three hours
in visiting every part of it, and found the streets muddy and unpaved,
and the houses mean. The piazza contains the chief buildings of the
place, the palace of justice, and the prison; it is, moreover, the
meeting-place of the citizens. It has a few poor shops. I saw the
castle, which is now in the hands of King Philip, who keeps there a
guard of three hundred Spanish soldiers, and these, according to their
own account, are very ill paid. Morning and evening they play the
_diana_[121] for an hour on instruments called hautbois in France,
and here _fiffari_. The castle has a large establishment, and in it I
saw some fine pieces of artillery. The Duke of Parma[122] never comes
near it now, but has lodging, whenever he happens to be in the city,
in the Cittadella, a castle in another quarter, thus avoiding the
castle, which is in King Philip’s keeping. In short, I saw nothing
noteworthy except the new church of S. Augustino, which King Philip
was building in place of another which he had pulled down and used in
the construction of the castle. Moreover, he still kept possession of
part of the income of the same. The new church is not yet finished, but
the beginning is very handsome.[123] The friars’ lodgings, seventy in
number, and the double cloisters, are finished; indeed with regard to
corridors, dormitories, cellars, and other conveniences, this edifice
seemed to be the most sumptuous and magnificent I had ever seen, if my
memory does not deceive me, dedicated to the service of the Church. At
table here they serve the salt in lumps, and the cheese in large pieces
without a dish.
The Duke of Parma was awaiting in Piacenza the visit of the Archduke
of Austria’s eldest son, whom I saw at Insprug; and the rumour was
that this prince was on his way to Rome to be crowned king of the
Romans.[124] Here they bring you water for hand-washing at table, and
also for mixing with your wine, using a large brazen spoon therefor.
The cheese they eat is the same Piacenzan cheese which is sold all
through the district. Piacenza is exactly half-way from Rome to Lyons;
but I was obliged, in order to take the direct road to Milan, to go on
and sleep at Marignano, thirty miles distant, from which place it is
ten miles farther to Milan.
I prolonged my journey by ten miles in order to see Pavia. On
Wednesday, October 25th, I started early over a very good road, and
during the way I voided a small soft stone and a good deal of gravel.
We went through a small town belonging to the Conte Santafiore, and
our road at last brought us to the Po, which we crossed on a sort of
platform arranged on a double boat with a cabin for shelter, this
ferry being dragged across the river by means of a long rope which
was supported by a row of small boats arranged in the stream for this
purpose. Close to this place the Po and the Ticino unite their waters;
and hence we reached Pavia in good time after a journey of thirty short
miles.
I quickly set to work to visit the principal sights of the city: the
bridge over the Ticino; the cathedral; the churches of the Carmini,
S. Tomaso, and S. Agostino,[125] which contains the shrine of S.
Augustino, a splendid tomb of white marble with many statues. In one
of the piazzas of the city is a brick pedestal surmounted by a statue
which appears to be a copy of that of Antoninus Pius on horseback
before the Capitol at Rome.[126] This one is smaller and not to be
compared in beauty. What puzzled me was the fact that this statue
has stirrups and saddle-bows before and behind, whereas the Roman
statue has neither, which makes all the more cogent the opinion of the
learned, which maintains that the stirrups and saddle-bows were later
additions, some ignorant sculptor having fancied that they had been
forgotten. I saw also the building which by the bounty of Cardinal
Borromeo has been begun for the accommodation of the students.[127]
The town is large and certainly handsome, and full of hand workers
of all sorts, but few of the houses are really fine, even the one in
which the Empress lodged recently being of little account. I noticed
the escutcheon of France, but the lilies had been erased therefrom,
indeed there was nowhere anything remarkable to be seen. Hereabout
they charged two giuli a post for horses, and the best inn I have
entered between Rome and this place is the _Posta_ at Piacenza; indeed,
I believe it to be the best inn in all Italy, after the one at Verona.
The worst I have seen is the “Falcone” at Pavia. Here and in Milan
they charge separately for firewood, and the beds are unprovided with
mattresses.
I left Pavia on Thursday, October the 26th. I diverged from the road
about a mile to the right in order to visit the field where King
Francis fought his battle, and found it a level plain. I went also
to see the Certosa, which is justly celebrated as a very beautiful
church, the façade of the entrance wall being built of marble, and
astonishingly rich in ornamentation. On one of the altars is a
decoration of carved ivory which represents divers subjects of the
Old and New Testaments; and besides this the marble sepulchre of Gian
Galeazzo Visconti, the founder of the church, the choir, the ornaments
of the high altar, and the large and beautiful cloisters are the
finest things to be seen here. The buildings around are on a vast
scale, and have all the appearance of the palace of a great prince from
their grandeur, and still more from the number of servants, horses,
carriages, artisans, and labourers everywhere apparent. Incredible sums
are still being spent upon it, the money being supplied from the income
of the brethren. The Certosa stands in a beautiful green plain.
From here to Milan is twenty miles. This city is the most populous
in Italy, its granaries and workshops being full of merchandise and
craftsmen. It has a great resemblance to Paris, and in general has the
look of a French town. It lacks the palaces of Rome, Naples, Genoa, and
Florence, but it surpasses them all in size, and is as busy and crowded
as Venice. On Friday, October the 27th, I went to view the outside of
the castle and walked all round it, and found it of great size and
marvellous strength. It is occupied by seven hundred Spanish soldiers
and admirably furnished with artillery; moreover, the works are still
being strengthened on all sides. I stopped at Milan over this day
because of the heavy rain which came on; up to this time indeed I have
been very lucky in meeting with fine weather and good roads, and now on
Saturday, October the 28th, I left Milan in the morning.