From Ancona to Umana—Moonlight view—The
country-house—Indifference of the Anconitans to flowers
and gardening—Ascent of the mount—Magnificent prospect at
sunrise—Trappist convent.
The famous _Santa Casa_, or Holy House of Loretto, has long been
recognised as the principal attraction of the Marche; indeed, it
is so well known to tourists, that I should have left my excursion
thither unrecorded, had not this omission rendered my picture of local
manners and customs incomplete. Little as the Anconitans are given
to locomotion, I never met an instance of one who had not visited the
shrine at least once in his or her life, whilst a few make it a point
of conscience to repair thither every year. The distance from Ancona,
by the high-road, is twenty miles—a journey of five hours, in that
country of steep hills and slow coaches; but travellers are generally
disposed to overlook the tedium of the way in their admiration of the
scenery it discloses. Few, however, have any conception of the still
more picturesque features of the circuitous route through which, one
lovely evening in June, we pursued our pilgrimage to Loretto.
There was nothing very original or brilliant in our party. The V——
family—the same with whom we went to the rural christening—joined
the expedition, too adventurous for any of our Italian friends; the
consul, the Chevalier V——, this time escorting his wife and lively
Polish daughters, very proud, as he protested, of the charge my
uncle had delegated to him as his representative towards my cousins
and unworthy self. He was a good man, that dear chevalier, in every
acceptation of the term, but his sphere was certainly not a scrambling
gipsying enterprise, such as we contemplated, and his presence would
have proved hopelessly depressing, had it not been for the antidote
furnished by the indomitable spirits of a lieutenant and two little
midshipmen belonging to an English frigate lying in the harbour,
who had obtained permission to accompany us. The fair hair and ruddy
cheeks of the middies, reminding Madame V—— of her own absent boys,
had pleaded irresistibly in their favour; their extreme juvenility too,
she argued, screened her from any breach of the _convenances_ she was
always so solicitous to maintain. As to the young lieutenant, he was a
married man, carried about his baby's likeness in a locket, and spent
fabulous sums in presents for his wife. No anxiety could therefore be
felt on his score, no dread of exciting the remonstrance of a certain
black-browed parish priest, who, I very well know, left the poor
lady no peace on the impropriety of throwing her daughters into the
temptations of English male heretical society.
It had been arranged that we should walk the first five miles of the
way, with the exception of the _consolessa_, who was provided with
a donkey, as far as an occupied country-house, or _casino_, kindly
placed at our disposal by its owners; thence, after needful rest and
refreshment, we were to ascend the Monte d'Ancona, a lofty mountain,
famed for a Trappist convent on its summit, and a magnificent range
of prospect. To reach the top before daybreak, in order to see the
sun rise, was an essential feature in our programme; it was the only
subject connected with nature on which the Anconitans ever showed any
enthusiasm. Several of our acquaintances had, in their youth, they
told us, braved the exertion and loss of rest to witness the _levata
del sole_ from the mount. Others regretted they had not the energy
to attempt it. None ridiculed our undertaking. I felt very curious to
behold what awoke such unusual admiration.
We were all in a cheerful mood, and not a little diverted, as we passed
through the narrow streets on our way to the gate, at the astonishment
excited by the appearance of Madame V—— on a very antiquated
chair-saddle, upon her long-eared steed. The people flocked to look at
her with unrestrained curiosity, till the consul turned suddenly round,
and apostrophizing the gazers, inquired sternly whether they considered
the foreign custom of riding upon an ass more wonderful than their own
of being driven by a cow. The justness of this reasoning, or rather the
energy with which it was enunciated, having produced an instantaneous
effect in the dispersion of the crowd, we were suffered to proceed
unmolested, followed by a second donkey laden with provisions.
Our route, immediately after quitting the town, lay near the cliffs
forming the line of coast behind the promontory on which Ancona is
built, in singular contrast to the sandy beach extending northward
towards Sinigaglia and Pesaro. Sometimes the road quite skirted the
edge of the precipice, and deviating from the undulations of the
cliffs, would change the marine to a pastoral landscape, and lead
to paths shaded by trees and flowering hedges, admitting occasional
glimpses of mountains in the distance.
For the next two or three miles, our course lay entirely between
hedges, screening the _possessioni_, or small farms, into which the
land is subdivided, from the road. It was rapidly growing dark; for
it must not be forgotten there is no twilight in Italy, and the moon
was not yet visible; so we had nothing to do but admire the fireflies
which the midshipmen ruthlessly persisted in ensnaring in their caps
and handkerchiefs, or laugh at the efforts of _l'officier marié_, as
our friends had named the young lieutenant, to sustain a conversation
in French. No fear of robbers crossed our minds; the consul and our
countrymen were armed, it is true, but more as a security against
danger in the vicinity of Loretto, than in the unfrequented districts
we were traversing, where there were no travellers or wealthy
house-holders to attract the gangs which swarmed on the papal highways.
At last, after the consul's lamentations on the weariness of the way
had begun to find an echo in our own hearts, we emerged from a narrow
path, shut in by steep banks, upon the casino. But it was not on its
open doors, or the hospitable lights kindling for our reception, that
our eyes were turned. I do not remember being ever so enchanted by
any view as that now presented to us. I know not whether daylight
would rob it of any portion of its beauty and soothing influence;
I can only speak of it as it impressed me then—so calm, so pure, so
still. We were standing on the verge of a lofty cliff that stretched
precipitously forward like a crescent, and formed a bay on whose waters
the moon, which had just risen, poured a flood of trembling silvery
light; while, on one side, dark, ominous, and frowning, rose the mount,
projecting far into the sea, and towering in its sullen grandeur above
the rippling waves which bore their snowy wreaths of foam in tribute to
its feet. Clear and defined against the moonlit sky, with no trees or
verdure to clothe its rocky steeps, there was something inexpressibly
sublime in the aspect of this mountain, and the lonely character of
the surrounding scenery. No sound invaded the perfect quietude of
the hour except the reverential murmur of the sea, and faintly in the
distance, the voices of some fishermen, whose barks were gliding forth,
their sails filling with the evening breeze, and glistening in the
moon-beams.
The preparations for supper were soon completed. The peasants left
in charge of the house had eggs and fruit and wine in readiness, and
Madame V—— had taken care that our donkey's panniers should contain
all the substantial requisites for a repast. The midshipmen delightedly
superintended the laying of the cloth, and then summoned us to table,
where their libations of the sparkling Muscatel, profusely supplied,
did credit to the excellence of our friend the conte's vintage.
When the meal was over, the old _contadina_, who officiated as
housekeeper, her Sunday costume and strings of pearls donned in honour
of our visit, recommended us to take a little sleep before midnight,
at which hour we were to set out for the mount in _birocci_—those
primitive-shaped carts drawn by oxen or cows, that I have elsewhere
minutely described. This reasonable advice the consul forthwith
enforced by example as well as precept, and was soon slumbering
sonorously on a sofa in the dining-room. Not feeling inclined to
follow his admonitions while the moonlight shone almost as bright
as day, we all preferred exploring the casino and strolling in its
vicinity, accompanied by the dear patient _consolessa_, who evidently
did not think the _convenances_ permitted her to lose sight of us, and
consequently protested that she was not in the least fatigued.
The house was soon looked over. No arm-chairs, no couches, no ottomans;
nothing but stiff high-backed cane sofas, that seemed intended for
anything but repose. There was a billiard-room, and a little chapel, or
rather recess, divided by a pair of folding-doors from the principal
sitting-room, where mass was celebrated when the family were in the
country: but we could discover no books or traces of aught resembling
a library. In fact, as I have before remarked, as most Italians
consider reading _a study_, and have no idea of it as a recreation, all
appliances thereto are generally left behind when they come professedly
in search of health and mental relaxation to their _villeggiature_.
From six weeks to two months is the utmost amount of time they devote
for this purpose. What with looking after their farms and a little
shooting, the men get through this period with tolerable satisfaction;
to the ladies, it is always fraught with intense _ennui_.
The resources of floriculture, with rare exceptions, are unknown to
the women of the Marche. There was one lady of rank in Ancona who had
laid out a garden at one of her country-houses with considerable taste.
It was the only innovation I witnessed upon the orthodox quadrangular
enclosure, fenced in by high walls with espaliers of lemons, and little
three-cornered flower-beds, intersected by gravel-paths, which graced
a few of the _casini_ of the wealthiest proprietors. Her example,
however, found no imitators; and with a soil and climate exquisitely
adapted for their cultivation, flowers receive less attention and seem
less prized in the Roman States than in any other part of Italy. Here,
in this secluded villa, where the interest and occupation attendant
on such a pursuit would have beguiled the weariness of the contessa's
banishment from the fleas, bad smells, and stifling atmosphere which
render Ancona, during the hottest months, a somewhat questionable
Elysium, a small wood adjoining the house, a few rose-bushes planted
round cabbages, and two or three cobwebby arbours, were all the
evidences of ornamental gardening we could trace.
About midnight, we heard the slow dragging of wheels, and presently
the peasants of the _possessione_ came up with two _birocci_ to the
gate. Mattresses were then placed at the bottom of each, on which we
were to sit; and after Madame V—— had carefully arranged the cloaks and
shawls her prudent care foresaw would ere long be necessary, we took
our places, and in good earnest commenced the ascent. With a singular
defiance of all engineering, it was carried abruptly up to the tops
of hills, merely to descend with corresponding rapidity on the other
side, reminding me more of the Russian sliding mountains than any other
illustration I can think of, and occasionally becoming so disagreeably
perpendicular, and so distressing to the poor cows, which panted
loudly at every step, that we often preferred getting out to walk, to
overtasking their strength and risking our own safety.
When the moon went down, the air became chill, and all of us gave
tokens of weariness. As it approached three o'clock, our conductors,
pointing to a faint break in the horizon, urged us to hasten our
steps, as day would soon be dawning. Thus admonished, a few minutes
of brisk walking brought us to the top of the mountain, which, so far
as we could distinguish in the dull greyness pervading every object,
was an irregular platform, on three sides overhanging the sea, and on
the fourth commanding a wide, dark, boundless expanse, on which the
blackness of night still rested. A little lower down, in a sheltered
hollow, amid dusky groves of evergreen, cold, stern, and desolate, rose
the white walls of the celebrated Trappist monastery. The strange tales
current of the austerities of its inmates, and of the disappointment or
remorse which had driven them to its seclusion, seemed appropriate to
the surrounding gloom and the spectral aspect of the building, when the
tones of the matin-bell broke the oppressive silence that prevailed,
and the _Ave Maria del giorno_ summoned the monks to their orisons
in the choir. Our guides, reverently uncovering, made the sign of the
cross, and then flung themselves wearily upon the ground, screened by a
low parapet from the wind, which circled in keen gusts around; while we
looked forth upon the sea, and the glowing light that was stealing fast
upon it.
Brighter and brighter grows that radiance, until, as by the lifting of
a veil, the distant peaks of the mountains on the opposite Dalmatian
shores become distinctly visible, thrown into bold relief by the
illuminated background, and we span the breadth and borders of the
beauteous Adriatic. Fleeting as a dream is that unwonted spectacle, for
lo! the glorious sun has leaped upwards from his mountain-bed, and the
glad waters quiver and exult beneath his presence. Higher and higher
still he rises, and Night flies scared before him, as if seeking a
refuge in that vague dim space where yet she holds her sway. It is a
wondrous contrast, the golden sparkling sea and sable land, nature's
mingled waking and repose—but short-lived as wondrous, for like the
gradual uprolling of a scroll, so does the darkness recede which covers
the face of the fair and wide-spread prospect; and hamlets and towns,
hills and valleys, fields thick with corn, olive trees and vineyards,
seem to start into being while we gaze.
The peasants pointed out exultingly a number of towns distinguishable
with the naked eye—Osimo, Loretto, Recanati, Macerata, besides
many others, all with an individual history of their own, in feudal
times having boasted of an independent existence, and waged petty
wars with each other. Nearly a hundred towns and villages are said
to be discernible from this height; but it was not on any of these
in particular that the attention of a stranger would be admiringly
directed, but rather to the grand panoramic effect of the whole,
bounded by its unrivalled background of Apennines, rising in
terrace-like succession, till the last range blended with the clouds.
After nearly an hour's survey—it was much longer according to the
chevalier's impatient calculation, in which he was abetted by the
midshipmen—we prepared to depart. After bidding farewell to our
_birocci_, we descended upon the opposite side of the mount on foot,
accompanied only by a boy to act as guide; not without casting many
lingering looks at the convent, and longing for a glimpse of those
white-robed monks who—each isolated in his own cell, and occupied
in the cultivation of the patch of ground whence he derives his
subsistence—holding no communion of speech without the permission of
the superior, except on three great festivals in the year, and never
permitted to go beyond the walls of the convent—have voluntarily
delivered themselves to a foretaste of the silence and confinement of
the tomb.