"Celebrated alike in arts and in letters, Bologna, 'the mother of
studies,' presents numerous objects of interest to the amateur and to
the scholar. The halls which were trod by Lanfranc and Irnerius, and
the ceilings which glow with the colours of Guido and the Carracci, can
never be neglected by any to whom learning and taste are dear.
"The external appearance of Bologna is singular and striking. The
principal streets display lofty arcades, and the churches, which are
very numerous, confer upon the city a highly architectural character.
But the most remarkable edifices in Bologna are the watch-towers,
represented in the engraving. During the twelfth century, when the
cities of Italy, 'tutte piene di tirranni,' were rivals in arms as
afterwards in arts, watch-towers of considerable elevation were
frequently erected. In Venice, in Pisa, in Cremona, in Modena, and in
Florence these singular structures yet remain; but none are more
remarkable than the towers of the Asinelli and Garisenda in Bologna. The
former, according to one chronicler, was built in 1109, while other
authorities assign it to the year 1119. The Garisenda tower, constructed
a few years later, has been immortalized in the verse of Dante.
"When the poet and his guide are snatched up by the huge Antaeus, the
bard compares the stooping stature of the giant to the tower of the
Garisenda, which, as the spectator stands at its base while the clouds
are sailing from the quarter to which it inclines, appears to be falling
upon his head,
"'As appears
The tower of Cariaenda from beneath
Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud
So sail across that opposite it hangs;
Such then Antaeus seem'd, as at mine ease
I mark'd him stooping.'
"The tower of the Asinelli rises the height of about 350 feet, and is
said to be three feet and a half out of the perpendicular. The
adventurous traveller may ascend to the top by a laborious staircase of
500 steps. Those steps were trod by the late amiable and excellent Sir
James Edward Smith, who has described the view presented at the summit.
'The day was unfavourable for a view; but we could well distinguish
Imola, Ferrara and Modena, as well as the hills about Verona, Mount
Baldus, &c., seeming to rise abruptly from the dead flat which extends
on three sides of Bologna. On the south are some very pleasant hills
stuck with villas.' The Garisenda tower, erected probably by the family
of the Garidendi, is about 130 feet in height, and inclines as much as
eight feet from the perpendicular. It has been conjectured that these
towers were originally constructed as they now appear; but it is
difficult to give credit to such a supposition.
"According to Montfaucon, the celebrated antiquary, the leaning of these
towers has been occasioned by the sinking of the earth. 'We several
times observed the tower called Asinelli, and the other near it, named
Garisenda. The latter of them stoops so much that a perpendicular, let
fall from the top, will be seven feet from the bottom of it; and, as
appears upon examination, when this tower bowed, a great part of it went
to ruin, because the ground that side that inclined stood on was not so
firm as the other, which may be said of all other towers that lean so;
for besides these two here mentioned, the tower for the bells of St.
Mary Zobenica, at Venice, leans considerably to one side. So also at
Ravenna, I took notice of another stooping tower occasioned by the
ground on that side giving way a little. In the way from Ferrara to
Venice, where the soil is marshy, we see a structure of great antiquity
leaning to one side. We might easily produce other instances of this
nature. When the whole structure of the Garisenda stooped, much of it
fell, as appears by the top of it.
"Bologna, like most of the cities of Italy, has been the seat of many
tragical incidents, affording such rich materials for her novelists.
Amongst others, is one which we give in the words of the excellent
critic by whom it is related. 'The family Geremie of Bologna were at the
head of the Guelphs, and that of the Lambertazzi of the Ghibbelines,
who formed an opposition by no means despicable to the domineering
party. Bonifazio Geremei and Imelda Lambertazzi, forgetting the feuds of
their families, fell passionately in love with each other, and Imelda
received her lover into her house. This coming to her brothers'
knowledge, they rushed into the room where the two lovers were, and
Imelda could scarcely escape, whilst one of the brothers plunged a
dagger, poisoned after the Saracen fashion, into Bonifazio's breast,
whose body was thrown into some concealed part of the house and covered
with rubbish. Imelda hastened to him, following the tracks of his blood,
as soon as the brothers were gone; found him, and supposing him not
quite dead, generously, as our own Queen Eleanor had done about the same
time, sucked the poison from the bleeding wound, the only remedy which
could possibly save his life; but it was too late: Imelda's attendants
found her a corpse, embracing that of her beloved Bonifazio.'"
The success of the Landscape Annual is very far from problematical. All
our _travelled_ nobility and people of fortune will buy it to refresh
their acquaintance with the beautiful scenes it includes; and it is
hardly possible to imagine a more agreeable book-companion on the
journey itself.
* * * * *