30th. We this morning quitted Rome by the same gate through which we entered, and dined at Baccano, where we found the inn thronged with strangers, chiefly English, all flocking to the north. A few miles beyond Monte Rosa we turned out of our former road, and drove on to Ronciglione, a small village of dark black houses, in the midst of which rises a newly white-washed church and cupola, like a shining light in the village of darkness.
1st May. Leaving Ronciglione, we passed by the Lago di Vigo, a small lake, which lay beneath us as we wound up a very steep hill, from the top of which we enjoyed a magnificent view. In the plain beneath us lay Horace's Soracte; and beyond this mountain, and stretching towards the north as far as the eye could reach, the chain of the Appenines, whose lower regions were clad in the fresh green of spring, while the higher ridges were mostly covered with snow, above which rose the more distant summits of the Velino and many other snowy peaks, now hidden by light fleeting clouds, and then again glittering in a morning sun. At the bottom of the hill we passed through Viterbo, and after a drive of some hours over a hilly country, we came to Montefiascone, a small place, celebrated for its wine, which, if the following anecdote be true, once cost a reverend prelate his life. He was a great friend of good wines, and when on a journey used always to send a courier on before to taste the wines of the different places through which he was to pass, and when it was good he was ordered to write to his master est bonum, and when remarkably good, est, est. On tasting the wine at Montefiascone, the courier wrote est, est, est bonum, and his judgment seemed to have been right; for when his right reverend master arrived, he drank such a quantity of it that it occasioned his death. From the hill on which the town stands is a fine view of the lake of Bolsena, which appears to be the crater of an immense volcano of a former world. In the middle of the water rise two islands of solid rock, seemingly basalt, which is found in considerable quantity on the banks, and appears in some very remarkable formations near Bolsena, and the whole country around is volcanic tufa. Bolsena is the ancient capital of the Etruscans; it lies rather above the road, and we did not pass through it, but drove on to St. Lorenzo, a miserable collection of a few houses, where we stopped for the night at a very bad inn.
2nd. The first town after leaving St. Lorenzo was Aquapendente, a small and very ancient place, romantically situated in a rocky ravine. Between this town and Radicofani we left the Papal territories, and entered Tuscany. Radicofani is a small and very old town, on the brow of a steep hill, which is surmounted by an ancient ruined castle. The change in the Italian pronunciation almost instantly strikes the ear; for here a guttural sound is always predominant. The dress of the peasants also seems to have changed with the change of country; instead of the white and stiffly-starched handkerchiefs of the Roman females, laid in a square upon the head, and falling down the back, we now meet women with pretty black turbans, which give them a much more picturesque appearance; many of them also wear men's hats, only adding one or more black feathers as ornament. In this neighbourhood grows the famous wine of Monte-pelluciano, called by Redi, Il re dei vini. It was not, however, at all to my taste, for it seemed to me a strong, rough, red wine. The green-jacketed postilions of the Pope have disappeared, and in their place we met with red jackets, turned up with black. Having dined at Radicofani, we drove on through a hilly and barren country to La Scala, a lone house, where the vetturini stop for the night.
3rd. We quitted La Scala early, and passing through the same hilly and uninteresting country, arrived and dined at Buonconvento, a small and rather more modern town than any we have yet seen. After dinner we went on to Sienna, and the country became rather more interesting, being now and then diversified with country houses and villas. The roads are excellent, and very well kept. Sienna lies very high, and is seen from a considerable distance, especially two of its towers; one of them very lofty and slender, and the other streaked alternately with black and white lines, just like a Prussian boundary-post. We entered the town by a spacious old brick gateway, and driving through a long and wide street, paved with broad flagstones, arrived at the Aquila Nera, a very good inn. With the exception of the chief street, the others seem narrow and dark. Sienna is remarkable for the pure Tuscan which the inhabitants speak, as a proof of which they relate the following anecdote:—A preacher of some celebrity being on the road to Sienna, to edify its inhabitants with an oration, met a peasant girl on the road, and asked her how far distant he was from the town? She replied to him—
"Sbarcate il fiume, salite il monte,
Avrete Sienna in fronte."
The orator is said to have been so astonished at hearing these words from a peasant, that he instantly gave up his intention of preaching to such connoisseurs of Italian, and returned from whence he came. Not only for its pure language is Sienna famous, but also for its beautiful women; and this very justly, for no where have I seen so many well-made and handsome figures as in the streets of this town. The cathedral is one of the strangest buildings I ever saw; it is entirely built of alternate layers of black and white marble, and the Prussian boundary-post which we saw from a distance is its chief tower. The portico is a fine, but very incongruous piece of Gothic architecture; pillars of all sorts and sizes are intermingled with statues of saints, bas-reliefs, horses' heads, and the gaping mouths of dragons, some gilt, some bronze, and others in white marble. The black marble in the interior seemed to overpower the white, and threw a strange and unearthly gloom over the broad aisles as I saw them in the dusk of evening, hung with flags, and lighted with a few flickering tapers, which hardly served to discover here and there some solitary devotee, praying at the altar of his patron saint.
In the evening, after reading to Sir Humphry, I went for an hour to the theatre, where I found a juggler amusing a numerous and delighted assembly with his tricks.
4th. This was a very rainy day, and Sir Humphry determined to remain at Sienna, to rest himself from the fatigue of the journey, which he has, however, borne much better than could have been expected. In the morning I went again to the cathedral, to see the paintings of Raphael. They are painted on the walls of the sacristy, and represent scenes from the life of Clement II. It is said they were only designed by Raphael when he was very young, and afterwards coloured by another master; good judges, however, can alone decide upon this point. In the same room are some beautifully illuminated old missals, and a fine marble monument by Ricchi, to the memory of the celebrated anatomist Mascagni, who was a native of Sienna. It represents a weeping female in a sitting posture, holding a scroll in her hand, on which is an inscription in letters of gold, and around her lie different anatomical instruments and books. In the middle of the room, on a lofty pedestal, is an antique group in marble, representing the three Graces. They were found in repairing the foundations of the church, and, though much mutilated, are beautifully executed, and may probably have given Canova the idea of his Graces, as the sacristan told me he had repeatedly visited them, and spent much time in the study of them. The cathedral also contains many fine pictures of very ancient date, one as early as the year 1280. The pulpit of African marble is very remarkable for the beauty of its sculpture, and the inlaid and carved pavement before the altar is also very curious, but its chief boast is the possession of one of the arms of John the Baptist; it however has lost its little finger, which a bishop of Florence is said to have bitten off through envy, while devoutly kissing the relic. St. John's head is said to be at Genoa, and I suppose his other limbs are to be found in some part of Italy.
5th. It rained heavily this morning, but cleared up before we left Sienna. The country at first is rather barren and hilly, but improves the nearer we approach to Florence. Tavernelle, where we stopped to dine and bait the horses, is a small and insignificant village; the country beyond it becomes very pretty; the road is bordered with neat villages and villas, from the gardens of which immense clusters of roses hang over the walls, and the distant hills are covered with fine wood, and with the beautiful fan pine. We saw Florence in the valley of the Arno long before we reached it; in itself smaller than I expected it, but surrounded on all sides by innumerable villas and hamlets, peeping through the fine woods, or standing in the midst of beautifully cultivated fields. We entered the city by the Porta Romana, a plain old brick gateway, and drove to the Hôtel de l'Europe, where we were splendidly and comfortably lodged.
6th-9th. We remained these days at Florence, that Sir Humphry might a little recruit his strength; and during this time, at intervals when he did not want me to read to him, I saw as much as I could of the curiosities of this magnificent capital. The celebrated gallery, which is perhaps its greatest attraction, I was only able just to look at, having but two hours to devote to it. The anatomical cabinet of preparations in wax is undoubtedly the finest thing of its kind existing, and shows what effects patience and perseverance can produce, being chiefly the work of one person. Many rooms are filled with glass cases, containing the most beautiful and exact representations of the structure of the human body in all its parts, moulded in wax. The finest and most intricate parts of the human frame are delineated and traced with a distinctness and exactitude hardly to be conceived, and the slightest ramifications of the nerves and vessels have been followed with a clearness and accuracy rarely seen in the most exact preparations of the best cabinets of anatomy. The collection is not confined only to the anatomy of the human body, but contains also numerous specimens of comparative anatomy, amongst which is a most beautiful one of a fish, with all its internal organs. In the museum annexed to the anatomical cabinet are also three representations of the plague at Florence, describing this terrific scourge with a horrible and disgusting accuracy. This, and all other collections, are open on certain days, and at fixed hours, to the public, and any one is allowed to enter, and without paying.