The cathedral is a fine building, in the same style of architecture as that at Sienna, and, like it, is built of black and white marble. The celebrated Campanella, or belfry, is a lofty square tower, detached from the church, and built in a fine and light style; when I was there it was closed, and I had not time to repeat my visit, so that I did not see the interior. One evening I went to the Pergola, a very fine and large theatre: it is extremely simple and elegant, the ground-colour being shining white, relieved by light gilt ornaments, and the opera and ballet were in a style of corresponding elegance. I went once to see the house of Dante, now called the Palazzo Dante, and the residence of the French Ambassador. Near it is also the dwelling place of the two Guicciardini.
9th. We quitted Florence this morning for Genoa, and drove on to Pistoja in two hours and a half. The road runs through a long continued row of villages and villas, linked together by the graceful festoons of the green vine. The plain is covered with Italian vineyards, in which the vines are trained from tree to tree, very different from those of Germany. The villages are full of roses; and the nearer hills are spotted with white houses, rising among the green trees, and beyond them appears a chain of loftier snow-tipped mountains. The inhabitants of the villages were all sitting in the sun before their doors, chiefly employed in plaiting straw for the Leghorn hats. The drive from Pistoja to Lucca is most beautiful; the land is in high cultivation, and appears to be very rich. The mountains became grander, more rugged and bolder, as we approached the Lucchese territory, which we entered about eight miles from Lucca. The ramparts surrounding the town are all planted with lofty trees, which perfectly conceal the houses beyond them, so that, with the exception of one or two towers, no part of the town is visible from without the walls. The streets are old, narrow, and dirty, and the cathedral is an awkward building, the front of which is formed of rows of small arches, one above another, surmounted by a gigantic uncouth white angel, in whose head was stuck a great dry bush.
10th. We quitted Lucca at seven in the morning, and from the top of the hill beyond it, I discovered the straight blue line of the Mediterranean. Descending the hill, and driving about ten miles through groves of olives and rows of poplars, from which the vines hung down in long single festoons, we passed the boundary of the Lucchese territory, and entered the small dukedom of Massa-Carrara, and shortly after into the town of Massa, a neat and airy though old town. White marble is generally used here for the stairs, and for the facings of the doors and windows. Whilst dinner was preparing, I took a walk up to the old castle above the town, now emphatically called the fortress. Its only garrison, however, seemed to consist of four or five soldiers, who were provided with one old rusty cannon. The view from the ruined battlements was highly beautiful: in front lay the wide sea, glancing in the beams of the sun, so bright that the eye could not bear to look upon it; to the left, in the distance, appeared the island of Gorgona, rising like a dark blue rock out of the glittering waves; to the right, two smaller islands were seen, beyond which appeared promontory upon promontory, conveying their woods of olives far out into the sea. Below the castle a vast plain covered with vineyards and groves of olives was seen, stretching down to the edge of the water, intersected by a silvery river winding among the trees, whilst immediately under the hill, and half hidden by it, lay Massa, like the plan of a town spread open before me. Beyond it were seen the wooded hills leading to Carrara, and behind the castle rose rocky and rugged mountains, here and there spotted with a field or two of remaining snow, and, like the Alps, hiding their lofty heads in dark grey clouds.
Quitting Massa, we drove over a noble bridge of one lofty arch built entirely of white marble, and after winding across a long hill, we passed through Carrara, near which, in one of the lateral vallies, are the celebrated marble quarries. A little beyond this village we entered the Piedmontese territory and the dominions of the King of Sardinia, and soon arrived at Sarzana, a small ill-looking town. It being Sunday, the road and town were covered with peasants in their holiday suits: the dress of the women is one of the oddest I have yet seen; they wear no stockings, and their clothes seem huddled on all in a bundle; their hair is drawn away from their foreheads, and tied up behind in a bag of silk, of different colours, some red, some blue, some black, and always with three or four tassels hanging down from the end, whilst on the top of this bag is stuck the funniest little straw hat possible, looking much like a soup plate turned topsy-turvy, and made of frizzled straw, ornamented with coloured ribbons. The women of a higher rank wear white veils over their heads, and no bags.
11th. Leaving Sarzana, we crossed the river Magara in a ferry-boat, and after a pleasant drive arrived at Spezia, a small narrow-streeted town, beautifully situated at the head of the gulf of Spezia, and surrounded on the side near the sea by spacious walks and groves of acacias, which were covered with their long white blossoms, and exhaled a most delightful perfume. In the middle of the gulf, not far from the town, we were informed that a spring of fresh water rises through the sea, forming a pool of fresh water of thirty to forty yards in circumference in the middle of the salt-water. I had however no time to visit this phenomenon, for Sir Humphry wished to be read to for an hour or two, and we shortly after quitted Spezia and with it the sea, and drove on to Borghetto, a little miserable village, the road to which was not yet finished, and very bad, though running through a beautiful valley, much resembling some of those of Austria, with its clear stream and finely wooded mountains.
12th. We quitted Borghetto early, and winding over a very long and high mountain for four hours, we again saw the sea, two or three thousand feet below us, spotted by many a white flitting sail. In the distance was Gorgona, and still further, scarcely visible to the eye, the hazy blue line of Corsica, which was however soon lost to us. A great part of the mountain was composed of serpentine, with which also the roads were mended. From the top we looked down upon other mountains, covered with villages, but very barren, a few olive groves here and there being the only mark of vegetation. At the bottom of the hill we passed through Sestri, a pretty little town close upon the sea, and from thence over a beautiful road on the sea shore to Chiavari, a larger town, rather more distant from the sea, and partly hidden by trees, above which rose its white steeples and some of its houses. The gulf of Sestri is far more beautiful and diversified even than that of Spezia.
13th. We quitted Chiavari this morning for Genoa. The road is beautiful and romantic, running for miles along the side of a mountain, and hanging perpendicularly over the sea, which lies many hundred feet below it. In many parts it appears very dangerous, and were the carriage to upset, the traveller would be instantly precipitated into the waves below. Between Chiavari and Rapal there are two tunnels cut through the solid rock. This latter place is a very pretty village or small town, close upon the sea, and the whole country round it seems very populous; country-houses, villas, and farms, appearing on all sides among the vineyards and olive woods. At the top of the last hill, after leaving Rapal, we came to another tunnel, which was carried through the summit for one hundred yards or more, and presented us with one of the most striking views possible. Looking through the mountain we first saw the blue and tranquil sea, with a few passing sails, then presently rose to view, as it were out of the ocean, the white and glittering towers of Genova la superba, and its field of masts, scarcely visible to the eye. Emerging from the tunnel the view became more extensive, for we could trace the road to Genoa, about ten miles off, running along the mountains somewhat above the sea, and lined with villages and villas lying upon the sides of the hills, which, however, were not so finely wooded as those we had just passed. This city of palaces much disappointed me, and does not at all answer to its splendid appearance from a distance; it seems like two different towns brought together from the opposite parts of the world, and built for very different inhabitants. The upper part of the city consists of magnificent streets, or rather rows of marble palaces, while the streets of the lower town form only an assemblage of dirty and narrow lanes. Our hotel, La Villa, looks out upon the harbour, which is chiefly filled with small craft. In the middle of the gulf, however, were three frigates in full sail, which were bearing the King of Sardinia and his suite to Naples.
14th-17th. Sir Humphry has determined to remain here two or three days to recover from the fatigues of the journey hither. Dr. Davy, who was to have left us here and return to Malta, has determined upon accompanying his brother to Geneva. I generally read to Sir Humphry the greater part of the day, but I went on the 15th for a couple of hours upon one of the hills behind the town, and took a sketch of it as it lay stretched out beneath me. The hills are indeed rather barren, and this, combined with the scarcity of fish, speak for the truth of at least a part of the following proverb,
Mare senza pesce,
Montagne senza legno,
Donna senza pudore,