Dr. A. In the vicinity of Rome there are many spots which will furnish a very eligible residence during the hot weather, such are Albano, Frascati, Tivoli, Castel Gandolfo.
Mr. B. After what you have said, I think it is scarcely worth while for an invalid to encounter the fatigues of so long a journey; but you have not yet mentioned Florence.
Dr. A. Its climate is almost as changeable as our own, and far more mischievous, as its Siberian winds alternate with a temperature equal to that of our finest days in spring. The summer, however, is delightful, the heat being greatly tempered by the Apennines. Bicchierai, an Italian Physician of eminence, used to say, that he wondered how any body could live at Florence in the winter, or die there in the summer.
Mr. B. Upon the whole you have presented me with a very discouraging view of the Italian Climate; and I have always understood that Lisbon is intolerable to an Englishman from its filth.
Dr. A. Lisbon is out of the question: the character of its climate may be summed up in a few words. Its winter temperature is neither mild nor equable, and its spring is remarkable for dense and cold fogs; and as to what an Englishman calls comfort, there is not a city in the world where it is so systematically neglected.
Mr. B. Suppose I wave the objections to a sea voyage and set sail for Sicily?
Dr. A. In that case you will undoubtedly find a fine climate, superior in most respects to that of the Italian continent. The winter and spring seasons are remarkably mild, provided you select Palermo for your residence; Messina is exposed to cold piercing easterly winds from the mountains of Calabria.
Mr. B. I have heard Catania well spoken of.
Dr. A. Its atmosphere is too sulphureous; in addition to which every egress from the town is difficult and unpleasant, owing to the lava from the Volcano. But there is in my opinion an insuperable objection to the Sicilian climate from the extreme heat of its summer, from which the invalid cannot easily escape.