1819.
On the 24th of May I left Lucca. After crossing a low part of the ridge, which forms the western boundary of the valley of the Serchio, the road lies along a wide plain, extending from the mountains to the sea. It is said to be marshy in many parts, but except in one or two places, this is hid from the eye by the luxuriant vegetation. The immediate neighbourhood of the road abounds in olives. On the right are chesnut-covered mountains, whose craggy summits were lost in the clouds. At Pietra Santa there is a Gothic cathedral with a rose window. The columns of the nave are of a beautiful, reddish breccia. There is another church with a Gothic front in that town. Massa stands at the entrance of a fine valley opening among the Apennines, and watered by a brilliant stream. Carrara is at some distance up another valley, sheltered by bold and craggy mountains, which have a look of greater solidity than is common among the Apennines. The road between the two cities passes over a ridge, which seems principally to consist of a dark, bituminous limestone. The marble quarries occupy three or four descending ridges, uniting in a lofty mountain called Monte Sagro, which exhibited a few spots of snow; but it did not appear to be one of the highest in the district. On leaving Carrara we ascend by the side of a little brook, which runs through it, and soon arrive at the beds of dove-coloured marble, here called bardiglio: higher up the valley are the beds of white marble. They are very much inclined, but not following any common direction. Only a few of these beds produce marble of such a grain and transparency as to be highly prized by the statuary; and from these beds, if they get one block in ten which preserves a good colour throughout, they are satisfied; higher up still, the marble becomes of a dull, dead colour, but of this much larger blocks may be obtained. The principal quarries of veined marble are in a parallel valley, which I did not visit.
There is a Cathedral at Carrara, which seems to have been begun in imitation of that at Pisa. It is in five divisions below, but each division except the centre has two arches. In the upper part there are slender shafts and pointed arches to the raking semigables of the side aisles, but a richly ornamented square, with an elegant rose-window in its centre, occupies great part of the middle division of the building. The smaller structure, which no doubt was to have crowned the truncated gable, has never been erected. There is a school of sculpture at Carrara, in which at least the materials of study are to be found. Great attention has been very properly paid to architectural ornament, but the effect has not been happy, as the productions are dry and tasteless, though considerable mechanical skill is displayed.
After having seen the lions of Carrara I engaged a carriage to Lerici. The wide valley of the Magra divides the hills which surround the gulf of Spezia from the mass of the Apennines. I walked to the old castle at Lerici, picturesquely situated on an advancing point, which sheltering the little cove behind it, forms the harbour. On Wednesday, in spite of the bad weather, I visited the island of Palmari, close to Porto Venere at the mouth of the gulf of Spezia, where are the quarries of black and yellow marble; this gives hardly any smell on rubbing. The beds dip about eight degrees to the north, or a little to the east of north. Some cliffs in the island appear of a pale gray or buffish limestone, with yellowish veins, probably the effect of exposure. From this island we command fine views of the noble gulf of Spezia, which is everywhere beautiful, although the shapes of the mountains which bound it on the north, are perhaps rather lumpish. On the opposite side, the lower slopes are covered with olives, above are vines and chesnuts, but many of the summits are rocky and naked. The quarantine for the port of Genoa is established in a cove in this gulf.
On the evening of the 27th I went on board a felucca to go to Genoa. We crossed the gulf almost in a calm, and then a contrary wind detained us at Porto Venere. I had predicted this result, but the master assured me so positively from all his past experience, that there was no danger of such an event, that I was persuaded to accompany him, not however without contemplating the possibility of getting out and walking. I do not often complain of fleas, but they swarmed so in this instance, as to hasten my determination of going by land. Accordingly, after one night in the boat, finding another passenger in the same disposition, we hired a little open boat for La Spezia, and thence walked to Borghetto.
I found my companion fidgetty and fretful. He was a Frenchman, almost ignorant of the Italian language, but seemed to have very little inclination for talking. A mile or two before Borghetto he met an Italian priest, with whom he entered into conversation in dog Latin; and he liked his new companion so much better than the old, that on arriving at the inn at Borghetto, he told the landlord that I should sleep there, but that the priest and himself were going on immediately, on horseback. It was really my intention to stay, but I had not said so, and therefore considered this as a declaration that he wished to get rid of me. However, he soon quarrelled with the landlord about his bill, and about his horses and his luggage; and abusing the priest for throwing difficulties in the way, said he should give up proceeding for that night, and walk with me in the morning; but I had no more inclination for his company, than he had before witnessed for mine, and told him that I intended to proceed on horseback; and the priest very good humouredly offering to accompany him on foot that evening to Matarano, they made it up, and set off together, and I saw no more of them.
The next morning I procured a horse and rode two posts to Matarano, but how many miles my informants disagreed. The rocks in general were covered with a loamy soil, but one hill was remarkably black, and broke so like coal, that I could not persuade myself that it was not so, till I found it did not stain my fingers. At Matarano I obtained another horse to carry me to Bracco. The road is continually up and down hill, though always at a very considerable elevation. The country is excessively rugged; it seemed nature grown poor and old.
I afterwards pursued my journey on foot to Chiavari. A long descent from Bracco brought me to the sea-shore, where I met an Englishman, who asked me some questions in French. I replied in the same language: he then said “Stop,” and began to feel in his pocket for a paper of directions. I said, that since I perceived he was an Englishman, I should answer him in English. He started from me, “God bless me, I am an Englishman.” His surprise seeming to be not so much at finding me one, as at discovering for the first time that he was so himself. He said he had walked 1,500 miles in France, and never in his whole journey used any sort of carriage except now and then a boat to cross a ferry or a bay. He was very anxious that I should return with him to Ponte di Sestri, which I had passed about a mile before, and take a glass of wine with him; but I was neither disposed to drink nor to return.
The next morning was wet at first, and the clouds hung low all day, yet I had a very pleasant walk to Areco. This day’s journey was mostly along the old road, which is very hilly; the new one is to keep a better level, and when completed will be a noble work. The present way takes advantage of a tunnel cut for a considerable distance, which will make part of the new road.
At Areco I found a carriage going to Genoa, and procured a place in it for three lire. By the way we passed Rapalo, which is, I think, the most beautiful part of the gulf, and carriages are frequently passing from thence to Genoa, so that it is very accessible.