It was at this time that I made the acquaintance of a certain Pole, who had been the most intimate friend of Cardinal Hosius.[133] This man presented to me two copies of a book which he had written with great care concerning the cardinal’s death. The pleasure of a sojourn in this city becomes vastly greater by usage. I never breathed air more pleasant or more healthy to my temperament.
On the 18th of April I went to view the inside of the palace of Signor Giov. Giorgio Cesarini, which contains countless rare antiquities, the most noteworthy of which are the authentic busts of Zeno, Possidonius, Euripides, and Carneades, according to the very ancient Greek inscriptions which are thereon. I saw also portraits of the fairest Roman ladies of the present day and of the owner’s wife, the Signora Clælia Fascia Farnese, who, though she may not be the most beautiful, is assuredly the most amiable lady in Rome; or, for all I know, in the whole world.[134] This nobleman boasts descent from the race of the Cæsars, and by this right carries the banner of the Roman nobility. He is a rich man, and he bears for arms the column with the bear attached thereto, and above the column an eagle with outspread wings. The vineyards are amongst the most beautiful features of Rome, and these are in season in midsummer.
PALAZZO FARNESE
Reproduced from Piranesi’s Views of Rome
To face p. 178, vol. ii.
VIII
ROME TO LORETO
On Wednesday, April 19th, I quitted Rome after dinner, being escorted as far as the Ponte Molle by Messieurs de Marmontie,[135] De la Trimouille, Du Bellay, and divers other gentlemen. When we had crossed the bridge we turned to the right, leaving to our left the high-road to Viterbo by which we had entered Rome, and having on our right the Tiber and the mountains. We followed a road, exposed and very uneven, running through a barren country void of inhabitants, and passed the spot known as the Prima porta, i.e. the first gate, situated seven miles from Rome. Some hold that the ancient walls of Rome reached to this point, but I cannot see how this can be true. Along this road, which is the ancient Via Flaminia, are situated divers rare antiquities about which nought is known. After riding sixteen miles, we arrived at bedtime at Castel Nuovo.
This is a small village belonging to the Colonnas, lying buried amongst the low hills, in a situation which strongly reminded me of the fertile passes in our Pyrenees on the road to Aigues Caudes. On the next day, April 20th, we went on through the same sort of country, mountainous but very pleasing, fertile, and well peopled, till we arrived at a gorge beside the Tiber in which was situated Borghetto, a small village belonging to Duke Ottavio Farnese. We resumed our journey when we had dined, and, after traversing an exceedingly pleasant valley with low hills on either side, we crossed the Tiber at Corde,[136] where may still be seen vast piles of stone, the ruins of the bridge which Augustus caused to be built in order that the country of the Sabines, towards which we were travelling, might be united to that of the Faliscii on the other side of the river. We next came to Otricoli, a small village belonging to the cardinal of Perugia,[137] in front of which, in a very fine situation, are some large and important ruins. The country, mountainous and exceedingly pleasant of aspect, is everywhere broken and uneven, but very fertile and populous. On this road we passed an inscription which proclaimed how the Pope had made and levelled this road, which he called Viam Boncompagnam after his own name. This custom, a common one in Italy and Germany, of thus setting up a written record as a testimony of works of this sort, is an excellent stimulus to urge on men of that temper which recks little of the public weal to execute some useful work, from the hope of gaining fame and reputation thereby. In sooth this road was formerly, for the most part of the way, uncomfortable to travel, whereas now it has been made level enough for coaches as far as Loreto. After travelling ten miles we arrived in time for bed at Narni, which in Latin is called Narnia.
This little town belongs to the Church. It stands on the top of a rock at the base of which flows the river Negra, or in Latin Nar, one side of the town being situated so as to overlook a pleasant plain through which the river goes joyously along and winds in marvellous fashion. In the public place is a very fine fountain. I went to see the cathedral, and remarked that the tapestry therein bears divers inscriptions and rhymes written in our old French tongue. I was not able to ascertain whence it came, although I learned from the people of the place that they had always been well disposed towards our nation. This tapestry shows forth the story of the Passion and occupies one entire side of the nave. For the reason that Pliny declares that in this country is found a certain sort of earth which softens with the heat and dries up in the rain, I made inquiries of the inhabitants concerning the same, but they could tell me nought thereof. About a mile distant there are some springs of cold water which work the same effects as our hot ones. Certain patients still make trial of them, but they are in no great repute. The inn, judged by the Italian standard, was a good one. We had no candles, all the house being lighted by oil.
Early on the morning of the 21st, we went down the very pleasant valley along which runs the Negra. This stream we crossed by a bridge at the very gates of Terni,[138] where in the public place, we remarked a very ancient column still upright. I found no inscription thereon, but at the side is an effigy of a lion in relief, below which is a dedication to Neptune in ancient characters, and also Neptune himself sculptured in marble with his customary train.[139] In this same place is an inscription in a prominent position in honour of a certain A. Pompeius A. F. The people of the town, which was known as Interamnia, because of the river Negra which passes close on one side and of a brook which flows on the other, erected a statue to this man in memory of the services which he had wrought, but it is no longer to be seen. I calculated the antiquity of the inscription aforesaid by the use made of diphthongs in writing periculeis and other similar words. The town occupies a very pleasant site. At the bottom of the valley, by the road we had traversed, the level ground is very fertile, and farther on the sides of the hills are populous and well tilled, the abundance of olive trees making a picture as fair as the eye could wish, while here and there along these slopes arise tall mountains, which display themselves well cultivated and productive of all manner of fruits up to the very tops. For the last four-and-twenty hours I had been grievously tormented with colic, and at this moment the pain was at its worst, but I did not on this account fail to enjoy the beauty of the country around me.