SPEZIA.
Spezia, on arrival, appeared beauteous, and, though a tolerably large town, quite rural after Genoa. We drove to a large new hotel, the Croce di Malta, the omnibus entering the hall of the hotel itself, which we found to be spacious, with long flights of stairs and lofty ceilings, and profusion of white marble,—in fact, the use of marble for some purposes might well enough have been dispensed with. However, Spezia is a summer and not a winter place, and these cool appearances must be very grateful to the summer visitors. The Genoese largely resort to it in summer months, and I suppose the sea-bathing obtained at its beach is excellent. During our visit the weather was intensely cold, and we had the utmost difficulty in heating our lofty rooms with fires of a soft wood which rapidly burnt down. But what was thus a source of discomfort, added a charming effect to the landscape. Snow had fallen, and the Carrara Mountains (some of them between 5000 and 6000 feet high), which are seen from Spezia, lying to the south, were covered with a mantle whiter, perhaps, than the white marble they contain, ranges of hills and mountains of a lower height in their own green clothing lying between. Add to this fine effect the splendid harbour to which nature has so much contributed, containing the great arsenal of Italy, and the bay filled with large men-of-war, at one time riding at anchor, at another steaming about in order to exercise their crews, the handsome many-storied ranges of buildings fronting the shore, and behind them the town with a ruined castle on a height, and rising directly in the north a huge protecting wall of high mountains, and the panoramic picture is complete. A London artist who was there at the time (Mr. Pilleau), and whom we afterwards met at almost every place which we visited in Italy, made a drawing in colours of the scene, with the Carrara Mountains in the background; and I do not think that there was among all his Italian drawings, which he subsequently kindly showed us, one which had a finer pictorial effect.
We arrived on the Saturday. English service was held in a room of the hotel on the Sunday, and was well attended in the forenoon; but, in accordance with a too common laxity of practice, few attended in the afternoon. The Monday was a warmer day, and we enjoyed a ramble and ascended the hill lying to the back of the town, from which we had a grand view of the Gulf of Spezia, which is a tongue of sea running up northward from the Mediterranean, and studded by islands at the entrance. A delightful drive may be had to Porto Venere (more charming when leaves are out), but we did not feel it sufficiently warm to hazard the exposure.
It would undoubtedly have been a gratification to have seen the arsenal and the large 100-ton gun, but we were informed that it was necessary to obtain from Rome a permission to see them, and this difficulty put it beyond our power.
We remained three nights at Spezia, and on Tuesday morning left for Pisa, the weather having again become raw and cold.
The journey to Pisa occupied about four hours. We passed many interesting places, and among others the Carrara quarries. Immense quantities of the white marble, quarried from the hills adjoining the railway, lay at the stations ready for transport. The quarrying of this famous marble, the purer quality of which is of close grain (the fine statuary marble), is a source of employment to a vast number of workmen. When the traveller has time to spare, it is no doubt worth stopping a few hours between trains to visit the place. At last we arrived in sight of Pisa, and as we entered the town got a glimpse from the carriage windows of the buildings which have made it celebrated.
PISA.
The weather was cold, and lunch hardly helped to warm us, so we speedily set out to get a brisk walk and see the lions. We had hardly emerged from the door of the Hotel de Londres when we were waylaid by one of the loitering guides. We could not shake him off, and engaged him at 3 francs. He proved of little use beyond taking us the most direct route to the objects in view by a handsome bridge over the Arno, which is probably from 300 to 400 feet wide; but it was then in full flood, the snow melting on the mountains bringing down much water. Proceeding up a long street, we came at the end of it, on the outskirts of the town, to the Piazza del Duomo, where are congregated all that may be said to make Pisa famous in the world—its cathedral, its baptistery, its Campo Santo, and its leaning tower. Here we stood face to face with what had been familiar to me through pictures from boyhood as ‘the seventh wonder of the world.’ Whether it be the seventh or the seventieth wonder of the world, I don’t know, but it was with a strange feeling I thus for the first time saw the reality. The day was too cold to venture the ascent to the top, from which there is an extensive view. Controversy exists as to whether the fact of the inclination is due to design or to subsidence of the ground. I think the latter is the real or more likely cause, the more especially as to all appearance the baptistery also is off the vertical. The bell tower or Campanile (178 feet high) is one of those detached belfries not uncommon in Italy, and of which few specimens occur in England. A rather uneasy feeling is produced in hearing the bells ring, and thinking of the vibration to which doubtless the motion subjects a building which seems as if ready of itself to topple over. We were glad to take refuge from the cold in the cathedral, constructed of marble, and eight hundred years old. Unfortunately, the sun being under cloud, we could not see it to the same advantage as if it had been a clear day. In length it exceeds 300 feet. The transept is over 250 feet. The interior, divided into aisles by double rows of columns, is a wonderful collection of enrichment of all kinds—pictures, statuary, carved marble, bronzes, articles in gold and silver, and finely-ornamented pulpits and altars. We afterwards saw many cathedrals and churches in Italy, but none to compare with this cathedral in its peculiar description of magnificence. St. Peter’s of Rome and St. Mark’s of Venice have their own distinguishing characteristics entitling them to the first rank, but the Cathedral of Pisa is just as much worthy of honour in its own line for what it contains.
From the cathedral we stepped across the piazza to the baptistery, where we were so fortunate as to witness two new-born unhappy infants undergoing the ceremony of baptism; which, indeed, was rather a serious ordeal, as the poor little things, not a day old, were well rubbed with oil, besides being sprinkled with water and tickled with salt.[28] The priest rattled through the service with great rapidity, the women uttering the responsive amen at apparently the right places with promptitude, as if quite accustomed to it. Before the priest came in, I asked one of the women what was to be the name. ‘Would you give it?’ was the reply. The building, thus detached from the church like the Campanile (of which other specimens occur in Italy), is circular, 100 feet in diameter, surmounted by a dome 190 feet high. It is an exquisite piece of workmanship, the font and pulpit being peculiarly rich; the sculpture outside is also good. Within the building there was a great ring of sound or hollow echo when the priest read the service.
Leaving the baptistery, we rung the bell at the door of the Campo Santo, and were admitted. It is small in size compared with that at Genoa, and of a very different description and interest. Its age is great, about seven hundred years having passed since it was founded. In shape it is a parallelogram, probably about 400 feet long by about 150 feet wide. The walls are covered with curious frescoes, some of which are getting indistinct. Round the enclosure and by the walls, under cover, many fine monuments in marble, old and new, mingled together, are disposed more like objects in a museum than as forming memorials in a place of sepulture. The interior court or burial-ground is said to have been made up of earth (fifty-three ship-loads) brought from Mount Calvary or some other place near Jerusalem.