Wanderings through the cities of Italy in 1850 and 1851. ... Translated by Mrs. P. Sinnett

Preface

BY THE TRANSLATOR. Under the influence of the circumstances that have of late given so great an impulse to travelling, the facility of obtaining information concerning any country, as far as it depends upon books, may mostly be calculated in the inverse ratio of its distance. Few are now so familiar to English readers, as those which lie on the opposite side of the globe ; and there is sometimes none which — beyond the limits of personal knowledge or that derived from newspapers — it is more diffi cult for us to become acquainted with, as with England itself. Statistical Reports, and Blue Books, do, indeed, contain in abundance the materials of such knowledge ; but few readers have time or patience for the labo rious process of sifting these dry heaps, with sufficient care to extract the golden grain. For neighbouring1 continental countries these

PREFACE.

. IV resources are seldom at our command — indeed seldom in existence ; and though it is true great numbers of our countrymen and country women visit them, and may be supposeel to judge for themselves, these tourists constitute after all only a small minority of the great reading public. The following Volumes, there fore, may perhaps be acceptable, as the most recent report on the present aspect of Italy. Tbe Author visited the Italian cities, apparently for no other purpose than for the pleasure these rambles afforded him. He is wedded to no theory of politics or art ; en ters into no profound disquisitions, classical or æsthetic ; he is even amusingly anxious to disclaim the character of a learned traveller, having, perhaps, like most of his educated countrymen, suffered in his youth from over doses of classical erudition ; and in matters of art he claims, in the most daring manner, the right of private judgment, in opposition to established critical canons, and at the peril of having his own taste condemned.

With respect to his political opinions, he may not perhaps give perfect satisfaction to the extreme of either of the parties into which public opinion in England is divided on the

PREFACE.

. V Italian question ; but there are others to whom his impartial sincerity will furnish his best recommendation. As a German, but not a subject of Austria, he stands in the position of an entirely unbiassed witness, more obviously so than it is now easy for an Englishman to do, and whatever suggestions he offers may, on that account, deserve the more attention. Italy, at all times one of the most interest ing countries in the world, is especially so at tbe present moment. Darkness is around her now indeed ; for the flush of the glorious past has faded from her horizon, and the gleams that appear in the opposite region towards the future, may be rather the lurid portents of coming storms, than the dawning promise of a bright day. Is this beautiful country, indeed, mouldering away to inevitable decay, or does it contain within itself germs of imperishable vitality, which, long as they have lain buried, are yet destined to spring up to new and vigor ous life?

Is the giant spiritual dominion of Rome really tottering to its fall, or has it (Antæus-like) but gathered fresh strength from its recent prostration ? These are questions to which the observa tions of every honest and intelligent traveller VI

PREFACE.

. may assist to furnish an answer; and even independently of these considerations, the Cities of Italy are so rich in objects of interest, that it is hoped these sketches of their present aspect may not be unwelcome. PERCY SINNETT. London, February, 1853. PAGE 1 12 31 CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Over the St.Gotthardt. — Summer Weather. — Travelling Companions. — Ascent of the St. Gotthardt. — Andermatt. — The highest Peak. — Great Works of small States. — Sum mer again. — Aviolo. — Descent into Italy

Chapter II

The Lago Maggiore. — Bellinzona. — Grand Procession. — Italian Elegance and German Awkwardness. — A virtuous Vetturino. — A Companion to him. — Mogadino. — A Steam ship on the Lake. — A false Alarm. — Symptoms of Improve ment, where there is room for it. — The Lago Maggiore. — A Landing in Piedmont. — Sardinian Newspapers. — The House of Correction. — The Borromean Islands. — The Isola Bella. — A Scamper through the Castle. — Boatmen's Politics. — Fortifications of Lavcno. — The Albergo del Moro .

Chapter III

From Lago Maggiore to Milan — An old Soldier. — Charles Albert. — A Contrast. — Italian local Patriotism. — Flourish ing appearance of Varese. — Ugly Walks. — Singular Chaus sure of the Women. — Pretty and ugly Feet. — The Railroad to Camerlata. — Como. — Railroad to Milan. — Aggravated Dis tress. — First Evening at Milan . . . . CONTENTS. PAGE 43 55 64 76

Chapter IV

Milan. — The Hotel Reichmann. — Prudent Precautions. — Purely Italian Character of the Population. — Mutual Hos tility of Austrians and Italians.— Milanese Nobility. — The Populace.— Eclipse of public Gaiety. — Punch. — The Milan Cathedral. — Ancient and modern Paintings on Glass. — Af fectation of Connoisseurship.— The Arch of Peace and its Inscriptions. — Unfavourable Position. — Mendicant Style of modern Monuments. — Artistic Cant .

Chapter V

From Milan to Venice. — Glorious Night Scenes. — Martial Preparations. — Hasty glance at Brescia. — Peschiera. — Careless Fortifications.— Verona. — Ancient Amphitheatre. — Comparison with that of Nismes. — Appearance of the Po pulation. — The Eden of Lombardy. — Glimpse of Padua the Learned. — Entry into Venice ....

Chapter VI

Venice. — The Grand Canal. — The small Canals by Night. — The Palazzo Giustiniani. — St. Mark's Place. — The Piaz zetta.—Venice Restaurants. — A Festival. — The Market. — Physical Degeneracy. — Shabby Gentility. — Different temper of Venetian and Milanese Population. — Holiday-makers

Chapter VII

Still Venice. — Fascination of Venice. — The Venetian Aristocracy. — The Surrender to Bonaparte. — The Doge's Palace and its Guardian. — The Monuments of the Doges. Gay temper of Venetian Painters. — Historical Families. The Present Occupants of their Ancestral Halls. — Neglect of private claims under the old Venetian Republic. — Public Gratitude in ancient and modern Times. — Venetian Chari ties. — Rapid Decay ...... CONTENTS. IX PAGE 88 108 130 136

Chapter VIII

From Venice to Trieste. — Farewell to Venice. — An old Friend under a new Face. — The National Hotel at Trieste. — Contrast of Venice and Trieste. — Great Commercial Ac tivity. — Pretty Environs. — Waste of Woods in various Coun tries. — Mixed Population. — The Greeks and their Ritual.— An Excursion to Duino. — The Corsair's Castle of Duino. — A Sirocco— The Bora and the Borina. — Want of national Spirit in Germans. — The Opera. — Great privileges of Trieste. — Prudent Loyalty of the City. — Austrian Protectionists

Chapter IX

Venice in Winter. — Change of Aspect. — The Alhergo Danieli. — A Choice of Evils. — The Carnival at Venice. — The Imaginary and the Real. — The Teatro Fenice. — Winter- Guests. — A Fire-side in Venice. — A constitutional Walk. — Cost of Firing. — Theatre of San Benedetto. — An unnecessary Preeaution. — The Notte di San Silvestro, or New Year's Night. — The modern French Drama. — The German. — The Trades that flourish in Venice. — Enthusiastic Shoe-blacks. — Questions without Answers. — Old Venetian Building. — The Rialto.— The Merceria .....

Chapter X

Padua. — Ugliness of the City. — The University. — The Lady Doctor. — The Prato Della Valle and its Statues. — The Cafe Pedrocchi and the Opera .

Chapter XI

From Padua to Bologna. — The Euganean Mountains. — The Half-way House.— The Mad Opera. — Ferrara.—Tra velling Companions. — Patriotic Fictions. — Banditti. — A distinguished Captain. — A dramatic Performance not in the Bills. — Peculiar notions of Justice .... X CONTENTS. PAGE 147 155 161 185 202

Chapter XII

Bologna. — A Gentleman of too fine Taste. — Appearance of Bologna. — Prodigious number of Churches. — Plasterers and Whitewashers. — Walks in the Environs. — Anti-communism. — The plague of Roman Law . . . •

Chapter XIII

From Bologna to Florence. — Silent Travellers.— A Start ling Exclamation.— A sociable Party. — Profound Geogra phers. — Keeping a Fast . . . •

Chapter XIV

Florence. — The Lungarno. — Mania for rapid Driving. — Piazza dell' Maria Antonia, etc. — TheBaptisteryGates. — The Cathedral. — The Campanile, and the Prospect from its top. — Sculptures of Michael Angelo. — The Tomb of Dante. — Tardy Grief. — Florentine Houses and Florentine Character. — Fortresses. — Sackcloth Architecture. — The Operas and Theatres at Florence. — A Durable Joke. — Temper of the Audience. — Foreign Customs in Florence. — Costume of the Army. — The Medici Gallery. — Galleries and Museums mere Make-shifts. — Gallery of Portraits ....

Chapter XV

Pisa, as it was, and as it is.— Magnificent Promenade.— Railway Travelling in Tuscany. — A necessary of life in Pisa.— Steeples and Cupolas.— The Cathedral.— An Æsthetic Peasant. — The Campo Santo. — The Tower of Famine.

Chapter XVI

Lucca. — "Libertas." — The Road from Pisa to Lucca. Churches in Lucca. — Exquisite Altar-piece. — The Volto Santo ...... CONTENTS. XI PAGE 214 228 241 257

Chapter XVII

Civita Vecchia. — All ready to land.— Unexpected Delay. •Hopes and Disappointments. — The Russian Lady and her Vicomte. — Landed at last. — A valuable Possession. — An alarming " Handkerchief." — My Consul. — A judicious Ap pointment. — A Treaty, and how it was kept. — The Gates of Rome. — Plain dealing ......

Chapter XVIII

Eternal Rome. — Extent of the ancient and modern City. — Aspect of the latter. — The Ruins.— The Landscape. — Monte Pincio. — Romans no lovers of Nature. — The Popula tion of Rome. — Wretched appearance of many Quarters. — Rome expiring. — Could not be the Capital of United Italy .

Chapter XIX

Shrove-Tuesday and Ash- Wednesday. — Melancholy temper of Rome at present. — The Carnival. — Orign of its Customs. — Hostile feeling towards the French. — The position of the Pope's Government with respect to them. — The Fast. — Fish, Flesh, and Fowl. — Getting over scruples . .

Chapter XX

The Capitol. — The Capitoline Hill. — An Important Ques tion. — Learning or Pedantry. — Vast quantities of ancient Works of Art. — The Capitoline Museum. — The dying Gla diator. — Avoidance of the Horrible. — The Faun ascribed to Praxiteles. — The Girl with the Dove. — Other genre Sculp tures. — Relation of these pieces to antique life. — Tibullus. — The likenesses of the Emperors. — The Hall of celebrated Men. — The Tarpeian Rock and the Prussian Embassy. — The Forum. — A Recipe for making a fortune for your posterity . CONTENTS. PAGE 284 303 313

Chapter XXI

Priests and Priestly Government in Rome. — Prodi gious number of Priests. — Various Classes. — Fatal effects on Italy of the temporal power of the Pope. — His Deposition not necessarily injurious to Catholicism. — The Pope's Ency clica. — High dignities conferred only on Italians. — Adminis tration wholly in clerical hands. — The Easter Festival. — Conversions to Catholicism .....

Chapter XXII

The Pictures in the Vatican. — The Transfiguration of Raphael. — The Last Supper of Domenichino. — Pictures of Horrors by Poussin. — Disappointment in the Works of Ra phael. — What is a true Work of Art %

Chapter XXIII

Roman Opera and Drama. — Theatres ill supported in Rome. — The Apollo Theatre. — Tediousness of Operas. — Perpetual Repetition. — Maria the Slave. — Madame Ristori. — Goldoni. — National Humour. — No Mimicry ofthe French WANDERINGS THROUGH THE CITIES OF ITALY IN 1850-51.

Chapter I. Over The St

GOTTHARDT. SUMMER WEATHER. TRAVELLING COMPANIONS. — ASCENT OF THE ST. .GOTTHARDT. — ANDERMATT. — THE HIGHEST PEAK. GREAT WORKS OF SMALL STATES. SUM- MER AGAIN. AVIOLO. DESCENT INTO ITALY. For eight days I had not seen a scrap of blue sky : rain, wind, and fog, with now and then a little thunder and lightning, formed the varieties offered for our choice during our stay at Lucerne — and all this with a temperature that made me mourn for my well-beloved German stove, — at the time of year when the cherries ought to have been ripening. " To-morrow," I used to say on every cold rainy evening, " to-morrow, it must be better." But when the morrow came it frowned at me in a way that showed it did not mean to be dictated to. I really began to doubt whether, VOL. I. B on some high political grounds, it had not been found expedient to abolish the sun altogether, and in order to clear up the doubt, I determined to go and try whether I could get a peep at him on the other side of the mountains.

With a gloomy leaden sky, and a gloomy leaden temper, there is no such thing as a fine landscape to be found on the face of the earth ; and, accordingly, even the Lake of the Four Cantons looked detestable. I turned for consolation to the faces of my travelling companions, but the faces pleased me no better, and I could not venture to speak for fear of saying something brutal. Here was an Eng lishman, whose lady-mother must certainly have occupied herself too much with the contemplation of a bull-dog, and whose blunt snub-nosed coun tenance contrasted curiously with those of two pale, faint, moonlight-looking young ladies, his daughters. On the right was a Swiss family, as numerous as if they had belonged to the tribe of Israel, looking like so many little stumpy money bags ; and, on the left, a Paris grocer and his wife, who seemed to have walked out of the Charivari.

Good heavens ! how had it ever been possible that such a wife should find a husband, or such a husband a wife ! TRAVELLING COMPANIONS. 3 The fore-deck of the steamer was covered by a troop of poor people from Franche-Comte, going o na pilgrimage to Maria Einsiedeln, and as I could not find anything to grumble with in them, I was obliged to content myself with pitying them. The most tolerable person of the company was a brisk handsome jjpung German cabinet maker, who, after passing several years abroad, had been summoned home to fulfil his term of service in the army, and in order to prolong, as much as possible, his few remaining hours of free dom, he was going home by a most round-about way through the Grisons. This, the most tedious voyage I ever had, how ever, was got over in two hours and a half, and by the time we reached Fluelen, earth, and man, and sky, had begun to clear up.

The snow lay, indeed, still deep on the mountains, a few thou sand feet above the level of the lake ; the nut trees had not yet put forth their leaves, and we shivered, it must be owned, not less than in Lu cerne. But, at least, the neighbourhood of Italy warmed my imagination, and so there were hopes that the thaw might, by degrees, creep down to my heart. A certain current of Italian air does really seem to pass through Uri. At Altorf it becomes B quite strong, so that a soul that is not altogether too lumpy, can float in it, and with every thousand feet that one ascends, the Romanic faces and Romanic sounds become more frequent. Innkeepers and coachmen begin to talk to each other in the dialect of Ticino ; the travellers who have learned Italian begin forthwith to air their vocabularies, and those who cannot speak the language prepare to murder it.

Every little sign that you are getting near the sunny side of this cold world tends to sweeten your temper, and even the hitherto unheard-of demand from the Altorf postilions of " something for themselves," is accepted by the traveller as a pleasant little sign of Italian customs, and responded to with emotion, and with the immediate production of the expected number of batz. About three miles on this side of Uri, the road over the St. Gotthardt begins to ascend, but so gently that the trot of the horses is seldom in terrupted. It proceeds along the river Reuss, now on the right side, now on the left, and in a few hours you have passed the region of wood, the life of the Alpine world begins to die away — the rocks appear more and more bare, and at last advance naked, gigantic, and threatening on both sides of the road.

The rush of the river, ANDERMATT. as it dashes itself down the cliffs, the roar of the wind, whose icy breath sweeps past in gusts from the bare peaks, — these are the only voices of nature still heard in this rocky wilderness. You have got the most formidable part of the journey behind you by the time you see the Devil's Bridge, which is thrown boldly across a thundering waterfall that sends up clouds of vapour. It would make a greater impression if it were not for the pretending and yet common place name (for where in the world is there a brook, with a block of stone on each side of it, that has not its Devil's Bridge?) A few'hundred paces beyond this, the world of rocks is closed by a gate, cut through the granite, on the other side of which open before you the wide pastures of Andermatt.

This terrace at half the height of the mountain seems to have been created by Nature expressly to afford the eyes of the wanderer a resting-place, and strengthen him for the dreary tract which he still has to traverse. It was no bad notion, either, on the part of man, to make a settlement on this grassy plot — especially for those who, like myself, can scarcely keep up to the pitch of this sublime taste for mountain-scenery. Thrice blessed be the memory of him who first conceived the idea of building here an inn. May the hospitable fire of his hearth never be extinguished, and may his latest posterity continue to wield his sceptre, — videlicet, his soup-ladle — for the refreshment of the weary wayfarer, for his own far-sounding fame, and no less sounding profit. Everybody, for hundreds of miles round, knows the wood that protects Andermatt from otherwise inevitable destruction from avalanches, and the damaging of which is punishable by death.

But I don't think any one knows how it happens, that, for far and wide, there is not, with the exception of this wood, a single stick to be found ; so that Andermatt must fetch even its firing by a toil some path of six miles up the mountain. There is room enough by the side of this sacred and inviolable forest for thousands of stately trees to grow, but there are none ; and after having vain ly endeavoured to discover why, I was compelled to " accept the fact," and remain in ignorance. A few miles above Andermatt, you enter a hy perborean land. Nothing but masses of snow as far as the eye can pierce the mist; or wher ever the mountain has thrown off its winter mantle, it shows only its lean granite ribs. The Reuss sometimes disappears for hundreds of feet THE HIGHEST PEAK. 7 beneath the remains of avalanches, which have filled its bed for a considerable distance.

The road here, in many places, forms a hollow way, or cutting, between walls of snow ten or twelve feet high, and yet it was on the 21st of June that I crossed the St. Gotthardt — the summit of which, if I am not mistaken, lies some thousands of feet below the snow-line. The highest point of the road, which may be seen at a glance, is at a few hundred feet on this side of the hospital, and of the inn lying oppo site to it. A single ecclesiastic lives here — a little man, who looks withered up by the severity of the cli mate. I can conceive a convent brotherhood living in this terrible wilderness, but to remain quite alone here, amidst clouds and winds, ice and snow, is an amount of self-denial to me almost inconceivable. The political boundary, the water-shed, and the line of demarcation between the different languages, all meet on the summit of the St. Gott hardt, though it is rather an uncommon case to find different nationalities meeting thus on the topmost ridge, for in most instances the great body of a mountain belongs to the same, and at most has only been superseded at a few points, and more commonly the language frontier lies far below in the plain; but here, on the St. Gotthardt, the conquests of the old Swiss can tons have occasioned a departure from the law.

The southern declivity of the mountain, as far as the terrace of Aviolo, is far steeper than the northern, and the road has to wind its way with a hundred snake-like turnings, so that you could often hit with a stone a spot that it will take you half an hour to reach. The road, however, is on the whole a marvellous work ; here, cut through the solid rock — there, vaulted over with masonry to protect it from the fall of avalanches, or running on a terrace wall, along the side of a smooth precipice, everywhere kept in good repair, and furnished at short intervals with thousands and thousands of stone-pillars. It would do honour to one of the most powerful states of Europe, and yet we are indebted for it to two poor little diminutive republics, that you can scarcely distinguish on the map. "Where Uri and Ticino have found means for such a work is more than I can conceive.

We must recollect, too, that, in this climate, the preservation of such a road is twice as expensive as it would be in a better one. We must take into consider- AVIOLO. ation the yearly devastations it suffers from tor rents, land-slips, and avalanches; the difficulty of keeping it free from snow, which requires the labour of hundreds of men for weeks together, and the circumstance that in all Switzerland there is no such thing as a toll on a road, and we shall confess that these two little free states might put to shame many a proud and luxurious monarchy. If we compare the conduct of these two tiny Swiss Cantons with the management of our German rail-roads, with the way in which these indispensable means of communication have been crippled and retarded among us — we shall have small reason to admire either German policy or German patriotism.

It had taken six horses to get us up to tbe Hospital, but two sufficed to carry us at a rapid pace down to Aviolo. Instead of the Reuss, which we had left behind us at the Hospital, we had now for a companion the Ticino, its twin brother, but lacking the incomparable deep green of its waters. The short rapid turns of the road here, which the horses followed at a full trot, demand a quick eye and a sure hand in the driver. One step too much, and carriage and horses would infallibly reach the bottom of this giddy descent, more quickly than the most im- B patient traveller would desire, unless the other world were the goal of his journey. Aviolo, the first place you come to in Ticino, differs strikingly in character from the Swiss villages. If any one came in the night, and could neither see the pavement, nor the ruinous stone-houses, he would soon find out when he entered his inn, and especially when he came to take leave of it, that he was no longer on Swiss ground.

The Swiss are fond of money, certainly, but they do give something in exchange for it; and they do not take the traveller whom they intend to fleece to places resembling the dens of robbers. From the barren ledge of the mountain on which Aviolo is situated, the transition to the wooded region is very striking ; and almost before you have perceived the change, you find yourself in the midst of chestnuts and mulberries. The change of temperature also was very remarkable, particularly as the evening was coming on. Not only did the cloak become unnecessary — one would willingly have stripped off the coat also — but during the remainder of the evening drive, the desirable coolness was afforded by the more and more rapid movement of the carriage. Breathed on thus, by the balmy airs of the DESCENT INTO ITALY. 11 south, lit by a brilliant full moon, which formed fantastic lights and shadows among the jagged peaks, moving swiftly along beneath the canopy of chestnuts, centuries old, I made an entry into Italy that left me nothing to envy in the con queror returning thither triumphant from his thousand murders.

Chapter II. The Lago Maggiore

BELLINZONA. GRAND PROCESSION. ITALIAN ELEGANCE, AND GERMAN AWKWARDNESS. — A VIRTUOUS VETTU- RINO. A COMPANION TO HIM. MOGADINO. A STEAM-SHIP ON THE LAKE. A FALSE ALARM. SYMPTOMS OF IMPROVEMENT, WHERE THERE IS ROOM FOR IT. THE LAGO MAGGIORE. A LANDING IN PIEDMONT. SARDINIAN NEWSPAPERS. THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION. THE BORROMEAN ISLANDS. THE ISOLA BELLA. A SCAMPER THROUGH THE CASTLE. BOATMEN'S POLITICS. FOR- TIFICATIONS OF LAVENO. THE ALBERGO DEL MORO. It was midnight when my chaise began to roll through the alarmingly narrow streets of Bellinzona. Late as was the hour, all was still alive in the open places and houses of public entertainment, and it was long before the noise of the players at the game of moro in a neighbouring tavern was hushed in repose. Seen by moonlight, Bellinzona makes an en chanting impression.

Its antique walls, the superb ruins of its three castles, which look down from their heights on the centre of the town, produce as powerful an effect for the eye as for the imagination. Even the daylight GRAND PROCESSION. disturbs but little of the charm, for the preservation of which, fortunately, the nearest, largest, and finest of these castles is entirely inaccessible, the entrance being closed by houses and walls. Were it not for this, many a one would give himself a great deal of trouble in climbing among broken stones and crumbling ruins, to destroy a pleasant illusion, which he might retain if he would only content himself with the picturesque outside of things. The morning following my arrival presented to me a spectacle of Catholic magnificence, such as I had not seen for a long time, namely, a Church procession, fully equipped, with resound ing music, wax candles, , troops of priests, cho ruses of monks, elegant, veil-wearing, fan-playing ladies, and dirty Capuchins.

The most inter esting part of the ceremony to me was, not the bearers or attendants of the sacred relics, but the people in the streets. They had streamed towards the procession from far and near, and I never witnessed such serious deportment in the public on any similar occasion. In the streets, the women, and in the churches, the men, were on their knees; not merely the old, but the gaily dressed young town-dandy by the side of the countryman in his coarse brown jerkin and wooden shoes, or no shoes at all. But I will not, from this circumstance, undertake to draw any inference concerning the virtue, or even the piety of the Ticino people. I only state the fact. There is a certain stateliness in the mode of life, even in the smaller towns of Italy and Spain, which contrasts favourably with that of provincials in France and Germany.

Beyond the Alps and the Pyrenees, the most insignificant village is a portion of the great world; there is a freedom and ease of movement, a refinement of tone, which gives the Southern a great advantage. Social culture seems to be attained by them without any effort — to be in born — and there is a general agreement as to the forms and requirements of polite intercourse, which is in a great measure independent of lo cality, education, and pecuniary circumstances. The Italian or Spaniard is never discomposed, or put out, by the most unexpected meeting with people of superior rank ; but what awkward embarrassment, what silly false shame, is not exhibited in such a case by the German Cockney, to whom the smile of a great man is often the very sun of Paradise. I do not, on that account, attribute to the VIRTUOUS VETTURINO. 15 Southern any more natural disinterestedness or greatness of character, but only a superior taste in the management of the forms of life.

He moves in the narrowest circumstances with as much careless ease, as if he had left the great world but yesterday, and were going back to it to-morrow; like people who have quitted a town drawing-room for an excursion into the country, and find it a matter of course to sit down at a deal-table, and eat bread and milk. The day had become very hot, and I looked about me for a vehicle, which might carry me to Mogadino, the nearest town on the Lago Mag giore. I found it in the court-yard, and to my question concerning the fare I was to pay, I received for answer five lire, and supposing, of course, that in Ticino, Italian lire or francs were meant, and convinced of the necessity of bargaining with an Italian driver, I offered five zwanziger ; but, to my surprise, he exclaimed, " why that is more than I asked ! five Milan lire make only four zwanziger."