Scarlattis, especially with the son, Domenico, who made many trials of virtuosity with him.[113] Perhaps he also played with Bernardo Pasquini, whom he doubtless heard more than once on his organ at Great St. Mary's. He was interested in the life of the Vatican, and they tried to convert him to Catholicism, but he refused. Such was the friendly tolerance which prevailed then at the Court of Rome that, notwithstanding the war between the Pope and Emperor, this refusal did not alter the friendly relationships between the young German Lutheran and the Cardinals, his patrons. He became so attached to Rome, that it was difficult for him to leave it until the war which approached the city obliged him to take his way in the month of May or June, 1708, to Naples. One of the Italian cantatas entitled _Partenza_ shows his grief at leaving the lovely banks, the dear walls, and the beautiful waters of the Tiber. Soon after his arrival at Naples, Alessandro Scarlatti returned to settle there after seven years of absence.[114] Thanks to this friendship, and his membership of the Arcadia, Handel was received into the best circles of Neapolitan society. He remained at Naples for nearly a year, from June, 1708, to the spring of 1709, enjoying princely hospitality, "which placed at his disposal," says Mainwaring, "a palace, a well-supplied table, and a coach." If the softness of the Italian life enervated him, he appears to have wasted no time. Not only did he assimilate the style of his friend Corelli--he conceived in Italy a passionate love of pictures[115]--but he attempted with a carefully cultivated dilettantism the most diverse styles, with which the cosmopolitan society of Naples amused its careless curiosity. Spanish and French influence fought for the honours of this city. Handel, as indifferent as Scarlatti to the victory of either of these parties, tried to write in the style of both.[116] He interested himself also in the Italian popular songs and noted down the rustic melodies of the Calabrian _Pifferari_.[117] For the Arcadians of Naples he wrote his beautiful serenata, _Acis and Galatea_.[118] Finally he had the good fortune to please the Viceroy of Naples--the Cardinal Grimani. He was a Venetian and his family owned the theatre of San Grisostomo at Venice. Grimani wrote for Handel the libretto of the opera _Agrippina_, of which Handel probably composed part of the music at Naples. A similar collaboration assured it of being produced at Venice without trouble.