Journal of a Tour in the Years 1828-1829, through Styria, Carniola, and Italy, whilst Accompanying the Late Sir Humphry DavyTobin, J. J.
History
Journal of a Tour in the Years 1828-1829, through Styria, Carniola, and Italy, whilst Accompanying the Late Sir Humphry Davy
Tobin, J. J.
Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829; Europe -- Description and travel
At Serny's _Hôtel de Londres_, on the Piazza di Spagna, a large and
open square, we were extremely well accommodated. It is a very large
and grand establishment, occupying three different houses, and of
course every thing is in the first style. What most strikes a stranger
in the streets of Rome, are the numerous shops of mosaics, gems, and
trinkets in marble and bronze, and a month and a fortune might be spent
by those who have nothing better to do with their time and money, in
admiring and selecting such objects. The Corso, or high street, the
theatre of all the festivities during the carnival, is every afternoon
thronged with carriages, which drive up and down in two lines, the
one going, the other coming. This seems to be one of the principal
amusements of the higher classes of Rome, and a senseless enjoyment
it appears to me, for the greater part of the street is narrow, badly
paved, and dark. The number of spectators from four till six o'clock,
however, is very great. French is spoken in almost every shop, and the
number of English is so great, that one hears nearly as much of that
language spoken in the streets as of Italian.
_21st._ This afternoon I went to the colosæum, where I sat for some
hours under the last of the upper arches of the outside circle, looking
towards the magnificent church of St. John Lateran, over part of the
ancient walls of Rome, and the remaining arches of two old aqueducts,
and down upon gardens and vineyards, in many of which are the ruins of
ancient buildings and temples; whilst the view over the surrounding
_campagna_ is bounded by the blue Appenines, and on the right by the
Alban Mount. From the inner wall I looked down from row to row over the
dark and ruined arches of the seats, now picturesquely overgrown with
shrubs, ivy, and grass, and which were then beautifully tinged with
the rays of the setting sun, into the vast arena beneath, formerly the
scene of many a savage sport for the amusement of a cruel people, but
now only ornamented by the broken shafts and capitals of pillars which
once adorned it; and disfigured by the many altars erected by pious
devotees, breaking the harmony of the whole, and only serving to shew
the magnitude and beauty of the ancient pillars, contrasted with the
smallness and insignificance of the modern ones. In the centre of the
arena, a large wooden cross has been erected, which is devoutly kissed
by the lips of every pious Catholic who passes by. Immediately opposite
to me the circle of arches was broken, and let in the view of the near
and distant country, where many a tall cypress and pine rose amid the
foundations of the old palace of the Cæsars, to the left of which,
amid the trees, appeared the pyramidal monument of Caius Sestius. From
another side I looked down upon the triumphal arches of Constantine and
Titus, upon the colossal remains of the baths of Caracalla, and upon
the ruins of temples and palaces, and over modern Rome, to the distant
cupola of St. Peter's.
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