Soazza Is Full Of Beautiful Subjects, And Indeed Is The First Place
In The Valley Of The Moesa Which I Thought Good Sketching Ground,
In Spite Of The General Beauty Of The Valley.
There is an inn
there quite sufficient for a bachelor artist.
The clergyman of the
place is a monk, and he will not let one paint on a feast-day. I
was told that if I wanted to paint on a certain feast-day I had
better consult him; I did so, but was flatly refused permission,
and that too as it appeared to me with more peremptoriness than a
priest would have shown towards me.
It is at Soazza that the ascent of the San Bernardino becomes
perceptible; hitherto the road has seemed to be level all the way,
but henceforth the ascent though gradual is steady. Mesocco Castle
looks very fine as soon as Soazza is passed, and gets finer and
finer until it is actually reached. Here is the upper limit of the
chestnuts, which leave off upon the lower side of Mesocco Castle.
A few yards off the castle on the upper side is the ancient church
of S. Cristoforo, with its huge St. Christopher on the right-hand
side of the door. St. Christopher is a very favourite saint in
these parts; people call him S. Cristofano, and even S. Carpofano.
I think it must be in the church of S. Cristoforo at Mesocco that
the frescoes are which Baedeker writes of as being near Grono.
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