The Houses Are Built Of A Ragged Stone Dug From The Mountains,
And The Interstices Are Filled With Rubble; So That The Walls
Would Appear Very Ugly, If They Were Not Covered With Plaister,
Which Has A Good Effect.
They generally consist of three stories,
and are covered with tiles.
The apartments of the better sort are
large and lofty, the floors paved with brick, the roofs covered
with a thick coat of stucco, and the walls whitewashed. People of
distinction hang their chambers with damask, striped silk,
painted cloths, tapestry, or printed linnen. All the doors, as
well as the windows, consist of folding leaves. As there is no
wainscot in the rooms, which are divided by stone partitions and
the floors and cieling are covered with brick and stucco, fires
are of much less dreadful consequence here than in our country.
Wainscot would afford harbour for bugs: besides, white walls have
a better effect in this hot climate. The beds commonly used in
this place, and all over Italy, consist of a paillasse, with one
or two mattrasses, laid upon planks, supported by two wooden
benches. Instead of curtains there is a couziniere or mosquito
net, made of a kind of gauze, that opens and contracts
occasionally, and incloses the place where you lie: persons of
condition, however, have also bedsteads and curtains; but these
last are never used in the summer.
In these countries, people of all ranks dine exactly at noon; and
this is the time I seize in winter, for making my daily tour of
the streets and ramparts, which at all other hours of the day are
crowded with men, women, children and beasts of burthen.
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