The Campo Di Marie Is A Vast Place Outside The Town.
The Place and its
gate are well worth inspecting, so is the famous villa with the Rotonda,
belonging to the Marchese di Capra, the original after which the villa
belonging to the Duke of Devonshire at Chiswick is built.
The environs of
this interesting city are very beautiful and present an exceeding rich
soil, highly cultivated in corn, mulberry trees and vines hanging from them
in festoons.
VERONA, 12th June.
I started yesterday morning from Vicenza and arrived here in about three
hours, the distance being nearly the same as between Vicenza and Padua. We
crossed the Adige which divides the city into two unequal parts and drove
to the Due Torri, a large and comfortable inn with excellent rooms and
accommodations. Verona is a very handsome city, for here also Palladio was
the designer or builder of many edifices. It has a very cheerful and gay
appearance, tho' not quite so much so as Vicenza. The reason of this
difference is that in Verona the greater part of the buildings are in the
Gothic style, which always appears heavy and melancholy, whereas in Vicenza
all is Grecian. The Amphitheatre of course claimed my first notice. It
yields only to the Coliseum in size and grandeur and is in much better
preservation, the whole of the ellipse and its walls being entire, whereas
in the Coliseum part of the walls have been pulled down. Indeed the
Amphitheatre of Verona may be said to be almost perfectly entire. Tempus
edax rerum has been its only enemy; whereas avarice and religious
fanaticism have contributed, much more than time, to the dilapidation of
the Coliseum. The Amphitheatre of Verona can contain 24,000 persons. In it
is constructed a temporary theatre of wood, where they perform plays and
farces in the open air. Verona is much embellished by several Palazzi
built by Palladio, which form a curious contrast with the other buildings
and churches which are in the Gothic style. Verona can boast among its
antiquities of three triumphal arches, the first, Porta de' Bursari,
erected in the year 252 in the reign of the Emperor Gallienus; the second,
called Porta del Foro; and the third, built by Vitruvius himself, in
honour of the family Gavia.
The churches here are richly ornamented and the Palazzo del Consiglio has
many fine marble and bronze statues. In this city also are the tombs and
monuments of the Scala family, who were at one time Sovereigns of Verona.
They are in the Gothic style and of curious execution. The Cathedral has an
immense campanile (steeple), from which is a fine view of the surrounding
country, and the progressive risings of the Alps, the lower parts of which
lie close upon Verona. Beautiful villas and farmhouses abound in the
neighbourhood of this city. The favourite promenades are the Corso and
the Bra. On the Bra I saw a very brilliant display of carriages, and
some very pretty women in them.
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