This Arcade System, Is, However, Rather A Take Off From The Beauty Of The City, And Gives It A Gloomy Heavy Appearance, Which Is Not Diminished By The Sight Of Friars And Mendicants With Which This Place Swarms, And Announce To You That You Are In The Holy Land.

At Bologna it is necessary to have a sharp eye on your baggage, on account of the crowds of ragged faineans that surround your carriage while it is unloading.

The first thing that the ciceroni generally take you to see in Italy are the churches, and mine would not probably have spared me one, but I was more anxious to see the University. I however allowed him to lead me into two of the principal churches, viz., the Duomo or Cathedral, and the church of San Petronio, both magnificent Gothic temples and worth the attention of the traveller. On the Piazza del Gigante is a fine bronze statue of Neptune. The Piazza takes its name from this statue, as at one time in Italy, after the introduction of Christianity and when the ancient mythology was totally forgotten, the statues of the Gods were called Giants or named after Devils and their prototypes believed to be such.

In the Museum at the University is an admirable collection of fossils, minerals, and machines in every branch of science. There are some excellent pictures also; the University of Bologna was, you know, at all times famous and its celebrity, is not at all diminished, for I believe Bologna boasts more scientific men, and particularly in the sciences positives, than any other city in Italy.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 248 of 558
Words from 67902 to 68171 of 151859