I Entered Milan
By The Gate Which Leads Direct To The Esplanade Between The Citadel And The
City, And Drove To The Pension Suisse, Which Is In A Street Close To The
Cathedral And Ducal Palace.
MILAN, 12 October.
I am just returned from the Teatro della Scala, renowned for its immense
size: it certainly is the most stupendous theatre I ever beheld and even
surpassed the expectation I had formed of it, so much so that I remained
for some minutes lost in astonishment. I was much struck with the
magnificence of the scenery and decorations. An Opera and Ballo are
given every night, and the same are repeated for a month, when they are
replaced by new ones. The boxes are all hired by the year by the different
noble and opulent families, and in the Parterre the price is only thirty
soldi or sous, about fifteen pence English, for which you are fully as well
regaled as at the Grand Opera at Paris for three and a half francs and
far better than at the Italian theatre in London for half a guinea. The
opera I saw represented is called L'Italiana in Algieri, opera buffa, by
Rossini.
The Ballo was one of the most magnificent spectacles I ever beheld. The
scenery and decorations are of the first class and superior even to those
of the Grand Opera at Paris. The Ballo was called Il Cavaliere del
Tempio. The story is taken from an occurrence that formed an episode in
the history of the Crusades and which has already furnished to Walter Scott
the subject of a very pleasing ballad entitled the Fire-King, or Count
Albert and Fair Rosalie. Battles of foot and horse with real horses,
Christians and Moslems, dancing, incantations, excellent and very
appropriate music leave nothing to be desired to the ravished spectator. In
the Ballo all is done in pantomime and the acting is perfect. The
Italians seem to inherit from their ancestors the faculty of representing
by dumb show the emotions of the mind as well as the gestures of the body,
and in this they excel all other modern nations. The dancing is not quite
so good as what one sees at the Paris theatre, and besides that sort of
dancing they are very fond in Italy of grotesque dances which appear to me
to be mere tours de force. But the decorations are magnificent, and the
cost must be great.
It was a fine moonlight night on my return from the Scala, which gave a
very pleasing effect to the Duomo or Cathedral as I passed by it. The
innumerable aiguilles or spires of the most exquisite and delicate
workmanship, tapering and terminating in points all newly whitened, gave
such an appearance of airiness and lightness to this beautiful building
that it looked more visionary than substantial, and as if a strong puff of
wind would blow it away. The next morning I went to visit the Cathedral in
detail. It stands in the place called Piazza del Duomo. On this piazza
stands also the Ducal Palace; the principal cafes and the most splendid
shops are in the same piazza, which forms the morning lounge of Milan.
Parallel to one side of the Duomo runs the Corsia de' Servi, the widest
and most fashionable street in Milan, the resort of the beau monde in the
evening, and leading directly out to the Porta Orientale. The Cathedral
appears to me certainly the most striking Gothic edifice I ever beheld. It
is as large as the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris, and the architecture
of the interior is very massive. There is little internal ornament,
however, except the tomb or mausoleum of St Charles Borromeo, round which
is a magnificent railing; there are also the statues of this Saint and of
St Ambrogio. There are several well-executed bas-reliefs on the outside of
the Church, from Scripture subjects, and the view from any of the balconies
of the spires is very extensive. On the North the Alps, covered with snow
and appearing to rise abruptly within a very short horizon, tho' their
distance from Milan is at least sixty or seventy miles; and on all the
other sides a vast and well-cultivated plain as far as the eye can reach,
thickly studded with towns and villages, and the immense city of Milan nine
miles in circumference at your feet. The streets in general in Milan are
well paved; there is a line of trottoir on each side of the street
equi-distant from the line of houses; so that these trottoirs seem to be
made for the carriage wheels to roll on, and not for the foot passengers,
who must keep within the space that lies between the trottoirs and line of
houses. With the exception of the Piazza del Duomo there is scarcely
anything that can be called a piazza in all Milan, unless irregular and
small open places may be dignified with that name; the houses and buildings
are extremely solid in their construction and handsome in their appearance.
A canal runs thro' the city and leads to Pavia; on this canal are stone
bridges of a very solid construction. The shops in Milan are well stored
with merchandize, and make a very brilliant display. The finest street,
without doubt, is the Corsia de' Servi. In the part of it that lies
parallel to the Cathedral, it is about as broad as the Rue St Honore at
Paris; but two hundred yards beyond it, it suddenly widens and is then
broader than Portland Place the whole way to the Porta Orientale. On the
left hand of this street, on proceeding from the Cathedral to the Porta
Orientale, is a beautiful and extensive garden; an ornamental iron railing
separates it from the street. From the number of fine trees here there is
so much shade therefrom that it forms a very agreeable promenade during the
heat of the day.
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