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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49620	The voyage of Italy, or, A compleat journey through Italy in two parts : with the characters of the people, and the description of the chief towns, churches, monasteries, tombs, libraries, pallaces, villas, gardens, pictures, statues, and antiquities : as also of the interest, government, riches, force, &c. of all the princes : with instructions concerning travel / by Richard Lassels, Gent. who travelled through Italy five times as tutor to several of the English nobility and gentry ; never before extant.	Lassels, Richard, 1603?-1668.; S. W. (Simon Wilson)	1670 (1670)	Wing L465; ESTC R2418	265,097	737

and Land Its ayre was alwayes esteemed so pure that the great men of Rome had either their Villas in Naples or hard by It s well built well paued well furnished with excellent prouisions well filled with nobility and the nobility well mounted The chief street is strada di Toledo paued with freestone and flanckt with noble Pallaces and houses We entered into some of them and others we saw which had not recouered their embonpoint since they had been sick of Mazaniellos disease Their very looks shewd vs that their sickness had been Conuultion-Fitts The chief Pallaces are these The stately Pallace of the Viceroy that of Grauina Caraffa Vrsino Sulmone Toledo c. Most of the houses of Naples are made flat at top to walk vpon a most conuenient thing to breath vpon in the fresh Euenings and easy to be imitated by other countryes I saw here also the seueral publick places of Assemblyes of the nobility according to their seueral rancks These places are like open walking places rayld about with high iron rayles and painted within Then the Molo running a quarter of a mile into the Sea 〈…〉 and affording great refreshment to the townes men who walk here in the euenings in sommer where they are sure to coole their lungs with a sweet fresco At the end of the Molo stands mounted the high Lanterne to direct ships home safe in the night and a fine fountain of fresh water As for the Churches here they yeeld to none in Italy The Domo is ancient and therefore out of the mode a little yet it hath a moderne Chappel which is very beautifull and is one of the finest in Europe both for brazen statues rich painting The Cupola was painted by the rare hand of Domenichino In this Chappel is the tombe of S. Ianuarius Bishop of Beneuent and now Patron of this towne whose blood being conserued in a little glasse and concrete melts and growes liquid when it s placed neare to his Head and euen bubles in the glasse A French nobleman Count of la Val was conuerted from Caluinisme to the Catholick Religion vpon sight of this wonder On the left hand of this Chappel without lyes buryed Pope Innocent the IV who ordered first that Cardinals should weare red hatts The Verses vpon his Tomb● told me this In the Sacristy are kept many pretious guifts of Princes and diuers Relicks of Saints enchased in gold and syluer The Annunciata is both neat and deuout the Cupola and roof are well painted guilt The two Infants of Bethleem with their seueral wounds one in the head the other in the body are showne here The Hospital is ioyneing to it and is of great reception It maintaines two thousand sick and decrepid in it besides aboue 800 orphans poore children Neare the great Hospital stands S. Peters Church and before it th● Altar vpon which as the Inscription sayth S. Peter sayd masse at his first comeing to Naples The Theatins Church called S. Pauls is very neat and if you saw it with its best hangings on you would think it one of the neatest Churches in Italy The roof is curiously painted and guilt Here I saw the rich Tombe of Beato Caëtano a holy man of this Order and the Tabernacle of the High Altar both very rich In the Sacristy they ha●● as rich ornaments as in any Church of Italy The Iesuits Church here is the best they haue in Italy if it be not a little too wide for its length In the Sacristy I saw the richest ornaments for the Altars and the best syluer candlesticks that I haue seen any where els It s rich in painting sculptures marble The High Altar was not yet finished but promiseth wonders The Franciscans Church called S. Maria Noua is very trim with its neat Chappels and Tombes and guilt roof Here I saw the Tombe of Lotrech who commanded so long the French forces in this kingdome His vertue in military affairs was so great that his very enemye● admireing his worth haue caused his body to be translated out of an obscure place where it lay before into this Church and Tombe I wonder they did not cause those words of Virgil to be put vpon it Si Pergama dextr● defendi possent etiam hâc defensa fuissent The Church of the Dominicans is very hansome too if you do not surprise it and take it before it be dressed I saw it once in its best attire hung with a rare sute of embrodered hangings which set it out with great aduantage I saw also here the Crucifix which spoke to S. Thomas of Aquin the Doctor of this Order and Country and sayd Benè de me scripsisti Thoma In the Sacristy of this Church are kept in seueral coffins some couered with white some with black veluet the bodyes of seueral great persons depositated here till their Tombes should be made as of Alphonso the first King of Naples and Arragon of Queen Ioanne the vnfortunate that of an Emperor of Constantinople that of Durazzo that of the Marquis of Vasti with diuers others The Church of the Oliuetan Fathers is stately here lyes buryed Alexander ab Alexandro a great antiquary whose ingenious booke Genialium dierum giues light to many bookes by the vnshelling of a world of ancient customes of the Romans In this Church also is the Tombe of braue Marchese di Piscara surnamed the Thunderbolt of warre The words vpon this Tombe are so ingenious that though I professe not to set downe many Epitaphs in this my voyage I cannot but striue to carry them into other countyes They are these Quis iacet hoc gelido sub marmore Maximus ille Piscator belli gloria pacis hon●s Nunquid hic pisces cepit Non Ergo quid Vrbes Magnanimos Reges oppida regna duces Dic quibus haec cepit Piscator retibus Alto Consilio intrepido corde alacrique manu Qui tantum rapuere ducem Duo Numina Mars Mors. Vt raperent quidnam compulit Jnuidia Nil nocuere ipsi viuit nam Fama superstes Quae Martem Mortem vincit Inuidiam The Church of S. Iohn Carbonare is considerable for it self but much more for the stately Tombe in it of King Robert In the Church of the Nunnery which stands at the foot of the hill as you go vp to the Carthusians I saw a most curious Tabernacle vpon the Altar of pretious polished stones It s one of the richest I haue seen any where but that of Florence described aboue Then we mounted vp that windeing hill to the Carthusians Church and Monastery called S. Martins It s the most sumptuous thing in all Europe for a Monastery whether you regard its situation or its fabrick It s situated vpon a high hil lvnder the wing of the Castle S. Elmo to put Castles in mind that they ought to defend and protect Religion The whole quandrangle or cloyster of this Monastery

most cryed vp by ciuil persons for of such men much is to be learned Their life is a perpetual lecture their words so many oracles their discourses so many wise maxims and though yong men be not able to bring their dish with them and clubb wit equally with these men yet it s a great matter to sit still in their company and be a respectfull catechumen to them For if it be true which Quintillian sayth of those that loue Cicero Ciceronem amasse profecisse est it s allso most certain that a man that loues good company must be good himself in time 7. And that he may be able to appeare in good company without blushing his Gouernour must get him as soone as he can to speak the language of the place in hansome tearmes and with a good accent Next he must haue a care that he be well adjusted and set out in apparel For if anciently Iewels were called the Vshers of Ladyes because all doores flew open to them that presented themselues so richly adorned so now a dayes good clothes may be called mens vshers seeing they make way for them into all companyes He must haue a care that he know his Congies perfectly and haue a free garbe or carriage a Cauallier way of entering into a Roome a gratefull manegeing of his mouth and smiles a chyronomie or decent acting with his handes which may humour his words grauely and freely yet not affectedly or mimically in fine a liberty or freedome in all his actions which The French call liberté du corps and it must appeare to be à la negligence and yet must be perfectly studdyed a fore hand And though these things be but the Elements and Alphabet of breeding yet without them he can neuer spel gentleman rightly though his inside be neuer so good Indeed its long ago that great men dwell no more in thatched houses 8. But it is not enough to get him into Language and Garbes if he get him not into Coach and Liueryes without which he can neuer appeare at Court or in good company especially in Rome and Paris the two cheif townes of long abode abroad For let a man be of a Race as ancient as the Autocthenes of Athens who sayd they were as ancient as the Earth and let him quarter his coat of Armes with the three Lyons of England and the three Flower de-lys of France as I know a gentleman of little Britany doth by the grant anciently of both those kings yet I dare boldly say this that in Paris no colours blazon a mans nobility behind his coache so much as three Lacquais and a Page in a hansome Liuery In other townes of France where yong gentlemen vse to liue at first till they get the language a couple of sadle horses would be very vsefull both to take the ayre on as allso to visit the gentry in the country at their summer houses where a Man will fine great ciuilityes and diuertisments Besides rideing out so in the fresh euenings of summer will not onely weane my yong gentleman from little company and the crowd of his countrymen who will be then pressing vpon him but will allso afford his Gouernour many fine solitary occasions of plying him alone with good counsels and instructions 9. And seing J haue touched something aboue of his seruants and Lacquais I will adde this that seing it is none of the least blessings of a yong gentleman to haue good seruants about him it belongs to his Gouernour not onely to choose him good ones but allso to haue power to turne away bad ones Many men carry ouer with them English seruants because they were their schoolfellowes or their tennants sonns and these are little vsefull for a long time and euen then when a man hath most need of seruants Besides they are often too familiar with their masters their old play-fellowes and as often troublesome to their Gouernours by takeing their yong masters part against them and by raueling out at night as they get their masters to bed all that the prudent Gouernour hath been working in the day time Others carry ouer Frenchmen with them but these often by reason of their prerogatiue of language which their masters want at first get such an ascendent ouer them that they come oftentimes to be too bold and sawcy with them For my part I would haue his Gouernour to take him new seruants in euery place he comes to stay and those sightly rather then too sprightly youths Dull people are made to tugg at the oare of obedience sayth Aristotle w●iles witty people are fitter to sit at the helme of command 10. But I am to blame to giue aduice to Gouernours whom I suppose to be wiser men then my selfe and therefore will end here by wishing them a good journey and safe returne To the effecting of both which I found no better secret them that in my last journey which was to be mounted vpon our owne horses fiue of vs together and to spare for no cost for by this means we went at our owne rates and eat to our owne mindes so true is the Italian Prouerbe Picole giornate egrandi spese ti conducono sano al tuo paese In fine I would haue my yong traueler make the same prayer of God as Apollonius Thyanaeus made to the Sunn at his going out to trauell that is that hee would bee so fauourable to him as to shew him all the Brauest and Best men in the world THE VOYAGE OF ITALY BEFORE I come to a particular description of Italy as I found it in my Fiue seueral voyages through it I think it not amisse to speak something in General of the Country it self its Inhabitants their Humours Manners Customes Riches and Religion For the Country it self it seemed to me to be Natures Darling and the Eldest Sister of all other countryes carrying away from them all the greatest blessings and fauours and receiuing such gracious lookes from the Sun and Heauen that if there be any fault in Italy it is that her Mother Nature hath cockered her too much euen to make her become Wanton Witnesse luxuriant Lombardy and Campania antonomastically Foelix which Florus Trogus and Liuy think to be the best parts of the world where Ceres and Bacchus are at a perpetual strife whether of them shall court man the most she by filling his barnes with corne he by making his cellars swimme with wine Whiles the other parts of Italy are sweating out whole Forests of Oliue-trees whole woods of Lemmons and Oranges whole fields of Rice Turky wheat and Muskmillions and where those Bare Hills which seem to be shauen by the Sun and cursed by Nature for their barren̄es are oftentimes great with child of pretious Marbles the ornaments of Churches and Palaces and the Reuenews of Princes witnesse the Prince of Massa whose best Reuenues are his Marble Quarries Nature here thinking it a farre more noble thing to feed Princes Then to feed

chose to steere towards Genua by the low way of Sauona And passing through a melancholy country by Altare and other little townes for the pace of three daies we came at last to Sauona Sauona anciently called Sabatia or Sabatium is the second towne or eldest daughter of Genua and like a good daughter indeed she stands alwayes in her mothers presence yet keeps her distance it being within sight of Genua yet fiue and twenty mils off It stands vpon the Mediterranean Sea or as they call it here vpon the Riuiera di Genoa It s fortified both by art and nature thar is by regular Fortifications towards the Sea and by lusty Apennin hills towards the Land Yet whiles Sauona feared no danger from either Sea or Land it was almost ruined in the yeare 1648. by fire from heauen to wit ligthning which falling vpō a great Tower in the midst of the towne where gunpowder was kept blew it vp vpon a sudden and with it threw downe two hundred houses round about it and houses of note For passing that way six months after and walking among the ruines I saw in many of the houses which were but half fallen downe curious painted chambers and fine guilt roofes which shewd me of what house many of these houses had been and of what weak defence guilt roofes and painted walls are against the artillery of heauen thunder and lightning This towne is famous in history for the interview of two great kings here to wit Lewis the XII of France and Ferdinand King of Naples This interview passed with demonstrations of mutuall ciuilityes not ordinary in interviews of Princes For Lewis feared not to go into the Gallyes and ships of Ferdinand without gards and vnarmed and Ferdinand remained for many dayes together in this towne belonging the● to Lewis whom he had lately stipt of the kingdome of Naples and beaten him to boot in a battle Of this towne were Iulius Secundus and Sixtus Quartus two Popes of the house of Roueri and two great Cardinals Peter and Raphael Riarii Embarking at Sauona in a Feluca we rowed along the Shoare called la Riuiere di Genoa vnto Genua it self and all the way long we saw such a continual suburbs of stately Villas and Villages that these scantlings made vs in loue which the whole peece it self Genua I confesse I neuer sew a more stately abord to any Citty then to this and if we had not had Genua full in our sight all the way long we should haue taken some of these stately Villages for Genua it self and haue imitated Hostingus the leader of the Normans who comeing into Italy about the yeare 860 with a great army and finding Luna a towne in the confines of Genua so sumptuously built thought really it had been Rome and there vpon takeing it he gloryed that he had sacked the mistresse of the world Gratatur tenere se Monarchiam totius Imperii per vrbem quam putabat Roman● sayth his Historian Sayling thus along this pleasant coast we came betimes to Genua Genua is one of the chief townes that stand vpon the Mediterranea● Sea and one of the best in Italy The common Italian Prouerb calls it Genua la Superba and if euer I saw a towne with its holy day clothes alwayes on it was Genua It stands upō the side of a hill and riseing by degrees appears to those that looke vpon it from the Sea like an Amphitheater Heretofore it was only fortified by marble bullworks that is great hills of marble which backt it vp but some forty years ago it was enuironed with new-walls carrying six miles in compasse and yet finished in eighteen months The Hauen heretofore was very vnsafe and many ships which had tuggd through the most dangerous Seas abroad were seen to sink here in the hauen at home the French then masters of Genua not suffering her to shut vp her hauen least she should shut them out But since shee hath shaked off the French yoak she hath loked vp her Treasures and bolted the doore on the inside by that admirable Mola which crossing almost quite ouer the baye or hauen doth not onely bolt out all enemyes but euen locks vp the boisterous Sea it self and makes it tame in the hauen It s a prodigious worke and able to haue puzzeld any two Kings in Europe to haue done it At one end of this Mola stands the Pharos vpon a little rock with a Lantern vpon it to giue notice by knowne signes what ships how many and from what side they Come or els to guide their owne ships home safely in the night At first it was onely a little Fort for to help to bridle Genua and it was built by Lewis the XII of France As for the towne it self of Genua its most beautifull to behold many of the houses being painted on the outside and looking as if they were turned inside out and had their Arras hangings hung on their outsides The tops of their houses are made with open galleries where the women sit together at worke in clusters and where also they dry their haire in the Sun after they haue washed it in a certain wash a purpose for to make it Yellow a colour much affected here by all women The streets are very narrow so that they vse here few coaches but many Sedans and Litters This makes the noyse in the streets lesse and the expence in the purse smaller But for want of ground and earth they make heauen pay for it taking it out in the height of their houses what they want in bredth or length So that Genua looked in my eye like a proad yong Lady in a straight bodyed flowered gowne which makes her looke tall indeed and fine but hinders her from being at her ease and takeing breath freely Yet I must except the Strada Noua here which for a spirt surpasseth all the streets I euer saw any where else for neatness and proportion and if it had but breath ynough to hold out at the same rate a little longer it would be the true Queen-street of Europe Ordinary houses are so out of countenāce here that they dare not appeare in this street where ther 's nothing but Pallaces and Pallaces as fine as art and cost or as Marble and Painting can make them Haueing sayd thus much of Genua in general I will now come to the particulars that are to be seen in it 1. The Domo or great Church of S. Laurence presents it self to my sigth It s the Cathedral of the Archbishop who when I passed that way last was Cardinal Durazzo a man of great Vertue and Piety This Church is of a noble structure all of black and white marble intermingled and all massiue squair stones In a Chappel ouer against the Pulpit is kept reuerently an authentick Relick of S. Iohn Baptist vnder the Altar and the great Dish of one Emmeraud in which they say

to Rome to reside there so that Bologna is treated by Rome rather like a Sister then à Subject and deseruedly seing Bologna fell not to the Church any other way but by her free giuing her self to the Pope reseruing onely to her self some particular Priuileges as power to send Embassadors to Rome and that if any towesman kill another and can but escape away his goods cannot be confiscated I stayd six dayes here in which time I saw these things 1. The Dominicans Church and Conuent In the Church I saw the tombe of S. Dominick Founder of that Order It s all of white marble cut with curious figures relating to his life In this Church is kept a famous manuscript to wit the Bible it self written in parchment by Esdras himself sayth Leandro Alberto the Camden of Italy and a Fryar of this Conuent They shew you also here a curious Lampe sent to S. Dominicks tombe by the new conuerted Indians It s of a most rare workmanship Behind the high Altar stands the Quire so famous for the Seats which are of a rare Mosaick work of coloured wood inlayd into pictures representing the old and new Testaments and all wrought by one Laybrother called Fra Damiano di Bergamo This kind of Mosaick work in wood was anciently sayth Vasari called Tarsia and in this kind of worke Brunelleschi and Maiano did good things in Florence But Iohn Veronese improued it much afterwards by boyling wood into seueral colours and then inlaying it into what postures and figures he pleased This Quire is showne to strangers as a rare thing and worthily since the Emperour Charles the V had the curiosity to see it and with the point of his dagger to try whether it were inlayd or onely painted and the peece which he picked out with his dagger was neuer put in againe for a memorandum In this Church as also in the Chapterhouse and Cloister of this Conuent lye buryed many Readers of the Law who hauing liued here by the Law dyed here also by the Law of Nature 2. The Conuent here is one of the fairest in Europe in which 150 Fryars constantly liue and study The little Chappel which was once S. Dominicks Chamber the vast Dorm●tory the fair Library the great Refectory and the curious Cellar are showne courteously to strangers 3. The Nunnery of Corpus Christi It s of S. Clares Order and famous for the body of Beata Catherina di Bologna a most holy Nun of this Order and Conuent I saw her body sitting straight vp in a chair in her Religious habit She holds her Rules in her right hand and we see her face and and feet plainly but those black and dryed vp 4. From hence I went on to the towne Gate a little out of which gate lyes a faire street where they make the Corso of coaches in sommer euenings 5. Turning from hence on the left hand I went to S. Michael in Bosco a stately Monastery of Oliuetan Fathers standing vpon a high hill From this Hill I had a perfect view of Bologna vnder me and of all the country about it which being leuel and strowed with a world of white houses and Villas looked like a Sea loaden with ships vnder sayl Entring into this Monastery I saw the Oual Court painted by seueral prime masters of which Guido Rheni of Bologna was one Then mounting vp to the Dormitory I found it to be one of the fairest I had euer seen 6. The Monastery or Conuent of the Franciscans with the rare row of pillars and portico towards the street the excellent Cloisters and the curious Cellar 7. The Monastery of S. Saluatore with its two Vast Courts or double Cloister built vpon galleries aboue it s a noble building 8. The Monastery of the Seruits that of the Augustins and that of the Carmelits are all of them such stately buildings that I may boldly say that no towne in Europe is comparable to Bologna for fair Monasterys 9. Then I visited San Petronio standing in the end of the great Piazza of which Church Leandro Alberto writ a hundred years ago that he thought it would not be ended but with the worlds end And I am half of his opinion for when I passed that way last I found the scaffolds yet standing which I had found there one and twenty years before and yet in all my fiue Voyages into Italy I found them alwayes knocking and making as much noise and dust as if this Church should be finished within half a yeare when as yet half of it is onely finished In this Church Charles the V. was crowned Emperour by Clement the VII 10. The Domo which is not yet half funished neither yet that which is finished promiseth fair for the rest 11. The new Church of S. Paul hath a curious High Altar In the Church of S. Giouanni in Monte is the rare picture of S. Cecily of the hand of Raphael Vrbin The Iesu is Church the Church of S. Stephen and that of the Passion deserue to be seen 12. After the Churches and Monasterys we went on with visiting the rest of the towne and saw the Pallace of the Popes Legate in this Pallace I saw the rare Cabinet and Study of Aldrouandus to whom Pliny the Second if he were now aliue would but be Pliny the Sixt for he hath printed six great volumes of the natures of all things in nature each volume being as big as all Plinyes workes They shewed me here two or three hundred manuscripts all of this mans owne hand writeing and all of them Notes out of the best authors out of which Notes hee compiled his six great Volumes which are now in print Seeing these Manuscripts I asked whether the man had liued three hundred years or no as it s sayd Ioannes de Temporibus In Charles the greats time did but it was answered me that he liued onely fourscore and three a short age for such a long work but it sheweth vs how farre a man may trauel in sciences in his life time if he rise but betimes and spurr on all his life time with obstinate labour Certainly had he wrote before Salomons time Salomon would haue changed his saying and instead of sending the slothfull man to learne of the pismire how to labour he would haue sent him to Aldrouandus his study and example Vade ad Aldrouandum piger 13. The Great Schooles here where the Doctours of the Vniuersity read are stately both within and without 14. The Spanish Colledge founded here by noble Cardinal Albornozzo deserues to be taken notice of It s well built with a hansome Church and fiue Priests to serue it The intention of his Colledge is to furnish all the King of Spayns dominions in Italy with able Magistrats and officers of Iustice None can liue in it but Natural Spaniards except the Chaplains and those Spaniards must be Doctors of the Law before

the gamesters and see both how modestly they play and how little they play for In the mean time ther 's a side chamber alwayes open for gentlemen to go in to and refresh themselues with wine standing in snow or with limonade or some such cooling drinks which are also offered to the Ladyes In a great roome bellow at the entrance of the pallace there is a long table for gamesters that loue to play deep that is that loue to play onely for money The Florentins enioying by the goodness and wisdome of their excellent Princ the fruits of peace haue many other recreations where the people passe their time chearfully and think not of rebellion by muttering in corners For this reason both in winter and sommer they haue their seueral diuertisments In winter their Giuoco di Calcio a play something like our football but that they play with their hands euery night from the Epiphany till Lent with their Principi di Calcio This being a thing particular to Florence deserues to be described The two factions of the Calcio the Red and the Green choose ecih of them a Prince some yong Caualier of a good purse These Princes being chosen choose a world of Officers and lodge for the time in some great pallace where they keep their courts receiue Embassadors from one another and giue them publik audience in state send poste to one another complaine of one anothers subiects take prisoners from one another heare their counsellers one after another disswadeing from or perswadeing to warre giue orders for setling their affairs at home heare the complaints of their subiects ieere their enemy Princes in embassyes and at last resolue to fight with proclayming warre Dureing these serious treatyes which last for many nights the Secretaryes of state two prime witts read before their seueral Princes bills for regulating and reforming the abuses of their subiects and read openly petitions and secret aduises in all which they ieere a world of people in the towne and show prodigious wit In fine hauing spunn out thus the time till neare Carnauale or shroftide the two Princes resolue on a battle at Calcio to be fought in the Piazza of Santa Croce before the Great Duke and Court Vpon the day apointed the two Princes of the Calcio come to the place in a most stately Caualcata with all the yong noblemen and gentlemen of the towne vpon the best horses they can finde with scarfs red or green about their Armes Haueing made their seueral Caualcatas before the Great Dukes throne or scaffold they light from their horses and enter into the lists with trompets sounding before them and accompanyed with a stately train and with their combatants in their seueral liueryes Hauing rancked themselues a prety distance one from the other their standard bearers at sound of trumpet carry both at once their standards to the foot of the Great Dukes scaffold This done the Ball or Ballon is throwne vp in the midst between them and to it they go with great nimbleness sleight and discretion and sometimes they fall to it in deed and cuff handsomely but vpon payne of death no man must resent afterwards out of the lists what euer happened here but all animosities arriseing here end here too At last that side which throwes or strikes the Ballon ouer the rayles of the other side winns the day and runns to the standards which they carry away till night at what time the conquering Prince enterteins them at a Festino di Ballo at Court made to some Lady and where all his chief Officers and combatants dance alone with the Ladyes at the Ball none els being permitted to dance with them that night Besides these passtimes they haue once a week danceing at the Court from twelfth day till Lent at which Balls all the Ladies of the towne are inuited to the number sometimes of two hundred and these all marryed women and all inuited by a particular ticket Then their seueral Operas or musical Drammata acted and sung with rare cost and arte Lastly their publick running at the ring or at the facchin for a peece of plate And in sommer they haue their seueral danceing dayes and their frequent Corsi di Palio vpon certain knowne days for knowne prizes and all before the good Prince who countenanceth all these sports with his presence thinking wisely that ther 's lesse hurt in puplick mirth then in priuate mutinyes Hauing sayd thus much of Florence I will now say something of the Court the Gouerment strength Gentry Riches Interest Language and Learned men of this towne For the Court it s clearly one of the best of Italy Great riches make it looke plump and giue it an excellent en bon point The noble Pallace the Prince his Title of Serenissimo his Train and Retinew of noble Officers and gentlemen his store of Pages Palfreniers Gards of Swissers with halbards his Troupe of horse wayting vpon him make this Court appeare splendid The Duke himself also who makes this Court makes it a fine Court His extraordinary Ciuility to stangers made vs think our selues at home there He is now aboue fifty and hath a Austrian looke and lip which his mother Magdalena of Austria Sister to the Emperour Ferdinand the II. lent him He admits willingly of the visits of strangers if they be men of condition and he receiues them in the midst of his audience chamber standing and will not discourse with them till they be couered too It s impossible to depart from him disgusted because he pays your visit with as much wit as ciuility and hauing enterteined you in his chamber with wise discourse he will entertein you in your owne chamber too with a regalo of dainty meats and wines which he will be sure to send you The Great Dutchesse too is an other main pillar of this Court. She is of the house of the Duke of Vrbin once a Souerain Prince in Italy but now extinct in her Father who was the last Duke and she had been souerain of that Dutchy had she been of the Souerain sexe but what nature refused her in sexe it hath giuen her in beauty and so made her a greater souerain euen of Florence In a word Florence the Faire was neuer so faire as was the faire Dutchesse of Florence when I saw her first Of her the Great Duke hath two sonnes Cosmus the Prince of Toscane hath married one of the Daughters of the late Duke of Orlians Hee is a great Traueller and hath visited most of the Princes courts of Christendome The name of this family is Medices a family which h●ah giuen to the Church four Popes and to France two Queens This family is ancient and came first out of Athens It was alwayes considerable dureing the Republick of Florence but farr more since it hath got the start of all the other families to farre as to become their Souerain The beginning of

then before Then it flamed and cast out a cloud of ashes which had the wind stood toward the Citie had couered all Naples and buryed it in those ashes Then it began to roare as if Madame Nature her self had been in labour Thunder was but pistolcrack to this noyse and the mouth of a Cannon a full mile wide must needs giue a great report It bellowed and thundered againe Naples trembled the ground swelled The Sea it self shiuered for feare when the hill tearing its entrals with huge violence was brought to bed of a world of vast stones and a fludd of Sulphurious matter which ran from the top of the mountain into the Sea for the space of three miles All this he tould me and this he shewed me afterward in a publick inscription vpon a fair marble stone erected hard by And all this made me but the more desirous of seeing this mountain Wherefore spurring on we came soone after to the foot of the hill where leauing our horses we began to crawle vp that step hill for a good mile together to the midlegg in ashes At last with much a doe we got to the top of the hill and peeping fearfully remembring Plinyes accident into the great hellow from the brinck of it found it to be like a Vast Kettle farre greater then those Hell Kettles near Deslington in the Bishoprick of Durham made by earthquakes For the orifice of this Kettle is a mile or two wide and very nigh as deep In the bottom of it is a new little hill riseing out of the hollow of the old and fumeing perpetually with a thick smoke as if it also would play tricks too in its turne Hauing gazed a while at this Chimney of Hell for Tertullian calls Aetna and Vesuuius Fumariola inferni we came faster downe then we went vp Hee that is not content with this my short description of the burning of this Hill let him read Iulius Caesar Recupitus who hath made a little booke alone of it called De Vesuniano incendio Nuntius Hauing recouered our horses againe we came back to Naples and the next morning takeing a new guide we went to see the wonders of Nature about Baiae and Puzzu●lo Horseing then againe betimes in the morneing we passed by the Castle Vouo and soone after to Margelino to see the Tombe of Sannazarîus the Poët who lyes buryed in the Church of Santa Maria del Parto which was once Sannazarius his owne house which dyeing he left to be made a Church of vnder that title so that in his Testament he wrote de Virginis partu as well as in his booke and he might as well haue written vpon the Frontispice of this Church as vpon the Frontispice of his Booke opera Sannazarij de Virginis par●u His Tombe here is adorned with marble figures and with this ingenious Epitaph made of him by Cardinal Bembo Da sacro cineri flores Hic ille Maroni Sincerus Musâ proximus vt tumulo His name was Iacobus Sannazarius but he changed his name for that of Sincerus at the request of Pontanus who also changed his name too and caused himself to be called Iouianus as Iouius in Elogiis virorum Doctorum sayth Not farr of this place nor farr from the entrance of the Grotte of Pausilipus in the Gardens of S. Seuerino stands Virgils tombe couered almost ouer with Laurel or Ba●-trees as yf that Poëts Laurel were growne into a Shadybower to make a whole tombe of Laurel for the Prince of Poëts From thence we returned againe into our way and presently came to the entrance of the Grotte of Pausilipus this Mountain lyeing at the very back of Naples and rendering the passage to Naples extreamly inconuenient for carriages it was thought fit to cut a cart way vnder ground quite through the mountain some say it was Lucullus that caused it to be thus boared others say it was Cocceius Nerua Certain it is that it is ancient seing Seneca makes mention of it Entring into the Grotte of Paulisipus we found it to be about forty foot high and broad enough for two carts laden to meet with ease They say here that it is a full mile long but I thought it scarce so much We rid some forty paces by the light of the wide entrance but that Vanishing we were left in the darke a good while till we came to the halfway where there hangs a burning Lamp before the picture of our Sauiour in the B. Virgins armes The light of this Lamp was very gratefull vnto vs and I am confident a Puritan himself were he here would be glad to see this Lampe and Picture and loue them better for it euer after All the way of this Grotta is very euen and Leuel but hugely dusty as a roome must be that hath not been sweept these sixteen hundred yeares The people of the country meeting here in the darke know how to auoyd one another by going from Naples on the right hand and returning on the left that is by keeping on the moutain side going and returning on the Sea side and this they expresse by cryeing out often A la Montagna or a la Marina To the mountain side or to the Sea side to giue notice whether they come or go Our guide vnderstood the word and he giuing it vnto mee and I to my next man it rann through our whole Brigade which consisted of a dozen horsemen in all Almost all the way we rid in it we shut our eyes haueing little vse of them and our mouths and noses too for feare of being choked with the dust so that our exteriour senses being thus shut vp our interiour begā to worke more freely and to think of this odd place My thoughts comeing newly from Sannazarius and Virgils tombes fell presently vpon Poetry for all this country is a Poetical country and I began to think whether this were not Polyphemus his den because Homer makes it to haue been neare the Seaside as this is and capable of holding great heards of sheep as this also is Sometimes I thought that it might haue been here that Iupiter was hidden from his deuouring Father Saturne who came into Italy for certain as also because Sophocles makes mention of Iupiter Pausilipus But at last I concluded that this was the place where the merry Gods and Goddesses after their iouial suppers playd at hide and seek without being hood-winckt By this time we began to see the othe● end of the Grotte a farre off by a little light which grew greater and greater till at last we came to the yssue of it Being got out of this Cymmeran rode we began to open our eyes againe to see if we could find one an other and our mouths too to discourse vpon this exotick place Thus we rid discourseing vpon this wonder till we came to the Grotta del Cane a new wonder Arriueing there we presently had a dog ready though for the most

where ships lye safe and the little hauen within that which serues for a withdrawing roome to the great hauen where the Gallyes retire themselues 4. The statue of Ferdinand the first in marble with the Statues in bronze of four slaues at his feet These are the 4 slaues that would haue stolne away a galley and haue rowed here themselues alone but where taken in their great enterprize 5. The Greek Church 6. The Castle 7. The Tower in the Sea where they keepe gunpowder 8. The Iews Synagogue 9. Two windmills which are rare things in Italy and therefore must haue a place here among the rarityes of this towne I found not any Academy of wits here nor any records of any learned men of this towne All the Latin here is onely Meum and Tuum and their wits are exercised here how to make good bargins not good Bookes Indeed what should the Muses do here amongst the horrible noyse of chaines of carts of balling Sea men of clamorous porters and where the slaues of Barbary are able to fright all learning out of the towne with their lookes as all Latin with their Language Yet I must confesse they study here belle Lettere for if the true belle Lettere bee Letters of exchange your marchand here if you present him a Letter of exchange from his correspondent will read it ouer and ouer againe and study vpon it before he giue you the contents of it in money Hauing finished this excursiue journey we returned againe to Florence and hauing rested our horses a day or two we tooke a new rise from thence to Rome which seemed to becken en vs and whither the main torrent of our curiosity hurryed vs. Some three miles Beyond Florence we passed vnder a Monastery of Carthusians seated vpon a round hill whose seueral celles and little gardens walled about branching out on all sides like seuerall Bastions made this Monastery looke like a spiritual Fort or deuout Cittadel From hence passing through san Cassiano we arriued at night at Poggi-Bonzi a little towne famous for perfumed Tobacco in powder which the Italians and Spaniards take farre more frequently then we as needing neither candle nor tinderboxe to light it withall nor vseing any other pipes then their owne noses From Poggi-Bonzi we came at dinner to Siena This is the second towne of the Florentin State It was heretofore a powerfull Republick commanding threescore miles into the country and now and then beating the Florentins but a last after much strugling this woolf receiued the muzzle and Siena is now the humble seruant of Florence This happened an● 1555. This towne is seated in a very wholesome ayre and soyle and therefore much frequented by strangers It s called Senae in Latin from the Senones people of Gaule who comeing into Italy with Brennus built this towne The streets are all paued with bricks set vp edgeway which makes the towne alwayes dry and neat It s built high and low with many high towers in it built anciently in honour of its well deseruing citizens who had done some special seruice in the Republick and this makes it seen thirty miles off on Romes side The people here are very ciuil and euen sociable too which together with the good ayre the good exercises for gentlemen the good language and the great priuiledges make many strangers draw bridle here and sommer it at Siena the Orleans of Italy The prime things I saw here were these 1. The Domo one of the neatest Cathedrals of Italy though it be built a la maniera Tedescha It s all of black and white marble within and without The Fontispice is carued curiously and set thick with statues Yet it wants a larger piazza before it to giue it its full grace The inside of this Church is very takeing Vnder the roof immediatly runns a row of white marble-heads of all the Popes till this time The Pauement is the best in the world and indeed too good to be trode on hence they couer a great part of it with bords hansomely layd together yet easy to be taken vp to show strangers the beauty of it It s of marble inlayd into pictures and those very great ones seueral great marbles of seueral colours makeing the shadows and the lights and composeing all together such a new kind of Mosaick worke as all men admire but none dare finish This worke was begun by Duccio Sanese and afterwards carryed on by Domenico Beccafumi but not finished by him sayth Vasari They told me here that is was Meccharini that made this pauement but I had rather beleeue Vasari That part which they vncouered for vs represented the history of Abraham going to sacrifice his sonn Isaac and the history of the Machabees and the like I confesse I scarce saw any thing in Italy which pleased me better then this pauement On the left hand within the Church stands the Library painted with a rare Fresco which is yet rauishing and liuely after two hundred yeares Indeed the braue actions of Aeneas Syluius afterwards Pope Pius II which these pictures represent deserue to be painted by the sun beames The pictures are of the hand of Pietro Perugino Raphaels Master but when all 's done giue me bookes in a Library not pictures In the Church you see the statues of Alexander the III of Pius II of Paulus V of Alexander the VII all Popes and natiues of Siena 2. I sawe here the seueral places which S. Katharine of Siena had made famous by her deuotions as her Chamber where she receiued the holy stigmats now turned into a Chappel the Chamber where she liued with other memorials of her deuotions in the Dominicans Church where they also shew her head and finger her body being transferred to Rome and lyeing in a little Chappel within the Sacristy of the Dominicans at the Minerua 3. The other things ordinarily showne here are the great Hospital the house of Pius II of the family of the Piccolomini the great Piazza the pillar with the woolf of brasse vpon it the marble Pillar as you come into the towne from Florence with the armes of the Empire and of Portugal vpon it because here it was that the Emperour met Eleonora of Portugal and marryed her in presence of Aeneas Syluius then Archbishop here and afterwards Pope Pius II. I saw here the Academy of wits called gli Intronati why they should take that ambitious name I knowe not vnlesse it be in reference to the saying of à Philosopher who sayd that then finally kingdomes should be happy when either Philosophers should be chosen Kings or Kings playd the Philosophers Indeed Aristotle holds that they that are strong of body are made to serue and tug at the oare of commands and they that are strong in wit are borne by nature to sit at the helme and command others 5. This towne hath furnished the Church with a General Council of

a hundred and thirty Bishops called by Nicolas the III with three great Saints S. Bernardin reformer of the Minorits S. Katharine the holy Virgin and Beatus Colombanus Institutor of the Order of the Iesuati a man of great learning and Sanctity with fiue good Popes to wit Alexander the III of the house of Bandinelli Pius II of the house of Piccolomini Paulus V of the house of Burgesi and Alander the VII of the house of Chisi And in fine it hath furnished the world with two champions in learning Ambrosius Politi or Catharinus who wrote learnedly against Luther and Erasmus and Adriano Politi who wrote against Ignorance by his learned Dictionary He that would know in particular the history of Siena let him read Orlando Maleuolto From Siena we went to Bon Conuento Tornieri San Quirico inconsiderable places vpon the rode and so to Radicofino a strong Castle vpon a high hill built by Desiderius King of the Longobards This is the last place of the Florentin state but not the least in strength Dineing here at the Great Dukes Inn at the bottom of the hill we went to lodge at Aquapendente which is some 12 miles off and the first towne of the Popes state This towne stands vpon a hill from which the waters trickling downe softly are sayd to hang there and giue it the name of Aquapendente Of late this towne is made a Bishops Seate by the Demolition of Castro and the remooual of the Bishops Seat from thence hither which happened vpon this occasion Castro was a towne belonging to the Duke of Parma Thither Pope Innocent the X. sent a good Bishop to gouerne that flock but the Bishop vpon his arriual being killed there the Pope sent Conte Vidman General then of the Church with order to demolish Castro and he himself transfered the Bishops seat from thence to Aquapendente and all this according to the Canon law which ordains that that Citie which kills its Bishop should be depriued of the Bishops seat euer after From Aquapendente we came to a little towne called San Lorenzo and not long after to Bolsena anciently called Vrbs Volsinensium Here it was that happened the famous Miracle in confirmation of the Real presence of Christs body and blood in the Blessed Sacrament which happened an 1263 and which gaue occasion to Pope Vrban the IV to command that the Feast of Corpus Christi should be kept holyday euer after The Miracle is related by Leandro Alberti the Camden of Italy and by learned Onuphrius Panuinus in the life of Vrban the IV. We passed also that morning by the side of the Lake of Bolsena in the midle of which is a little Iland in which Amalasuinta Queen of the Ostrogoths a woman of singular parts was miserably murthered by her nearest kinred Here 's also a little Conuent of Capucins Hauing passed along this Lake a great while we entered at last into a wood called anciently Lucus Volsinensium and now Bosco Helerno It was formerly a dangerous passage for Bandits but now its free from danger since Sixtus Quintus purged the Ecclesiastical State of that Vermin by makeing a Law that whosoeuer should bring in the head of a Bandit should haue pardon impunity recompence too of some hundred crownes wher vpon the Bandits soone destroyed one another From this wood we soone came to Montefiascone standing vpon a hill It s a Bishops Seat and famous for excellent Muscatello wine and this wine is famous for hauing killed a Dutchman here who drunk too much of it The story is true and thus A Dutchman of cōdition traueling through Italy sent his man before him alwayes with a charge to looke out in the Inns were the best Wine was there write vpon the Wall of the Inn the word EST that is to say Here it is The seruant comeing hither a little before his Master and finding the wine excellently good wrote vpon the Wall EST EST EST signifying thereby the superlatiue goodness of this wine The Master arriues lookes for his Mans hand-writing and finding three ESTS is ouer ioyed In he goes and resolues to lye there and he did so indeed for here he lyes still buryed first in wine and then in his graue For drinking too much of this good wine he dyed here and was buryed by his seruant in a Church here below the Hill with this Epitaph vpon his Tombe made by the same seruant Propter EST EST EST herus meus mortuus est It was here also that the gallantry of the braue Roman General Camillus appeared very much For while he was besieging this towne called then P●aliscum or Phalerii a treacherous schoolmaster hauing brought vnto him the chief of the yong youths of the towne whom he had deceitfully drawne vnto the Roman Camp vnder pretence of takeing the ayre a broad by which means Camillus might haue frighted their Parents to an vnworthy rendition the braue Roman who scorned to ouercome by any other way then that of Gallantry caused the schoole master to bee stripped his hands to be tyed behind his back and to be led into the towne againe with the little youths whipping him as he went till he had brought them home againe This nobleness of Camillus tooke the towne presently because it tooke with the townesmen who admireing the Romans Generosity submitted willingly to Camillus who had chosen rather to take towns By this owne Valour then by other mens iniquity Indeed as Valerius Maximus sayth it did not become Rome built by the sonn of Mars to take towns otherwise then Martially From Montesiascone we went downe the Hill by an easie descent vnto Viterbo This is an Episcopal Seat standing in a wholesome ayre and therefore called Viterbium as it where Vita Vrbium Here are excellent fountains of water and store of them but its pitty none of them runn with good wine to make a mends for the bad which are most of them Vini cotti The two factions here of the Gatti the Maganesi these standing for the Vrsini those for the Colonnesi ruined heretofore Viterbo ouer ouer againe In the Domo there are the tombes of 4 Popes as also in the Franciscans Church some tombes of Popes and of S. Rosa you see the body of that Saint yet entire though buryed aboue 100 years ago She lyes along in her tombe and is seen by the drawing of a curtain from before her Here 's an Academy of wits called Gli Ostinati to shew perchance that a man cannot be learned without obstinate labour and paynes Hence the Poët makes his learned man to be one who multum sudauit alsit and Persius tells vs that his delight was to grow pale with obstinate night study Velle suum cuique est c. At me nocturnis juuat impallescere chartis About a mile from Viterbo stands a neat Church and Conuent called Madonna del Querco and as farre

you all the way long with a sacred reuerence and are able almost to rend also a stony heart in two with the thought of our Sauiours passion Vpon the top of all this Promontory there is an ancient monument of Manutius Plancus an old Roman with a great deale of old Latin vpon it but my rideing boots put me out of all reading humour and I was very willing to let Plancus lye quietly in his monument aboue so I could but recouer againe our boate there sit still Of this towne was the famous Cardinal Caëtanus of S. Thomas Aquinas his name order and almost learning This towne was built by Aeneas in honour of his Nurse Caëta who dyed here Returning againe to Mola we went after dinner to see Ciceros Grotte and so away We had not ridden three houre● but we came to the Ferry of Carigliano neare to which J saw the fair rests of an old amphitheater standing alone in the fields with the rests also of an Aqueduct I wondered at first to see an Amphitheater standing alone and farre from any great towne but vpon enquiry I found that here had stood once a noble towne called Minturna but now so ruined that not one stone of it appeareth Indeed we are often at this fault in Italy and looke for townes in corne fields Luna Populonia Cuma Baiae and Minturna cheat thus our expectations and leaue vs no monument of themselues but a poore Fuit Jlium which though it be Trauelers losse yet its mans comfort that townes to dye as well as hee Hence Rutilius Non indignemur mortalia corpora solui Carnimus exemplis oppida posse mori Hauing passed ouer the riuer in a Ferry boat we entred vpon the medows in whose fennes called the Fens of Minturna Caius Marius lay hid a while and there with his sterne lookes and manly voyce saying Darest thou kill Caius Marius so terrifyed the slaue that was sent thither to kill him that he let him escape to his ship and so into Africk He may speak big that speaks for his life and any lookes become a man when he lookes to himself well in dangers While we rod along these medows we saw before vs the mountain of Garo anciently called Mons Massicus famous for excellent wines as well as the country there about which was called Ager Falernus so famed by Poets for its Vinum Falernum Passing thus along we came at night to S. Agathas and the next morneing betimes we enterd into Campania Foelix so surnamed because of its admirable ayre wonderfull plenty of corne and wine and pleasants prospects on all sides which makes an Ancient call it C●rtamen Cereris Bacchi the Strife of Ceres and Bacchus It was this country which with its delights broke Hannibals army which neither snow could coole nor Alpes stop nor Romans Vanquish sayth Seneca Indeed the pleasantness of this country made vs a full mends for all the ill way we had had before nature hauing set that scuruie way there a purpose that men might like her Fauorite Campania the better after it I call this country Natures Fauorite in imitation of Pliny who calls it Opus gaudentis naturae that is a country made by nature when she was in a good humour It s a Heathen that speaks and you must pardon him We intended that day to haue gone to Capua to dinner but when we came thither we did not finde it at home For this towne now called Capua is two miles distant from the place where old Capua stood Indeed the old Capua was a towne of importance for it was either the second or third in the world and stood in competition as Carthage did with Rome Nay it demanded of Rome to be vsed like a Sister not like a Subiect and stood high vpon it that one of the annuall Consuls should alwayes reside here But that Capua is vanished with its vanity and this Capua hath no reason to be so proud being famous for nothing but that action of many noble women here who to auoyd the insolencies of the French soldiers receiued into the towne friendly leapt into the riuer Vulturno to saue their Virginity honour from their lewdness an action rather wonderfull then warrantable There is a Castle here of pretty strength a good riuer and an Archbishops Seat From Capua we passed through Auersa a sweat Seat of a towne and once great till Charles the I King of Naples almost ruined it It s a Bishops Seat still Here it was that Queen Ioanne of Naples strangled her husband Andreasso and was her self not long after serued so too in the same place Traueling some eight miles further we came to Naples before we could see it This towne was anciently called Parthenop● from one of the Syrens It s now called Neapolis a new City because the inhabitants of Cumae hauing out of iealousy ruined Parthenope were sore vexed with a plague till they had built it vp againe better then before This happened about the yeare of the world 1449. As for Naples it s now the head of a great kingdome so called This kingdome belongd once to the Emperor but after that it had been ouerun by Sarazins and freed by Pope Iohn the Tenth vnited with Alberic● Marquis of Toscany it acknowledged the Church for its mistrésse and the first man that was inuested by the Pope Innocent the Second an 1130 was Roger the Second a Normand Since that time the French and the Spaniard haue strugled hugely for this kingdome sometimes the one plucking it to him then the other But now it s vnder the Spaniard who holds it of the Pope and for it payeth euery yeare the purse of gold and the Gennet spoken of aboue This kingdome is of great importance to Spayne It makes his party too strong for France in Italy It corresponds conueniently with Sicily and Milan and strengthens them both In fine it beareth vp notably the interest of spayne in the Court of Rome and it squeizeth it self now and then into huge summes four millions of crownes to send tribute into Spaynes coffers For this kingdome is a thousand fiue hundred miles in compasse four hundred and fifty wide It hath in it twenty Archbishops Seats a hundred and twenty fiue Bishops Seats a thousand fiue hundred Bourgs two millions of soules ten principalityes twenty three Dutchies thirty Marquisats fifty foure Countyes and about a Thousand Baronies whereof four hundred are ancient It can rayse a hundred and fifty thousand foot and a hundred thousand horse It s ordinary squadron of gallyes are but 20. As for the towne it self of Naples if it be the third of Italy for greatness it is the first for strength neatness and therefore deseruedly surnamed La Gentile the Gentile It hath Compania on one side of it and the Mediterranean Sea on the other so that its fed by Natures best duggs Sea