Italy; Rome and Naples Florence and Venice Volume 1-2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871 edition. Excerpt: ... winding up the mountain, the face of which is completely covered with evergreens: these have sprung up everywhere, even in the hollows and on inaccessible heights; only a few walls of perpendicular rock have opposed their invasion. The mountain thus rises, round from the torrent below to the sky above, like a magnificent summer bouquet intact in the midst of winter. After leaving Narni the landscape becomes still more beautiful. It is a fertile plain; fresh grain, elms wedded to vines, an extensive smiling garden, and all around high hills of a graver hue; beyond, a circle of blue mountains fringed with snow. Soave avstero is a phrase frequently recurring to one in the landscapes of Italy: the mountains impart nobleness to them, without, however, being too lofty; the imagination is not overwhelmed by them; they form amphitheatres and backgrounds to pictures, and are simply a natural t architecture. Beneath them, varied cultures, numerous fruit-trees, and terraced fields, compose a rich and orderly decoration which soon renders one oblivious of our monotonous fields of grain, our still more monotonous vegetation, and every northern landscape which seems to be a manufactory of bread and meat. We see, passing, numerous little carts with young couples in them, a man and a girl; the latter is gayly attired in bright colors, and has her head bare: she looks as if she was accompanying her lover. Many are the signs here of a voluptuous and picturesque contentment. The young girls bind up their hair in the latest fashion, with puffs over the brow, and wear silk handkerchiefs, pendent ear-rings, and gilded combs. In Home, some superb and charming heads projected out of the dirtiest of rookeries. A little while ago, in passing through a small town, I...