The journal of Montaigne's travels in Italy by way of Switzerland and Germany in 1580 and 1581, Volume 2 (of 3)

Verona is about the size of Poitiers, having a vast quay beside the Adisse, which flows through it and is crossed by three bridges. I went thither also with the baggage. Without the bulletins of health, which had been issued at Trante and confirmed at Rovere, our party would not have been admitted within the town; not that there was any talk of danger of the plague, but this is always done by custom or by way of tricking wayfarers out of a few coins. We went to the cathedral, where M. de Montaigne remarked on the strange behaviour of those present at High Mass on such a solemn day. They chattered in the very choir of the church, standing with their hats on, and turning their backs to the altar, and recking naught of the office except at the time of elevation. There were an organ and violins, which gave musical accompaniment to the mass. We visited other churches, but saw nothing noteworthy, either in the ornaments or in the beauty of the women present. Amongst others we went to the church of Saint George, where the Germans have left divers marks of their presence and several coats-of-arms, together with an inscription relating how certain German noblemen in the train of the Emperor Maximilian, what time he came to take Verona from the Venetians, placed a certain piece of work over one of the altars. M. de Montaigne remarked that the government here preserved the memory of its reverses, as it also preserved in their integrity the beautiful tombs of the ill-starred Scaligers. It is a fact that our host of the “Chevalet,” an excellent house, where we found a superfluity of good fare and a bill one-fourth more than we would have paid in France, enjoyed the privilege of burying his family in one of the tombs aforesaid. We also visited, under the guidance of the castellan’s lieutenant, the castle where the government keeps on foot sixty soldiers; more, as M. de Montaigne was informed, as a safeguard against the townsfolk than against foreign foes; and then went to a religious house occupied by Jesuates de Saint Jerosme. These are not priests, neither do they say mass or preach, being for the most part ignorant, but they are skilful distillers of citron and other sorts of water, both here and in other places. They wear white frocks, small white caps, and over this a cloak of dark russet, and are very fine young men. Their church is excellently appointed, as is also their refectory, in which supper was already laid.

We saw likewise some very ancient masonry of the Roman period which is said to be an amphitheatre,[1] and the people make great boast of this, and also of certain other portions which have been uncovered below. On returning to the monastery we found that the cloisters were full of perfume, and afterwards they led us into a small room full of phials and earthen vessels, where we also were perfumed. The finest thing we saw, and what M. de Montaigne declared to be the grandest building he had ever seen, was what they call the Arena. This is an amphitheatre of oval shape which seems to be almost perfect; the seats, the vaulting, and the surrounding walls are sound, save the extreme outside portion. In fine, enough is there to give a vivid impression of the form and of the use for which such buildings were constructed. The government employs there the penal labour of criminals, and has thus repaired a portion of the damage, but much yet remains to be done before it will be in its ancient state,[2] and it is doubtful whether the whole efforts of the city will be able to accomplish this rebuilding. The place is oval in shape, and contains forty-three rows of seats, each a foot or rather more in height, the measure of the circumference at the highest point being some six hundred paces.[3] The gentlefolk of the country still use it for jousting and other public games.

M. de Montaigne also saw somewhat of the Jews, having visited their synagogue and held long converse concerning their ceremonies. The city has many fine squares and market-places, and from the castle, which stands on high ground, we could discern Mantua, which lay some twenty miles distant to the right of our road. Here there is no want of inscriptions, seeing that they never renew a gutter, either in the towns or along the highways, without inscribing thereupon the names of the Podestà and of the artificer. Like the Germans they nearly all use some armorial device, traders as well as others. In Germany indeed, not only the towns, but also the larger portion of the villages lay claim to exhibit their coats-of-arms.

We quitted Verona, and on our way out of the city we saw the church of Our Lady of Miracles,[4] famous by reason of certain marvellous things which have there come to pass. On account of these manifestations, the church has been rebuilt after a beautiful circular design. Some of the bell-towers are covered with brickwork laid crosswise. We traversed a flat country of varied character, fertile here and barren there, the mountains on our left hand being far distant, with some on the right also, and rode thirty miles in one stretch to Vicenza where we supped.

This is a handsome town, somewhat smaller than Verona, and full of noblemen’s palaces.[5] On the morrow we visited several churches and saw the fair, which was at that time being held in the great square, many shops having been built of wood especially for the occasion.[6] We also visited the house of the Jesuates, which is a very handsome one, and saw their store of distilled water, for the public sale of which they keep a shop. We bought two bottles of scent for a crown. They make likewise medicinal draughts for all sorts of maladies. The founder of this order was P. Urb. S. Jan Colombin,[7] a noble of Siena, who made the foundation in 1367, and it is at present under the protection of the Cardinal de Peluco. They have thirty monasteries, all of which are in Italy, and their house here is a very beautiful one. It is said they scourge themselves every day, and they keep little chains in their cells, where they pray without singing, and for a certain time during the day they meet together.

At this place we failed to get old wine, which troubled me greatly on account of M. de Montaigne’s colic; for he had to drink thick wine instead of the good wine we had got up to this time. We thought of the German wines with regret, though they are for the most part spiced and diverse in their odour, and though they have a liquorish flavour like sage; indeed, they call one of them vin de sauge, which is pleasant enough when the palate is wonted thereto, seeing that it is also good and generous. We set out from this place on the Thursday after dinner by a road very level, wide, straight, ditched on both sides and slightly raised above the plain. On either hand the country was very fertile, and the mountains, as before, were in the far distance. After a journey of eighteen miles we reached Padua in time for bed.

Here the hostelries can in no respect be compared with those of Germany. Certes they are less costly by one-third, and resemble those of France. The city is goodly, wide in extent, and in my opinion holds within its bounds an area at least as big as that of Bordeaux; but the streets are narrow and ugly, lacking both in people and in seemly dwellings. Its situation is very pleasant, in an open plain stretching wide on every side. We tarried here all the following day and saw the schools of fencing, dancing, and equitation,[8] at which more than a hundred French gentlemen were at this time seeking instruction. M. de Montaigne deemed that it worked greatly to the detriment of these young countrymen of ours that they should thus live together and still practise the customs and language of their native land, letting go the chance of making acquaintance with strangers. He was vastly pleased with the church of St. Antony, the cupola of which is not constructed whole in itself, but of several sections made into the form of a dome; the church likewise contains much rare sculpture work in marble and bronze. M. de Montaigne saw with much pleasure the portrait bust of Cardinal Bembo,[9] which bears all the marks of a refined character and an indefinable something testifying to the gracefulness of his intellect. The hall where justice is dispensed is the largest unsupported by pillars I ever saw, and at one end thereof is the head of Titus Livius, figuring him an emaciated man of a studious and melancholy temper.[10] This is an ancient work of which naught is known save by tradition. His epitaph is there also, having been set, as was its due, in a place of honour after its discovery. Over one of the doors of this palace is a figure of Paul the jurisconsult,[11] but this M. de Montaigne pronounced to be a modern work. A house standing on the site of the ancient arena in a garden is worth a visit.

Students can live here cheaply at seven crowns a month for the master and six for the servant in respectable boarding-houses. We left early on the Saturday morning, traversing a very fine road beside the river, and having on either hand fields very fertile with corn, and well shaded by rows of trees, upon which the vines were trained. All along the road fine pleasure houses had been built, and over the gate of one of these belonging to the Contarini is an inscription telling how the king[12] lodged here on his way back from Poland. After travelling twenty miles we stopped for dinner at Chaffousine,[13] which is naught but an inn, and here we took boat for Venice. Here they bring ashore all the boats with machinery and pulleys worked by two horses after the fashion of an oil mill. They move their boats by means of wheels placed underneath, which run along planks and thereby convey them over to the canal which runs into the sea on which Venice is situated. We took dinner at Chaffousine, and, having embarked in a gondola, arrived at Venice in time for supper after travelling five miles.