The other part on the gorge of the mountain descending
towards the sea beach; so that the former part of the town lies nearly at
right angles with the latter, with a considerable space intervening. The
road for the last four miles between Borghetto and Sestri Levante is a
continual descent. The inn was very comfortable and good at Sestri Levante.
The beginning of the road between Sestri and Rapallo is on the beach till
near Rapallo, when it strikes again into the mountains and is of
considerable ascent. Rapallo is a very neat pretty place, situate on an
eminence commanding a fine view of the sea. The greater part of the road
between Rapallo and Genoa is on the sea-coast, but cut along the mountains
which here form a bluff with the sea. Villas, gardens and vineyards line
the whole of this route and nothing can be more beautiful. The neatness of
the villas and the abundance of the population form a striking contrast to
the wild solitudes between Sarzana and Sesto, where (except at Borghetto)
there is not a house to be seen and scarce a human creature to be met, and
where the eagle seems to reign alone the uncontrolled lord of the creation.
GENOA, 23rd April.
The view of Genoa from the sea is indisputably the best; for on entering by
land from the eastern side, the ramparts are so lofty as to intercept the
fine view the city would otherwise afford. From the sea side it rises in
the shape of an amphitheatre; a view therefore taken from the sea gives the
best idea of its grandeur and of the magnificence of its buildings, for
everybody on beholding this grand spectacle must allow that this city well
deserves its epithet of Superba.
I observe in my daily walks on the Esplanade a number of beautiful women.
The Genoese women are remarkable for their beauty and fine complexions.
They dress generally in white, and their style of dress is Spanish; they
wear the mezzara or veil, in the management of which they display much
grace and not a little coquetry. Instead of the fan exercise recommended to
women by the Spectator, the art of handling the mezzara might be
reduced to a manual and taught to the ladies by word of command.
I put up at the house of a Spanish lady on the Piazza St Siro, and here
for four livres a day I am sumptuously boarded and lodged. There are
three principal streets in Genoa, viz., Strada Nuova, Balbi, and
Nuovissima. Yet these three streets may be properly said to form but one,
inasmuch as they lie very nearly in a right line. These streets are broad
and aligned with the finest buildings in Genoa.
