This City Is Of Great Antiquity, And Has A Number Of Gothic
Buildings.
You do not find here the specimens and imitations of Grecian
architecture as at Vicenza and Verona.
The campanile of the Cathedral is
of immense height, but one is repaid for the fatigue of ascending by the
extensive view from its summit. There are 498 steps. I put up at the
Colombina, a very good inn. The Cremonese seem to be an industrious
people. There is a great deal of pasture land in the environs of this city
and much cheese is made here and in the Lodesan. Several ricefields are
also to be met with between this place and Lodi.
MILAN, 25 June.
I have been on a visit to the ancient and venerable city of Pavia, which is
about eighteen miles distant from Milan, thro' a rich highly cultivated
plain. The road lies in a right line the whole way. About three miles
distant from Pavia on the Milan side stands the celebrated Certosa, which
we stopped to visit. The church of the Certosa contains the greatest
quantity of riches in marbles, and precious stones, of any building in the
world, probably. The architecture is Gothic, and the workmanship of the
exterior exquisite; but the ulterior is most dazzling; and at the sight of
the rich marbles and innumerable precious stones of all kinds with which it
abounds, I was reminded of Aladdin and began to fancy myself in the cavern
of the Wonderful Lamp. This church was built by Galeazzo Visconti, whose
coffin is here, and his statue also, in white marble. There are several
bas-reliefs of exquisite workmanship. There are no fewer than seventeen
altars here and of the most beautiful structure you can conceive, being
inlaid in mosaic with jasper, onyx and lapis-lazuli. Besides these precious
marbles of every colour and quantity under heaven, here are abundance of
rubies, emeralds, amethysts, aquamarines and topazes, incrusted in the
different chapels and altars. Here again is a proof of the falsehood and
injustice of the aspersions cast on the French army, as being the
plunderers of churches; for if they were so, how comes it that the
Certosa the richest of all, was spared? Mr Eustace[119] in his admiration
of Church splendour, should at least have given the French no small degree
of credit for their abstinence from so rich a prize. A canal runs parallel
to the road the whole way from Milan to Pavia, where it joins the Tessino.
The banks of the Canal and each side of the road are lined with poplars.
Pavia is one of the most ancient cities in Italy and has something very
antique and solemn in its appearance. It is quite Gothic and was the
capital city of the Lombard Kings. The streets are broad and the Piazza
is large. I could not find any traces of the ancient palace of the Lombard
Kings, which I should like much to have done; for then I should have
endeavoured to make out the chamber into which Jocondo peeped and
discovered what cured him of his melancholy, and where the impatient Queen
received the petulant answer from her beloved Nano, conveyed by one of her
waiting maids who told her:
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