Postmasters on depositing a fixed sum, the amount of which is settled after the carriage and its luggage have been inspected by one of their employés, the traveller having only to pay the barriers, bridge tolls, and extra buonamano to the postilions. This arrangement may be now (1853) made for the roads from Rome to Naples by Terracina, from Rome to Florence by Siena, and thence to Bologna and Padua, and will probably be extended to all the other post-roads in the Pontifical States. The adoption of this mode of payment, whilst it assures to the postmaster what he is entitled to by the post regulations, will save the parties adopting it a vast deal of annoyance and quarrelling. The following is the Tariff for Ordinary Posts: Two-wheel carriage, furnished by postmaster The postilion's buonamano, although fixed by the preceding tariff at 3 pauls, is generally 5 or 6 pauls, or more, according to good conduct. A separate postilion is required for each pair of horses. The following will therefore be the expense of posting, giving each postilion 5 pauls per post: The length of the Roman post is 8 miles, equal to 7 English miles nearly. The length of the modern Roman mile is 1629 English yards, a little more than nine-tenths of an English mile. The length of the Tuscan mile is 1808, and of the Neapolitan 2436 yards. The Italian or geographical mile, of 60 to the degree, is 2025.4 English yards. § 8.-VETTURINI. Families who do not travel in their own carriage must in a great measure be dependent on the vetturino: indeed there are many parts where it is the only available mode of communication. A duplicate agreement should be drawn up before starting, and attested by some person in authority. Before making the agreement, when the exclusive use of the carriage is required, it is necessary to see both carriage and horses in order to ascertain that they are what they ought to be, and take such note of them as to be able to declare that any others which may be substituted at the moment of starting are not those agreed for: it is also desirable to specify in the agreement that the journey is to be performed with the particular carriage and horses already seen and approved. The vetturino generally undertakes to provide breakfast, dinner, supper, and bed; but the experienced traveller knows well that he is worse off by this arrangement, although more economical, than he is when he provides for himself at the inns. The charge for one person varies, but it ought not to be more than 2 scudi a-day; from Bologna to Rome, a journey occupying 7 or 8 days, the charge for one person is from 12 to 18 scudi; from Bologna to Florence 3 to 4 scudi; and from Florence to Rome 10 to 15 scudi in 5 to 6 days, the price and time employed varying with the season of the year. hen a single traveller or a party of friends engage a carriage for their own use, the agreement should expressly stipulate that no other person is to be taken up on any pretence whatever; otherwise occasions will soon be found for forcing other persons into it. 10 scudi a-day should cover all expenses of a private vetturino carriage with 2 or 3 horses, including the fee to the driver and chevaux di renfort when necessary. All tolls should be made payable by the vetturino. It sometimes happens that the vetturino sells his engagements, in which case a traveller may be exposed to two or three changes of vehicle: this should also be distinctly provided against in the agreement, as well as any particular stages into which he may wish to divide the journey. The buonamano or mancia, i. e. fee to the driver, is usually scudo a-day if" ben servito," or more if the journey be a short one: it is desirable that this be not included in the contract, but made conditional on good behaviour. When a vetturino is required to stop on the road for the convenience of travellers, he expects them to pay one or two scudi a night for each horse's expenses. The sum to be paid in this case should be stated in the agreement; one scudo per horse nightly is enough. In this respect posting has the advantage of permitting travellers to stop when they please, and visit places on the road, without this additional cost. § 9.-INNS. These are given in detail under the description of the different towns: in the capitals and provincial cities they are generally good throughout Central Italy; but at the intermediate post-stations they are often very bad, and, like all the Italian inns, out of the largest towns, they are dirty and infested with vermin to an extent of which those who travel only in winter can have no idea. The prices vary in different towns, and particularly according to the circumstances in which the traveller makes his appearance; the charges for those who travel in their own carriages being notoriously higher, frequently by 100 per cent., than for those who travel by vetturino. Those who wish tea and coffee in the evening in preference to supper should carry milk with them from the place where they have slept on the previous night, as it is often not to be had in the evening at the inns on the road. The tea to be found at the smaller inns is generally so bad that travellers in Italy will do well to carry their own supply, and, what is equally necessary, a small metal teapot. In regard to prices, in the country and smaller towns 3 pauls a head is a proper price for dinner, 3 pauls for a bed, and 2 to 2 pauls for breakfast, and 1 paul per night for servants; but the English in general are charged much higher, unless their previous experience enables them to resist the overcharge; as a general rule, it will save trouble and annoyance to fix beforehand the prices to be paid. In many places the inns at the post-houses are often built near the stables. The second floor of these houses is preferable to the first. In the smaller towns it would be absurd to carry English habits and prejudices so far as to expect the comforts and conveniences of great cities: travellers never gain anything by exacting or requiring more than the people can supply; and if they have sufficient philosophy to keep their temper, they will generally find that they are treated with civility. 1 Sermide, a post station. farther, the frontier of the LombardoVenetian kingdom is passed at Quatrelle; and a little farther on is Stellata, the Papal Custom-house, where passports and baggage are examined; from hence the road follows the 1. bank of the Panaro to The road follows the banks of the Panaro for the first 3 posts. 1 Bomporto. From here it proceeds through Campo Santo, Cà de' Coppi, and Passo di Cà Bianca, to 2 Finale, situated on either side of the Panaro, which is here crossed. 3 m. farther on, at Serragliolo, the Modenese frontier is reached, and soon after the Papal Custom-house at Santa Bianca, from which the road soon reaches Bondeno, where it falls into the high post-road from Mantua. (Rte. 1.) 14 Bondeno. 1 FERRARA (Rte. 3). ROUTE 3. PADUA TO FERRARA.—513 m. Padua to Monselice Posts. 2 The road between Padua and Ro1 Bondeno, a small town on the 1. bank of the Panaro, formerly a fief of vigo follows the course of the canal, the house of Este. The road hence to and in its interesting character conFerrara lies through a flat, well-irri-trasts strongly with the dull and wearigated country, through Vigarano, Cassana, and Mizzana, to 1 FERRARA, described in Rte. 3. ROUTE 2. MODENA TO FERRARA.-49 m. some plains which extend southward as far as Bologna. Before arriving at Rovigo, the Adige is crossed by a ferryboat; and between it and Ferrara the Po is passed in a similar manner. The height of the embankments necessary to restrain the inundations of the Po will convince the traveller how much FerPosts. rara and its plains are at the mercy of that river, the level of which is higher than the roofs of many of the houses in that city. The Papal frontier station and Dogana are at Ponte Lagoscuro, on the S. side of the river, called the "Port of the Po," from the considerable commerce it maintains 1 2 6 1 All miles not otherwise designated are English. with Lombardy in corn and wine, which are brought here for shipment. The Panfilio Canal leads direct from Ponte Lagoscuro to the Porta S. Benedetto at Ferrara, distant 3 m. [FERRARA, Forum Allieni of Tacitus. -Inns: Albergo dell' Europa, kept by Bottazzi, opposite the Post and Diligence offices, is now the best in Ferrara, and highly spoken of: the Tre Mori, an old inn, is also much frequented, and not unreasonable: le Tre Corone.] Few cities ranking among the ancient Italian capitals are so much neglected by travellers as Ferrara, and yet few are more associated with interesting recollections. It is situated in a fertile but unhealthy plain, at a level of only 6 ft. above the sea, and at a short distance from the Po, which forms here the boundary of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. The dreary plain of the Polesina, intersected only by the dikes of the river, presents an uniform and unbroken horizon, and extends, with little variation, up to the walls of Ferrara. The aspect of the city, once the residence of a court celebrated throughout Europe, still retains many traces of its ancient grandeur. The broad, regular, and ample streets appear like those of a deserted capital; grass grows on the pavement, the magnificent palaces are falling into decay, and the walls, 7 miles in circuit, which once contained nearly 100,000 souls, now enclose scarcely one-third of that number. The population is collected together in the centre of the city, and thinly scattered over the remaining portion. Ravenna itself is hardly more fallen than Ferrara, although it was the great commercial emporium of Italy during the middle ages, the città bene avventurosa of Ariosto, and the gran donna del Pò of Tassoni. The modern city is supposed to have been founded in the 5th century, when the invasion of the Huns and the destruction of Aquileja drove the inhabitants into the marshes for security. Its walls were built in the 6th century by the Exarchs of Ravenna, and it was raised to the rank of a city in 661, when the bishopric of Vigovenza was transferred to it. But the chief interest of Ferrara arises from its connection with the house of Este. As far back as the 10th century we find Ferrara connected with this family; first as supreme magistrates, and afterwards as hereditary princes (1240), holding generally of the Pope, though sometimes asserting their independence. It remained under their sway until the extinction of the legitimate branch in 1597, in the person of Alfonso II.; and in the following year it was attached to the Church by Clement VIII., on the pretext that Cæsar D'Este, the representative of the family by a collateral line, was disqualified by illegitimacy. During the 16th century the Court of Ferrara was unsurpassed by any other in Europe for its refinement and intelligence; its University was renowned throughout Christendom, and so many English students were collected within its walls as to form, as they did in Bologna, a distinct nation in that learned body. But there are greater names associated with the history of Ferrara at this period than those of its princely sovereigns. "Melancholy as the city looks now, every lover of Italian poetry," says Forsyth, “must view with affection the retreat of an Ariosto, a Tasso, a Guarini. Such is the ascent of wealth over genius, that one or two princes could create an Athens in the midst of this Boeotia. The little courts of Ferrara and Urbino seemed to emulate those of Alexandria and Pergamos, contending for pre-eminence only in literature and elegance." The School of Ferrara, founded and patronised by the D'Este family, deserves especial notice in connection with this tribute to the intellectual history of the city. It is observed by Lanzi that "Ferrara boasts of a series of excellent painters, far superior to its fortunes and population; a circumstance which will not excite surprise when we consider the series of poets which it cherished, from Bojardo and Ariosto down to our own times, a sure criterion of accomplished and refined minds more than ordinarily disposed To this cirtowards the fine arts." cumstance, and to the good taste of the inhabitants in their patronage of true father of the school; for the series art, may be added the favourable posi- of painters from his time may be clearly tion of the city, in its contiguity to traced; and Lanzi classes him among Venice, Parma, and Bologna, and its the first masters of Italy. His most emiconvenient distance from Florence and nent pupil was Ercole Grandi, called by Rome; so that its students were en- Vasari Ercole da Ferrara, whose great abled to select from the different work, painted for the Garganelli chapel, schools of Italy what was most con- is now preserved in the Academy of Fine genial to the tastes of each, and to Arts at Bologna. Lodovico Mazzolino, profit by their several excellences. better known as Mazzolino da Ferrara, So great, indeed, was the influence of another pupil of Costa, is known by his this latter circumstance, that Zanetti works in various galleries; and Domeconsidered it doubtful whether, after nico Panetti, the master of Garofalo, the 5 great schools, Ferrara did not is remarkable for having become the claim precedence over all others. The pupil of his own scholar, and for the first fact recorded in connection with works he produced after his style had the fine arts at Ferrara is the commis- been remodelled on the example of sion given by Azzo D'Este, in 1242, Garofalo. The school of Ferrara was to the Venetian painter Gelasio di at its prime under the latter painter Niccolò, a pupil of the Greek artist and the two Dossi, in the early part of Teofane of Constantinople, for a pic- the sixteenth century, when Alfonso ture of the Fall of Phaëton. In the D'Este was the patron of literature and 14th century, when Giotto passed art. This prince had invited Titian through Ferrara, on his way from to adorn his palace; and, among other Verona to Florence, he was employed celebrated paintings, the "Cristo della by the Duke to paint some frescoes in Moneta," of the Dresden Gallery, was his palace and in the church of St. painted during his stay at Ferrara. Agostino, which were still extant in Dosso Dossi, and his brother Giobatthe time of Vasari. After the lapse tista, born at Dosso, in the vicinity of of some years, during which several Ferrara, were among the earliest pronames are mentioned which have sur-tégés of Alfonso and his successor Ercole vived their works, Galasso Galassi ap-II.; and their merit is sufficiently atpeared early in the 15th century; tested by the fact that Ariosto has imhis works are chiefly confined to Bo-mortalized them among the best painters logna, and none are now found in his native city. He was followed by Antonio da Ferrara, known by his works at Urbino and Città di Castello, who painted some chambers in the palace of Alberto D'Este in 1438, at the time when the General Council was held there for the union of the Greek and Latin churches, and which is supposed to have supplied him with his subject. But the most celebrated of the early painters was Cosimo Tura or Cosme, the pupil of Galassi, employed at the court of Borso D'Este: his minute and elaborate workmanship is admirably seen in the miniatures of the choir-books preserved in the cathedral. Among the painters of this period may be mentioned Lorenzo Costa, the reputed pupil of Francia, and Francesco Cossa, both known by their works at Bologna. Costa, indeed, may be regarded as the of Italy. Ortolano is another painter of this school, whose works are often confounded with those of Garofalo; he is known as a successful imitator of Raphael, and some of his works are yet seen in his native city. Benvenuto Tisio, better known by the name of Garofalo, from the pink which he introduced into his paintings, stands at the head of the Ferrarese school, and is justly called the Raphael of Ferrara: some of his most celebrated works are still found here. His pupil, Girolamo de' Carpi, recommended to Ercole II. by Titian himself, and whose oil paintings were of extreme rarity in the time of Lanzi, may also be studied at Ferrara. While these two artists excelled in the graces of the art, Bastianino, or Bastiano Filippi, was introducing the style of Michael Angelo, as seen in the grand picture of |