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 CON TEN T S
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BOOK III
CHAPTER

1. Of the useful and the honorable (1585-88) 726

2. Of repentance (1585-88). . 740
3. Of three kinds of association (1585-88). . 753
4. Of diversion (1585-88) . . 764
5. On some verses of Virgil (1585-88) 774
6. Of coaches (1585-88) 831
7. Of the disadvantage of greatness (1585-88) 849
8. Of the art of discussion (1585-88) 854
9. Of vanity (1585-88) 876
10. Of husbanding your will (1585-88) 932
11. Of cripples (1585-88) 954
12. Of physiognomy (1585-88) 964
13. Of experience (1587-88) . . 992

TRAVEL JOURNAL
Note on the travel journal . . 1049
Analytical table of the trip . . 1051
Table of money values 1055
Across France toward Switzerland (September 5-28,
1580) . . 1056
Switzerland (September 29-0ctober 7, 1580). . 1068
Germany, Austria, and the Alps (October 8-27, 1580) 1082
Italy: The road to Rome (October 28-November 29,
1580) . . I112
Italy: Rome (November 30, 1580-April 19, 1581) 1141
Italy: From Rome to Loreto and La Villa
(April 19-May 7, 1581) 1179
Italy: First stay at La Villa ( May 7-June 21, 1581) 1200
Italy: Florence-Pisa-Lucca (June 21-August 13, 1581) 1224
Italy: Second stay at La Villa (August 14-
September 12, 1581) . . 1240
Italy: Return to Rome (September 12-0ctober 15,
1581) . . 1247
Italy and France: The return home
(October 15-November 30, 1581) 1257

Xl
T R AV E L J O U R N A L
 Note on the traveljournal
The Essays are the only book of his own that Montaigne published
or intended for publication. However, he left one other extensive
piece of writing, a journal of his trip to Germany, Switzerland, and
Italy from June 22, 1580, to November 30, 1581 - between the first
publication of the Essays (Books I and II) in 1580 and Montaigne's
return home to take up his duties as mayor of Bordeaux.
He made the trip for pleasure and for health.1 He wanted very
much to see Rome, his cultural homeland, as well as Florence,
Venice, and other cities of renown. Perhaps most of all he simply
wanted to see the world. From what his secretary writes, Montaigne
would rather have gone to Cracow and to Greece than make the
Italian tour that was familiar to so many;2 but he had friends with
him who wanted to reach Rome, and he gave way. He had one
specific purpose: to try the effect of mineral baths on the kidney
stone that had been afflicting him for two years when he set out.
Much of the Travel journal is a clinical case history of the spas he
visited, the baths he took, the waters he drank, the stones and urine
that he passed.
Besides this, the journal is a sightseer's record of the places and
people that Montaigne saw. The reader finds some surprises. Mon­
taigne shows a lively interest in all sorts of details of everyday living
- prices, foods, lodgings, as well as manners and customs in the
larger sense - nearly always, to be sure, with the hope of coming to
know people of other nations better through their way of life. He
loves gadgets and tells about them at some length. Faithful in the
practice of his religion, he is eager to study other religions as well, by
observation and by discussion. Wherever he goes, he tries to live as
the natives do. In order to "live Italian" he even writes a large part of
his journal in that language; and in Augsburg he is chagrined to
learn that he has attracted notice as a foreigner. He is a good mixer,
and his cheerfulness is contagious.

I Conjectures have been made about more serious purposes - a mission for the

king, the hope of the ambassadorship to Venice, and others - but they remain
conjectures. For Montaigne's love of travel, see Essays III : 9, "Of Vanity."
2 See Traveljournal, p. n15. The party included Montaigne, four other noble­
men - his youngest brother, Bertrand de Mattecoulon; his brother-in-law,
Bernard de Cazalis; young Charles d'Estissac; and a Monsieur du Hautoy -
and a number of servants.
1049
 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
The main inferest of the journal is in the light it sheds
on Montaigne and the Essay/ Hard as he tries to be comple tely
candid in all he writes, his-published work reveals the effect of forces
that often limit h!s· cand�r: hl s concern for the public welfare, his
sense of the uroane (one that will please his reader, and the like.
In the Traveljournal we can watch him without his knowing. This
work changes little in the portrait that emerges from the Essays,
but it adds some touches and confirms our sense of Montaigne's
sincerity.
About half of the Travel journal was written - presumably in
large part at Montaigne's dictation - by a secretary about whom we
know nothing. Montaigne wrote the remaining half, partly in
French and about half in Italian, a language he handled fluently
but not always surely. These divisions, which are marked in our text,
are the following:
The Journal by the Secretary, in French, pp. lo56-n56.
The Journal by Montaigne in French, pp. n56-1208.
The Journal by Montaigne in Italian, pp. 1208-1266.
The Journal by Montaigne in French, pp. 1266-1270.
The journal has a curious history. For almost two hundred years
the manuscript remained buried in a chest at Montaigne, where in
1770 it was discovered by Canon Prunis, a historian of the region in
quest of materials. The first two pages were missing and have never
been found. Four years later it was published by Meunier de Qyer­
lon. Three simultaneous editions appeared first, then another in the
same year (1774), finally a fifth in the year following. All five were
edited by Qyerlon. No other French edition appeared until 1837.
Meanwhile the manuscript disappeared in the Revolution and has
never been found again.
As a result, of course, all subsequent editors, translators, and
other students of the journal are dependent on the five Qyerlon
editions, which offer not only many variants but also a good
many apparent misplacements and misreadings. Two relatively
recent editions give much additional help: that of Alessandro
d'Ancona (in Italian, Citta di Castello, 1889), with its wealth of
information and corrections concerning persons and places named
in the journal; and that of Louis Lautrey (Hachette, 1906), with its
bold and generally impressive conjectural emendations. The most
valuable and accessible modern editions are those by Arthur
Armaingaud (Conard, 1928-29; Volumes VII-VIII of Montaigne's
 N O T E O N T H E T RAVE L J O U R N A L 1051
CEuvres completes), Maurice Rat (Qarnier, 1942), Ch arles Dedeyan
(Les Belles Lettres, 1946), and Silvestre de Sacy (Club Frarn;ais du
Livre, 1954).
There are no good studies of the Travel journal in English.
Three of the best are in French: Sainte-Beuve's fine article in the
Nouveaux Lundis, "Montaigne en voyage" (1862); Dedeyan's useful
Essai sur lejournal de voyage de Montaigne (Boivin, 1946), and Imbrie
Buffum's excellent L1njluence du voyage de Montaigne sur les Essais
(Princeton, 1946).
The journal has been translated three times into English: by
the younger William Hazlitt (1842) , W. G. Waters (1903) , and
E. J. Trechmann (Hogarth, 1929). The first two translations are
very weak, the third very good. Trechmann is very faithful
to Montaigne - more so, it seems to me, than in his translation
of the Essays and has scrupulously reproduced the style of
-

the journal with its many verbless sentences, repetitions, and awk­
ward constructions. I have been a little freer, though not very
much, on the ground that Montaigne probably never even reread
the journal as he reread and revised the Essays, and that he would
have wished to make it clear and readable if he had intended
to publish it. I remain greatly indebted, however, to Trechmann,
as well as to d'Ancona, Lautrey, Buffum, and others mentioned
above.
Since the reader has an even harder time finding a particular
passage in the journal than in the Essays, I have introduced into the
text the divisions shown in the following table. Montaigne bears no
responsibility for any of these.

A N A LYT I C A L TA B L E O F T H E T R I P
ACROSS FRANCE TOWARD SWITZERLAND (1580)
PAGE PAGE

September 4: Beaumont-sur- September I2 : Mauvages . . . . . ro6o

Oise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ro56 r3: Vaucouleurs, Dornremy,
S: Meaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . ro56 Neufchateau . . . . . . . . . ro6o-6r
6: Charly . . . . . . . . . . . . . ro57 r4: Mirecourt . . . . . . . . . . . ro6r
T- Dormans . . . . . . . . . . . ro57 r5: near Epinal . . . . . . . . . . ro62
8: Epernay . . . . . . . . . . . . ro5 7 r6-2r- Plombieres . . . . . . . ro62
9: Chalons-sur-Marne . . ro59 2r- Remiremont . . . . . . . . . ro66
ro: Vitry-le-Fran�ois . . . . . ro59 28: Bussang, Thann
II: Bar-le-Due . . . . . . . . . ro6o (Germany) . . . . . . . . . . ro6 7
 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
S W' ITZ � RLAND (1580)
PAGE PAGE

September 29: Mulh.oµ_se . . . . fo 68 . . · October 2;: Baden (Switzer-

September 29-0ctobir I: -Basel. . . 1068 land) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074
October I: Horn (Austria) . . . . . 1073 7: Schaffhausen . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080

GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND THE ALPS (1580)

October 8: Constance . . . . . . . . . 1082 October I9: Bruck . . . . . . . . . . . . IIOI
9: Markdorf . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084 20: Munich . . . . . . . . .. . . . . IIOI
IO: Lindau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 2I: !eking . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . II02
II: Wangen . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 1088 22: Mittenwald . . . . . .. . . . . II03
I2: Isny, Kempten . . . . . . . 1088-9 2J: Seefeld . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . II03
IJ: Pfronten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109I 2J-2s: Innsbruck . . . . .. . . . . II04
I4: Fiissen, Schongau . . . . . . 1092 2s: Sterzing . . . . . . . . .. . . . . II08
IS: Landsberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1092 26: Bressanone . . . . . . .. . . . . II09
IS-I9: Augsburg . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 27- Kolmann, Bolzano .. . . II10-II

ITALY: THE ROAD TO ROM E (1580)

October 28: Trent . . . . . . . . . . . III2 . November IS-IT- Ferrara . . . . . . . II28
29-Jo: Rovereto (and I/20: Bologna . . . . . . . . . . . II29
Lake Garda) . . . . .. . . . . . III4 20: Loiano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II30
JI: Volargne . . . . . . . .. . . . . II17. 2I: Scarperia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II30
November I: Verona . . . .. . . . . . II17 22-24: Florence . . . . . . . . . . . II33
2: Vicenza . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . III9 24-26: Siena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II37
J-s: Padua . . . . . . . . .. . . . . II20 . 26: Buonconvento . . . . . . . . . II39
s-I2 : Venice . . . . . . . .. . . . . . II2I 27- La Paglia . . . . . . . . . . . . . II39
I2 : Padua ........
. .. . . . . II23 . 28: Montefiascone . . . . . . . . . II40
IJ: Battaglia . . . . . .
. .. . . . . . II25 29: Ronciglione . . . .. . . . . . . II40
I4: Rovigo . . . . . . . . .. . . . . II27 . JO: Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II4I

ITALY: ROM E (1580-1581)

November JO: Books taken for March I9-26: Holy Week . . . . . II66
inspection . . . . . . . . . . . II43
. 20: The Essays returned . . . . . II66
December 29: Kisses Pope's feet . II44 April J= Excursion to Tivoli . . . . II74
January II, IS8r: Execution of . s: Receives Roman citizen-
Catena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II48 ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II74 · ·

JO: Watches a circumcision . . II52 IS : Takes leave of Master of the

March 6: Vatican library . . . . . . II58 Sacred Palace . . . . . . . . . II78
IS : Excursion to Ostia . . . . . . II62
 N O T E O N T H E T RAVEL J O U RNAL 1053
'
ITALY: FROM ROM E TO LOR�TO AND LA VILLA (r58r)
PAGE PAGE

April I9: Castelnuovo . . . . . .. . n79 April 29: Urbino, Castel-Durante

20: Narni . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . n8o (Urbania) . . . . . . . n93-4
2I: Foligno . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . n82 30: Borgo San Sepolcro . . . . . n95
22: Valchimara . . . . . . . . . .. . n83 May I: Levanella . . . . . . . . . . . . n96
23: Macerata . . . . . . . . . . .. . n84 2: Florence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n97
23-26: Loreto . . . . . . . . . . .. . n84 3: Prato, Pistoia . . . . . . . . . n9/8
26: Ancona . . . . . . . . . . . .. . n89 41- Lucca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n99
27: Sinigaglia . . . . . . . . . . .. . n90 7- La Villa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200
28: Fossombrone . . . . . . . .. . n92

ITALY: FI RST STAY AT LA VILLA (1581)

May II: Memory of La Boetie . . 1207 May JI= Consulted as medical
I4: Gives peasant girls' dance . l2IO expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220
2I: Gives larger dance . . . . . . 1213

ITALY: FLORENCE - PI SA - LUCCA (1581)

June 2I: Pescia, Pistoia . . . . . . 1224-5 July 3-27: Pisa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231
June 22-July 2: Florence . . . . . . . 1225 July 27-August I3: Lucca . . . . . . 1238
July 2: La Scala . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231 August I4: La Vill a . . . . . . . . . . . 1240

ITALY: SECOND STAY AT LA VI LLA (1581)

August 24: Ejects his worst September 3-s- Bad toothache . . 1243
stone ever . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

IT ALY: RETURN TO ROM E (r58r)

September n-20: Lucca . . . . . . . 1247 September 26: San Lorenzo . . . . 1250
20: La Scala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 27-30: Viterbo . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251
2I-24: Siena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 30: Monterossi . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255
24-26: San Chirico . . . . . . . . 1249 October I-Is- Rome . . . . . . . . . . 1255

ITALY AND FRANCE: TH E RETURN HOME (r58r)

October IS- Ronciglione . . . . . . . 1257 October 2I: Massa di Carrara . . . 1259
I6: San Chirico . . . . . . . . . . . 1257 22: Pontremoli . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260
q-I9: Siena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257 23: Fornovo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261
I9: Ponte a Elsa . . . . . . . . . . . 1258 24: Piacenza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1262
20: Lucca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258 25: Pavia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263
1 054 "TRAVEL JOU RNAL
October 26-28: Milan . . . :· . . . 1264 November IT- Thiers . . . . . . 1268
,
. . . . .

28: Novara . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . l265 I8: Pont-du-Chateau . . . . . . 1269
.

29: Livorno (Piedmont) . . · . 1·2 65

.
"
I9: Clermont (Clermont-
30: Turin . <·
. . . �
... .
·. . · .. . . 1265 Ferrand) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269
JI: Susa . . . . � · . . . : . . . . .
·. . . 1266 20: Pontaumur . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269
November I: Lanslebourg . . . . . 1266 2I: Pontcharraud ... ..
. . . . 1269
.

2: La Chambre . . . . . . . . . . 1267 22: Chatain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269

3: Montmelian . . . . . . . . . . . 1267 23: Sauviat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270
4: Chambery, Yenne . . . . . . l267 24-26: Limoges . . . . . . . . . . . 1270
November s: Saint-Rambert . . . l267 26: Les Cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270
6: Montluel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268 27- Thiviers . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 1270
.

7-I.f. Lyons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268 28: Perigueux . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270

I5: La Bourdelliere . . . . . . . . . 1268 29: Mauriac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270
I6: L'H6pital . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268 30: Montaigne . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270
 N O T E O N T H E T RA V E L J O U R N A L 1055

TA B L E O F M O N E Y VA L U E S
FRENCH MONEY OF ACCOUNT
12 deniers = 1 sou 20 sous = 1 livre
The values of the money o f account are not related to any metallic
equivalents. There are two systems, that of Tours (tournois) and
that of Paris (parisis) . Parisis money is worth 125 per cent of tournois
at each level: 4 parisis (deniers, sous, livres) = 5 tournois (deniers,
sous, livres) . The reckoning here is in tournois, which was inter­
nationally current, as the parisis system was not.

OTHER COI N S MENTION ED IN THE JOURNAL

baiocco (Roman) = about 6 deniers or 0.5 sou
batz, batzen (German) = about 2.3 sous
carolus (French) = 10 deniers or 0.83 sou
crown (ecu) (French) = 3 livres or a little more
crown (scudo) (Italian) = 50 sous or 2.5 livres
gold crown, sun-crown (French) = 1 French crown
florin (German) = about 2 livres
franc (French) = 1 livre
giulio (Roman) = about 5 sous, 10 baiocchi
lira (Italian) = about 8.5 sous
pistolet or demi-pistole (Spanish) = about 1.1 crowns
quattrino (Roman) = 1.2 deniers or 0.1 sou
real (Spanish) = about 4 or 5 sous
teston (French and Roman) = about 14.5 sous
thaler (German and other) = about 9 sous
 Across France toward Switzerland
(S�pteµiber 5-28, 1580)

[ THE.JOURNAL
. ..

BY THE SECRETARY, IN FRENCH]

Monsieur de Montaigne dispatched Monsieur de Mattecoulon1

post-haste with the said groom to visit the said count,2 and
found that his wounds were not mortal. At the said BEAUMONT,3
Monsieur d'Estissac4 joined the group to make the same trip,
accompanied by a gentleman, a valet, a mule, and on foot
a muleteer and two lackey s. He was returning to our party to go
halves on the expense.
On Monday, September 5th, 1580, we left the said Beaumont
after dinner and came without stopping to sup at
MEAUX, which is a small town, beautiful, situated on the river
Marne. It is in three parts; the town and the suburb are on this side
of the river, toward Paris.
Across the bridges there is another big place called the Market,
surrounded on all sides by the river and a very handsome moat,
where there is a great multitude of inhabitants and houses. This
place was formerly very well fortified with great strong walls and
towers; but in our second Huguenot troubles, because most of the
inhabitants of this place were of that party, all those fortifications
were demolished. This part of the town withstood the attack of the
English5 when all the rest was lost; and as a reward, all the inhabi­
tants of the said locality are still exempt from the taille and other
taxes. They show on the river Marne an island two or three hundred
paces long, which they say was an earthwork erected in the water by
the English to batter the said Market with their engines and which
with time has taken this permanent shape.

r Bertrand-Charles de Montaigne, sieur de Mattecoulon, Montaigne's young­

est brother, then aged twenty.
2 Unidentified. The first two manuscript pages of the journal were missing
when the rest of it was found.
3 Beaumont-sur-Oise.
4 Charles d'Estissac (c. 1563-86), son of Louise d'Estissac, to whom Montaigne
dedicated Chapter 8 of Book II of the Essays, "Of the Affection of Fathers for
Their Children."
5 Under Henry V in r42r.
 A C R O S S F RA N C E TOWA R D S W I T Z E R LA N D 1057
In the suburb we saw the Abbey of Saint-Faron, a very old
building where they show the dwelling of Ogier the Dane and his
hall. There is an ancient refectory, with great long stone tables of
unusual size, in the middle of which, before our civil wars, there
welled up a spring of fresh water which served for their meals. Most
of the monks still are noblemen. Among other things there is
a very old and honorable tomb, on which there are the stone figures
of two outstretched knights, of extraordinary size. They maintain
that these are the bodies of Ogier the Dane and some other one
of those paladins. There is neither an inscription nor any coat of
arms; there are only these words in Latin, which an abbot had placed
there about a hundred years ago, that "these are two unknown
heroes who are buried here." Among their treasures they show
some bones of these knights. The arm bone, from the shoulder to
the elbow, is about the length of the whole arm of an ordinary-sized
man of our time, and a little longer than that of Monsieur de
Montaigne. They also show two of their swords, which are about
the length of one of our two-handed swords, and are very much
hacked by blows on the edge.
At the said place of Meaux Monsieur de Montaigne went to visit
the treasurer of the Church of Saint Stephen, a man named Juste
Terrelle, known among the savants of France; a little man, sixty years
old, who has traveled to Egypt and Jerusalem and spent seven years in
Constantinople, and who showed him his library and the curiosities
of his garden. The most curious thing we saw there was a box-tree
spreading its branches in a circle, so thick and so artfully clipped that
it seems to be a very polished and very massive ball, of the height of
a man.
From Meaux, where we dined on Tuesday, we came to sleep
at
CHARLY, seven leagues. On Wednesday after dinner we came to
sleep at
DORMANS, seven leagues. The next day, which was Thursday
morning, we came to dine at
E PERNAY, five leagues. On arriving there, Messieurs d'Estissac
and de Montaigne went off to Mass, as was their custom, in the
Church of Our Lady. And because the said seigneur de Montaigne
had once read that when Marshal Strozzi was killed at the siege of
Thionville his body was brought to the said church, he inquired
about his sepulture and found that he was buried there, without any
indication in the form of a stone, or coat of arms, or epitaph,
 · T RA V E L J O U R N A L
opposite the high altar. And we were told that the queen had had
him buried thus without pomp or ceremony because that was the
will of the said marshal:· The. bishop of Rennes, of the Hennequin
family in Paris, w.a s _then -qffi li ating in the said church, of which he is
abbot; for it was · also .the day of the Festival of Our Lady of
September.
In the said church after Mass, Monsieur de Montaigne spoke to
Monsieur Maldonado, 6 a Jesuit whose name is very famous because
of his erudition in theology and philosophy, and they had several
talks together on learned matters, both then and after dinner, at the
said Monsieur de Montaigne's lodgings, where the said Maldonado
came to see him. And among other things, because Maldonado had
just come from the baths of Spa, which are at Liege, where he had
been with Monsieur de Nevers, he told him that those were ex­
tremely cold waters and that the people there maintained that the
colder you could take them, the better. They are so cold that some
who drink them start to shiver and shudder; but soon after one feels
a great warmth in the stomach. For his part he used to take a
hundred ounces; for there are people who furnish glasses that hold
their measure, according to what each person wants. The waters are
drunk not only on an empty stomach but also after meals. Their
operation, which he told us about, is like that of the waters of
Gascony. As for himself, he said that he had noted their power by
the harm that they had not done him, for he had drunk of them
several times while all sweating and stirred up. He has observed by
experience that frogs and other little animals that are thrown into
these waters die immediately; and he said that a handkerchief placed
over a glass full of the said water will turn yellow immediately. They
drink it for at least two or three weeks. That is a place where one is
very well accommodated and lodged, and it is recommended for any
kind of obstruction and gravel. However, neither Monsieur de
Nevers nor he had got much healthier for his stay.
He had with him a steward of Monsieur de Nevers, and they
gave Monsieur de Montaigne a printed paper on the subject of the
dispute between the dukes of Montpensier and of Nevers, so that
he might be informed about it and be able to inform gentlemen who
might inquire about it.
We left there Friday morning and came to

6 Juan Maldon ido (1533-84), eminent Spanish professor of philosophy and

theology, especially exegesis. Montaigne was to see him again in Rome.
 A C R O S S F RA N C E T O WA R D S W I T Z E R L A N D 1059
CttALON S , seven leagues. We stayed there at the Crown,
a handsome lodging; and they serve you on silver plate, and most
of the bedding and coverlets are of silk. The common buildings of
this whole part of the country are of chalkstone, cut into little
square pieces of half a foot or thereabouts; and others of turf of
the same shape. The next day we left there after dinner and came to
sleep at
VITRY-LE-FRANS:OIS, seven leagues. This is a small town situated
on the river Marne, built thirty-five or forty years ago in place of
the other Vitry, which was burned.7 It still has its original form,
well-proportioned and pleasant, and the center ofit is a large square,
one of the handsomest in France.
Here we learned three memorable stories. One, that the dowager
duchess of Guise de Bourbon, eighty-seven years old, was still alive,
and still could do a quarter of a league on foot.
The second, that a few days before there had been a hanging at
a place called Montier-en-Der, near here, upon this occasion: Seven
or eight girls around Chaumont-en-Bassigni plotted together a few
years ago to dress up as males and thus continue their life in the
world. One of them came to this place under the name Mary,
earning her living as a weaver, a well-disposed young man who
made friends with everybody. At the said Vitry he became engaged
to a woman who is still alive, but because of some disagreement that
arose between them, their compact went no further. Later he went
to the said Montier-en-Der, still earning his living at the said trade,
and fell in love with a woman, whom he married and with whom he
lived for four or five months, to her satisfaction, so they say. But
she was recognized by someone from the said Chaumont, the
matter was brought before justice, and she was condemned to be
hanged, which she said she would rather undergo than return to
a girl's status; and she was hanged for using illicit devices to supply
her defect in sex.
The other story is of a man still alive named Germain, of low
condition, without any trade or position, who was a girl up to the age
of twenty-two, seen and known by all the inhabitants of the town,
and noticed because she had a little more hair about her chin than
the other girls; and they called her Bearded Mary. 8 One day when

7 In 1545 , a year after Charles V had burned Vitry-en-Perthois, Francis I

founded Vitry-le-Franc;:ois on the same spot.
8 Montaigne tells this story in the Essays, I: 2 1 .
1060 · T RAVEL J O U R N A L
she made an effort in jumping, her virile instruments came out, and
Cardinal de Lenoncourt, th� n bishop of Chalons, gave her the
name Germain. Germain h�s not married, however; he has a big,
very thick beard .. We were not able to see him because he was in the
village. In this .town there is still a song commonly in the girls'
mouths, in which they warn one another not to stretch their legs too
wide for fear of becoming males, like Marie Germain. They say that
Ambroise Pare has put this story into his book on surgery. The story
is very certain, and was attested to Monsieur de Montaigne by the
most eminent officials of the town.
From here we set out Sunday morning after breakfast and came
without stopping to
BAR-LE-Due, nine leagues, where Monsieur de Montaigne
had been before. 9 He now found nothing remarkable and new but
the extraordinary expense that a private priest, dean of the place, had
put into public works, and continues to put in every day. His name is
Gilles de Treves. He has built the most sumptuous chapel, in regard
to marble, paintings, and decorations, that there is in France; and
has also built and almost finished furnishing the most beautiful
town house that there is in France, of the most beautiful construc­
tion, the best proportioned and upholstered, the most elaborately
and richly decorated, and the best to live in. He wants to make
a college of it, and is in the process of endowing it and setting it in
operation at his own expense.
From Bar-le-Due, where we dined Monday morning, we came
to sleep at
MAUVAGES, four leagues, a little village where Monsieur de
Montaigne was stopped by reason of his colic, which was also the
reason why he abandoned the plan he had made to see Toul, Metz,
Nancy, Joinville, and Saint-Dizier, which are towns scattered
around this route, as he had intended, in order to reach the baths
of Plombieres in all haste.
From Mauvages we set out Tuesday in the morning and came to
dine at
VAUCOULEURS, one league from there; and we passed along the
river Meuse to a village called
DOM REMY, on the Meuse, three leagues from the said Vaucou­
leurs, the native village of the famous Maid of Orleans, whose name
was Jeanne Dare or Dallis. Her descendants were ennobled by

9 With the court in 155 9 . See Essays II: 17, p. 602.

 AC RO S S F RA N C E TOWA R D S W I T Z E R LA N D
•
1061
the favor of the king, and they showed us the arms that the king gave
them, which are azure, a straight sword crowned and with a hilt
of gold, and two gold fleurs-de-lys at the side of the said sword.
A receiver of Vaucouleurs gave an escutcheon thus painted to
10
Monsieur de Cazalis. The front of the little house where she was
born is all painted with her exploits; but age has greatly damaged
the painting. There is also a tree beside a vineyard which they call the
Maid's Tree, which has nothing else remarkable about it.
We came this evening to sleep at
NEUFCHATEAU, five leagues. Here, in the church of the Corde­
liers, there are many tombs, three or four hundred years old, of the
nobility of the region, on which all the inscriptions are in this form:
Here lies So-and-so, who was dead when time was passing through the
year twelve hundred, etc. Monsieur de Montaigne saw their library,
in which there are many books, but nothing rare, and a well from
which water is drawn in very big buckets by working with the feet
a wooden pedal, supported on a pivot, to which is connected a round
piece of wood to which the rope of the well is attached. He had seen
others like it elsewhere. Next to the well is a big stone vessel raised
five or six feet above the brim, up to which the bucket mounts; and
without anyone touching it, the water is poured into the said vessel,
and the bucket goes down again when it is empty. This vessel is of
such a height that from it, by means of lead pipes, the well water is
led to their refectory and kitchen and bakery, and spouts out of
raised stone outlets in the form of natural springs.
From Neufchateau, where we breakfasted in the morning, we
came to sup at
MI RECOURT, six leagues, a beautiful little town where Monsieur
de Montaigne heard news of Monsieur and Madame de Bour­
bonne, who live in the near vicinity.
The next day after breakfast he went a quarter of a league from
here, out of his way, to see the "nuns of Poussay." These are religious
houses, of which there are several in these parts, established for the
education of girls of good family. Each girl has a benefice, for her
maintenance, of a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred
II
crowns, some worse, some better, and a private habitation in

ro This member of Montaigne's party is presumably Bernard de Cazalis, who

a year before had married Montaigne's youngest sister, Marie; or it may be
a brother of Bernard.
n A French crown (ecu) is about three livres. See Table of Money Values, p. 1055 .
1062 ' T RA V E L J O U R N A L
which she lives apart. Girls at nurse are received. There is no
obligation of virginity, excep t for the officers, such as the abbess,
prioress, and others. They 'lfe dressed in all freedom, like other
young ladies, ex�ept for a wh ite veil on their head, and in church,
during the service, ·a great cloak, which they leave in their seat
in the choir. Company is received in all freedom in the rooms of
the individual girls, whom people go to see, whether to pay suit
to them for marriage or for other reasons. Those who leave may
resign and sell their benefice to anyone they choose, provided she
is of the requisite rank; for there are lords of the region who
are formally responsible (and they affirm their responsibility by
oath) for testifying to the lineage of the girls who are presented.
It is not improper for one single nun to have three or four benefices.
Moreover, they perform the divine service, as elsewhere. Most
of them end their days here and do not want to change their
condition.
From here we came to sup at
EPINAL, five leagues. This is a beautiful little town on the river
Moselle, where we were refused entry because we had passed
through Neufchateau, where the plague had been not long before.
The next morning we came to dine at
P LOMBIERES, four leagues. From Bar-le-Due on, the leagues
resume the standard of Gascony, and grow longer as you come
toward Germany, until they are finally doubled or tripled.
We entered on Friday, September 16th, 1580, at two in the after­
noon. This place is situated on the confines of Lorraine and Ger­
many in a deep valley between several high, steep hills which close it
in on all sides. At the bottom of this valley there issue several
springs, some naturally cold, some hot. The hot water has no
smell or taste, and is as hot as one can stand it for drinking, so
that Monsieur de Montaigne was forced to pour it from one. glass
to another. There are only two springs from which people drink.
The one that issues from the eastern slopes and produces the bath
which they call the Qyeen's Bath leaves a sort of sweet taste in
the mouth like licorice, without aftertaste; but it seemed to Mon­
sieur de Montaigne that if you paid special attention to it, you could
detect a faint taste ofiron. The other, which springs from the foot of
the mountain opposite, of which Monsieur de Montaigne drank for
only one day, is a little more bitter, and one may detect in it the flavor
of alum.
 AC R O S S F RA N C E T O WA R D S W I T Z E R L A N D
.
1 0 63
The custom of the place is only to bathe, and to bathe two or
three times a day. Some take their meals in the bath, where they
commonly have themselves cupped and scarified; and they use
it only after being purged. If they drink, it is a glass or two in
the bath. The people here considered Monsieur de Montaigne's
practice strange, for without previous medicine he would drink
nine glasses of the water, which came to about one pot, every
morning at seven, and dine at noon; and on the days when he
bathed, which was every other day, he did so about four o'clock,
staying in the bath only about an hour. And those days he was apt to
go without supper.
Here we saw men who had been cured of ulcers, and others of
red spots on the body. The custom is to be here for at least a month.
They recommend much more highly the spring season, in
May. They hardly use the baths after the month of August, because
of the coldness of the climate; but we still found company here,
because the dryness and the heat had been greater and lasted longer
than usual.
Among other friendships, Monsieur de Montaigne formed an
intimate one with the seigneur d'Andelot, of Franche-Comte,
whose father was grand equerry to the Emperor Charles V. He
himself was first field marshal in the army of Don John of Austria,
and was the man who remained as governor of Saint-Qyentin when
we lost it. One part of his beard was all white, and part of one
eyebrow; and he told Monsieur de Montaigne that this change had
come upon him in an instant, one day when he was at home full of
grief for the loss of a brother of his whom the duke of Alva had put
to death as an accomplice of the counts of Egmont and Horn; and
that this part of his face had been resting on his hand, so that those
present thought it was some flour that by chance had fallen on him
just there. He has remained like that ever since .
This bath was formerly frequented by the Germans only; but for
a few years now people of Franche-Comte and many Frenchmen
have been arriving here in great crowds. There are several baths, but
one great and principal one, built in an oval shape, of ancient
construction. It is thirty-five paces long and fifteen wide. The hot
water issues from underneath in several springs, and cold water is
made to flow in from above to temper the bath according to the wish
of those who are using it. The places are divided off on the sides by
bars, suspended like those in our stables; and they throw boards
 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
over the top to ke ep out the Sl\fi and rain. All around the baths there
are three or four rows of stone steps in the manner of a theater, on
which those who are b�thing can sit or lean. Singular modesty is
observed here; aQd ·yet it is indecent for the men to go in otherwise
than quite nake d except for a little pair of drawers, and the women
except for a shift.
We lodged at the Angel, which is the best inn, since it commu­
nicates with both baths. Our whole lodgings, in which there were
several rooms, cost only fifteen sous a day. The landlords in all the
places supply wood into the bargain; but the country round about
is so full of it that it costs them only the price of cutting. The
landladies are very good cooks. In the very crowded season these
lodgings would have cost a crown a day, which is cheap. The feed for
the horses was seven sous; all other kinds of expense equally reason­
able. The quarters here are not sumptuous, but very convenient; for
by the use of many galleries they make each room independent of
the others. The wine and bread are bad.
They are a good people, free, sensible, considerate. All the laws
of the country are religiously observed. Every year they renew on
a tablet, in front of the great bath, in the German and French
languages, the laws written below:

"Claude de Rynach, Knight, Lord of Saint-Balesmont, Mon­

tureulz en Ferrette, Lendacourt, etc., Councillor and Chamberlain
to His Sovereign Lordship the Duke, etc. , and his Bailiff for the
Vosges:
"Be it known that in order to secure the repose and tranquillity of
sundry ladies and other notable personages assembling from various
regions and countries at these baths of Plombieres, we have, pur­
suant to the intention of His Highness, instituted and ordained, and
do institute and ordain, as follows:
"To wit, that the ancient corrective discipline for minor offenses
will remain in the hands of the Germans, as of old; to whom it
is enjoined that they see to the observance of the ceremonies,
statutes, and rules which they have used to maintain the decorum
of the said baths and to punish the offenses that shall be committed
by the people of their nation, without exception of persons, by form
of ransom, and without using any blasphemy or other irreverent
language against the Catholic Church and the traditions thereof.
''All persons, of whatever quality, condition, region, and province
they may be, are forbidden to provoke one another by insulting
 A C R O S S F RA N C E T O WA R D S W I T Z E R LA N D
•
1065
language tending to pick a quarrel, to bear arms in the said baths, to
give the lie, or to lay hand to weapons, on pain of being severely
punished as disturbers of the peace, rebels, and disobedient to His
Highness.
''Also all prostitutes and shameless girls are forbidden to enter
the said baths or to approach within five hundred paces of them, on
pain of being whipped at the four corners of the said baths; and
on pain, for the hosts who shall have received or harbored them, of
imprisonment of their persons and arbitrary fine.
"Under the same penalty all persons are forbidden to use toward
the ladies, gentlewomen, and other women and girls who are at the
said baths, any lascivious or shameless language, to touch them
dishonorably, or to enter or leave the said baths disrespectfully,
contrary to public decency.
''And because, by the benefit of the said baths, God and nature
procure us many cures and reliefs, and a decent cleanliness and
purity is required to obviate many contagions and infections that
might be engendered here; the Master of the said baths is expressly
ordered to take pains to examine the persons of those who shall
enter the baths, by day as well as by night, and to make them
preserve modesty and silence during the night, without noise,
scandal, or mockery. And if any person is not obedient to him
in this matter, the Master shall promptly bring information against
him to the magistrate, to have exemplary punishment inflicted
on him.
"Moreover, it is prohibited and forbidden to all persons coming
from infected places to enter or approach this place of Plombieres,
on pain of death; it is very expressly enjoined upon the mayors
and officers of justice to take careful heed of this, and upon
all the inhabitants of the said place to give us billets contain­
ing the names and surnames and residence of the persons
whom they have received and lodged, on pain of imprisonment of
their persons.
''All which ordinances above declared have this day been made
public before the Great Bath of the said Plombieres, and copies of
them have been posted, in both the French and German languages,
in the nearest and most conspicuous place to the Great Bath, and
signed by us, Bailiff for the Vosges. Given at the said Plombieres,
the fourth day of the month of May in the year of grace of Our Lord,
one thousand five hundred . . . "

(The name of the Bailiff)

ro66 . T RA V E L J O U R N A L
We stopped at the said place from the said day, the r6th, 12 until
the 2 7th of September. Mon;ieur de Montaigne drank of the said
water eleven mornings,··n in t;'.glasses each for eight days and seven
glasses each for: three 'days, and bathed five times. He found
the water easy to drink and always passed it before dinner. He
experienced no other effect from it than to urinate. His appetite
was good. His sleep, his bowels, nothing of his ordinary condition
was made worse by this drinking. On the sixth day he had a very
violent attack of colic, worse than his ordinary ones, and had it in his
right side, where he had never felt any pain except a very slight one
at Arsac, without aftereffect. This one lasted him four hours, and he
clearly felt the effect of it and the passage of the stone through the
ureters and the lower abdomen. The first two days he passed two
little stones that were in the bladder, and afterward at times some
gravel. But he left the said baths judging that he still had in
the bladder both the stone of the aforesaid colic and some other
small ones whose descent he thought he had felt. He considers the
effect of these waters and their quality, as regards himself, very
like that of the high spring at Bagneres, where the bath is. As for
the bath, he finds it very mild in temperature; and in truth children
six months or a year old are ordinarily seen playing in it like frogs.
He sweated abundantly and gently. He ordered me, as a favor to his
hostess, according to the humor of the nation, to leave a wooden
escutcheon of his arms, 13 which a painter of the said place made for
a crown, and the hostess had it carefully attached to the wall on
the outside.
On the said day, September 2 7th, after dinner, we left and
passed through a mountainous country, which everywhere
resounded under our horses' feet as if we were riding over a vault,
and it seemed as though drums were drumming all around us; and
we came to sleep at
REMI REMONT, two leagues, a beautiful little town, and a good
lodging at the Unicorn; for all the towns of Lorraine (this is the last)
have hostelries as comfortable and entertainment as good as any
place in France.

r2 The text reads "r8th."

1 3 Montaigne describes his coat of arms (Essays I: 46, p. 246) as follows: "I bear
azure powdered with trefoils or, with a lion's paw of the same, armed gules in
fesse."
 A C R O S S F RAN C E T OWA R D S W I T Z E R LA N D 1067
Here is that most famous abbey of nuns, of the same kind as
those I spoke of at Poussay. They claim, against the duke of Lor­
raine, the sovereignty and principality of this town. Messieurs
d'Estissac and de Montaigne went to see them immediately after
arriving, and visited several private lodgings that are very handsome
and very well furnished. Their abbess, of the house of Dinteville,
had died, and they were occupied in choosing another; one candi­
date was the sister of the count of Salm. They went to see the
deaconess, a member of the house of Ludre, who had done Mon­
sieur de Montaigne the honor of sending someone to visit him at
the baths of Plombieres and bring him artichokes, partridges, and
a barrel of wine. They learned here that certain neighboring villages
owe the nuns as rent two basins of snow every Pentecost day, or in
default of that a wagon harnessed with four white oxen. It is said
that they never have failed to receive this rental of snow, yet in
the season when we passed there the heat was as great as it is in any
season in Gascony. They wear only a white veil on their head, and
above it a wisp of crape. They wear black robes of whatever material
and fashion they please while they are on the premises, elsewhere
colored ones; petticoats as they please, and shoes and pattens; coifs
over their veils. Like the others, they must be descended from at
least four noble houses on the father's side and as many on the
mother's. Our party took leave of them when evening came.
The next day at daybreak we left. Just as we had mounted, the
deaconess sent a gentleman to Monsieur de Montaigne, requesting
him to go to her, which he did. This delayed us an hour. This society
of ladies gave him powers of attorney to handle their affairs at
Rome. On leaving here, for a long time we followed a very beautiful
and very pleasant valley, skirting the Moselle river; and we came to
dine at
BUSSANG, four leagues, a wretched little village, the last French­
speaking one, where Messieurs d'Estissac and de Montaigne,
dressed in linen smocks which were lent them, went to see some
silver mines that the duke of Lorraine has here, a good two thou­
sand paces into the hollow of a mountain. After dinner we followed
along the mountains, where we were shown, among other things, on
inaccessible rocks, the eyries where they catch goshawks (and these
cost only three testons of the money of the country) , and the source
of the Moselle; and we came to sup at
T HANN, four leagues, our first town in Germany, subject to the
Emperor, very beautiful.
1068 . T RA V E L J O U R N A L

Swttzerland
(S eptembe �-. 2 9 -0ctober 7, 1580)

The next morning we found a very beautiful big plain, flanked on

the left hand by hillsides covered with vineyards of the most beauti­
ful and best cultivated sort and of such extent that the Gascons who
were there said they had never seen so many in succession. The
vintage was in progress. We came to dine at
MuLHOUSE, two leagues, a beautiful little town of Switzerland, 1
in the canton of Basel. Monsieur de Montaigne went to see the
church; for they are not Catholics here. He found it, like the
churches throughout the country, in good condition; for there is
almost nothing changed, except for the altars and images, whose
absence was not found disfiguring. He took infinite pleasure in
seeing the freedom and good government of this nation, and
in seeing his host of the Sign of the Grapes return from a meeting
of the Council of the said town, held in a very magnificent gilded
palace, where he had been presiding, to serve his guests at table. And
a man without retinue or authority, who served them with drink,
had led four companies of foot into France against the king under
Casimir, and had been a pensioner of the king at three hundred
crowns a year for more than twenty years. This gentleman related to
him at table, without ambition or affectation, his condition and his
life; and told him among other things that they have no scruples on
account of their religion about serving the king against the Hugue­
nots themselves - which several others also told us as we went along;
that at our siege of La Fere there were more than fifty from their
town; and that they indiscriminately marry women of our religion
before the priest, and do not force them to change.
From there, after dinner, we went through a beautiful, flat, very
fertile country, adorned with many beautiful villages and hostelries,
and came to sleep at
BAS EL, three leagues, a beautiful city of the size of Blois or
thereabouts, in two parts; for the Rhine goes through in the middle
under a big and very wide wooden bridge.
The municipality did Messieurs d'Estissac and de Montaigne
the honor of sending them, by one of their officers, some of their

r Mulhouse, now in Alsace, was not then in the canton of Basel or in Switzer­
land. It was a free Imperial city all i ed with the Swiss Confederation.
 S WI T Z E R LA N D
wine, with a long welcoming speech which was delivered to them
while they were at table and to which Monsieur de Montaigne made
a long reply, both parties being uncovered, in the presence of several
Germans and Frenchmen who were in the common room with
them. The host served them as interpreter. The wines here are
very good.
A remarkable thing we saw here was the house of a doctor named
Felix Platerus, the most painted and enriched with dainty adorn­
ments in the French style that it is possible to see; which the said
doctor built very large, ample, and sumptuous. Among other things,
he is preparing a book of simples, which is already well advanced;
and whereas the others have the herbs painted according to their
colors, he has discovered the art of pasting them in their natural
state on the paper so perfectly that the tiniest leaves and fibers
appear there just as in nature, and he turns the leaves of his book
without anything dropping out; and he showed some simples that
had been pasted there for more than twenty years. We also saw, both
at his house and in the public school, some entire skeletons of men
that stand up by themselves.
There is this, that their town clock, not the one in the faubourg, 2
always strikes the hours one hour ahead of time. If it strikes ten
o'clock, that means it is only nine; because once, they say, just such
an accidental error of their clock saved their town from an attack
that had been planned against it.
Basilee is so called, not from the Greek word, but because Base
.
means "passage ,, in G erman.
We saw a great many men oflearning, such as Grynaeus, and the
man who wrote the Theatrum, and the said doctor (Platerus) and
Franc;ois Hotman.3 These last two came to sup with our party on the
day after our arrival. Monsieur de Montaigne judged that they were
not in agreement over their religion, from the answers he received:
some calling themselves Zwinglians, others Calvinists, others

2 That is, the part of town across the river.

3 The Grynaeus in question is variously identified as Samuel, professor of
eloquence and jurisprudence, or Simon, author of an Encomion medicinae. The
author of the Theatrum vitae humanae is Theodor Zwinger. Felix Plater is best
known for a treatise on the parts of the human body. Frans;ois Hotman, the
famous French-born Protestant jurist who wrote the Franco-Gallia, took refuge
in Switzerland after the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day in 1572 and stayed
on there.
1 070 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
Martinists;4 and indeed he was informed that many still fostered the
,
Roman religion in their heart. The form of giving the sacrament is
generally into the mouth� however, anyone who wants may put out
his hand for it, ancl- the rriinis ters do not dare to touch this chord in
these differences in religi on.
Their churches have inside the appearance I have told of else­
where. On the outside they are covered with images, and the ancient
tombs are still intact, on which there are prayers for the souls of the
departed. The organs, the bells, the crosses of the belfries, and every
sort of image in the stained-glass windows are intact, also the
benches and seats in the choir. They put the baptismal fonts in the
former place of the high altar, and they have another altar built at
the head of the nave for the Lord's Supper; the one in Basel is on
a very fine plan.
The church of the Carthusians, which is a very handsome
building, is carefully preserved and kept up: even the ornaments
and the furniture are there, which the Protestants allege as evidence
of their fidelity, being obliged to this by the faith they pledged at
the time of their agreement. The bishop of the place, who is very
hostile to them, resides outside the town within his diocese, and
keeps most of the country people in the old religion; he enjoys a good
50,000 livres of income from the city, and the election of the
bishop continues.
Several people complained to Monsieur de Montaigne about the
dissoluteness of the women and the drunkenness of the inhabitants.
Here we saw a poor man's little boy cut open for rupture and
treated very roughly by the surgeon. Here we saw a very handsome
public library on the river and in a very beautiful site. We stayed all
the next day, and the following day after dinner we took the
road along the Rhine for two leagues or thereabouts; and then
we left it on our left hand, going through a very fertile and rather
flat country.
They have an infinite abundance of fountains in all this
country; there is no village or crossroad where there are not very
beautiful ones. They say there are more than three hundred in Basel
by actual count.
They are so accustomed to balconies, even near Lorraine, that in
all the houses, between the windows of the upstairs rooms, they
leave doorways overlooking the street, looking forward to making

4 Lutherans.
 SWI T Z E R LA N D 1 071
balconies there some day. I n all this part of the country, from Epinal
on, there is no village house so small as not to have glass windows;
and the good dwellings are greatly ornamented by being well
equipped, both inside and out, with these and with panes of glass
worked in many fashions. They also have plenty of iron, and good
workmen in this material; they surpass us by far; and moreover,
there is no church so small as not to have a magnificent clock and
sundial. They are also excellent in making tiles, so that the house­
tops are greatly embellished with motley forms of tile, soldered with
lead and variously worked, and also the floors of their rooms; and
there is nothing more delicate than their stoves, which are of earth­
enware. They use a lot of pine, and have very good craftsmen
in carpentry; for their casks are all carved and mostly varnished
and painted.
Their poeles, that is to say common rooms for taking meals, are
sumptuous. In each common room, which moreover is very
well furnished, there are likely to be five or six tables equipped
with benches, where all the guests dine together, each party at
its own table. The smallest inns have two or three such rooms,
very handsome; they are well lit by windows richly glazed. But it
is very apparent that they have more care for their dinners than for
anything else; for the bedrooms are just as wretched as the common
rooms are fine. There are never any curtains for the beds, and always
three or four beds in a room, right next to one another; no fireplace,
and you get warm only in the common rooms and the dining rooms;
for to have a fire anywhere else is unheard of, and they think it very
bad if you go into their kitchens. They are not at all clean in their
bedroom service; for lucky is the man who gets a white sheet, and it
is their style never to cover the pillow with a case; and they rarely
offer any other covering than that of a feather quilt, and that
very dirty. However, they are excellent cooks, especially of fish.
They have no protection from the night damp or the wind but the
window alone, which is not protected by shutters; and their houses
are full of windows and very light, both in the common rooms and
in the bedrooms; and they hardly ever close the windows even
at night.
Their service at table is very different from ours. They never mix
water with their wine, and are almost right not to; for their wines are
so small that our gentlemen found them even weaker than those of
Gascony when these are well baptized; and yet for all that they are
very delicate.
1072 TRAVEL JOU RNAL
They have the menservaqts dine at the masters' table or at
another nearby at the same time with them; for it takes only one
servant to wait on a big table, inasmuch as, everyone having his
silver goblet or ClJP ·in fro nt of his place, the man who serves takes
care to fill this goblet as soon as it is empty, without moving it from
its place, pouring wine into it from a distance with a pewter or
wooden vessel with a long beak; and as for the meat, they serve only
two or three dishes at each course. They mix together several well­
prepared meats in combinations very different from ours, and serve
them sometimes one on top of the other, using certain iron imple­
ments with long legs. On top of this implement there is one dish,
and underneath another. Their tables are very wide, and either
round or square, so that it is hard to place the serving dishes on
them. The servant easily takes away all these dishes at once and
serves two more, and there are up to six or seven such changes; for
one dish is never served until the other is off. And as for the plates,
when they want to serve the fruit, after the meat is taken away they
put in the middle of the table a wicker basket or a big tray of painted
wood, into which basket the most eminent person tosses his plate
first, and then the others; for in this they observe a strict precedence
of rank. This basket the servant easily takes off and then serves
the fruit in two dishes like the rest, pell-mell; and they usually
include radishes, just as they serve cooked pears with the roast.
Among other things they hold crayfish in great honor, and serve
up a dish of them, always with a cover, as a privilege; and they offer
them to one another, as they hardly do with any other viand.
However, all this country is full of them, and they serve them
every day, though they consider them delicacies. They do not give
you water to wash with on sitting down and getting up; everyone
goes to get some at a little water jug set in a corner of the room, as in
our monasteries.
Most of them use wooden plates, yes, and wooden pots and
chamber pots, and these as clean and white as possible. Others in
addition place pewter plates on the wooden ones until the last
course, the fruit, when there are never any but of wood. They use
wood only out of custom; for even where they use it they give you
silver goblets to drink from, and have an infinite quantity of them.
They clean and polish their wooden furniture scrupulously, even
to the bedroom floors. Their beds are raised so high that commonly
you climb into them by steps; and almost everywhere they have little
beds under the big ones.
 SWI T Z E RLA N D
Since they arc excellent work�rs in iron, almost all their spits are
turned by springs or by means of weights, like clocks, or else by
certain broad, light sails of pine that they place in the funnels of
their chimneys, which turn with great speed in the draft caused by
the smoke and steam of the fire; and they turn the roast slowly for
a long time; for they dry out their meat a little too much. These
windmills are used only in the large inns where there is a big fire, as
at Baden. Their motion is very uniform and constant. Most of the
chimneys between Lorraine and here are not in our style; they build
up the hearth in the middle or the corner of a kitchen and use almost
the whole width of this kitchen for the chimney flue. This is a great
opening seven or eight paces square, which narrows as it goes up to
the top of the house. This gives them room to place in one spot their
big sail, which with us would occupy so much space in our flues that
the passage of the smoke would be blocked.
The slightest meals last three or four hours because of the length
of these servings; and in truth they also eat much less hastily and
more healthily than we do. They have a great abundance of all sorts
of food, both meat and fish, and they cover their tables very sump­
tuously - at least ours. On Friday they did not serve meat to anyone,
and they say that on that day they generally do not eat any. The
prices are like those in France around Paris. The horses ordinarily
get more oats than they can eat.
We came to sleep at
HORN , four leagues, a little village belonging to the duke of
Austria.
The next day, which was Sunday, we heard Mass here, and
I noticed that the women all keep on the left side of the church
and the men on the right, without mixing. They have several rows of
cross-benches, one behind the other, of the right height for sitting
down. The women kneel on these and not on the ground, and
consequently look as though they were standing; the men have,
besides these, wooden crossrails to lean on, and they too kneel only
on the seats in front of them. Whereas we join our hands in prayer to
God at the elevation of the host, they stretch them apart wide open,
and hold them thus raised until the priest exhibits the pax. They
gave Messieurs d'Estissac and de Montaigne the third bench of
the men, and the other benches ahead of them were afterward taken
by men of inferior appearance; as also on the women's side. It
seemed to us that the most honored women were not in the first
rows. The interpreter and guide we had taken at Basel, a sworn
 '"f R A V E L JOURNAL
messenger of the . town, c-ame to Mass with us, and showed by his
1
manner that he attended with great devoutness and zeal.
After dinner we passed o¥er the river Aar at Bn1gg, a beautiful
little town belonging t�·-.T heir Excellencies of Bern, and on the
other side came to see an abbey5 which Qyeen Catherine of Hun­
gary gave to their lordships of Bern in the year 1524, where are buried
Leopold, archduke of Austria, and a great number of gentlemen
who were killed with him by the Swiss in the year 1386. 6 Their arms
and names are still inscribed here, and their spoils are carefully
preserved. Monsieur de Montaigne here spoke to a gentleman of
Bern who is in command, and he had them shown everything. In
this abbey there are loaves of bread all ready, and soup, for travelers
who ask for some; and, by the constitution of the abbey, no one is
ever refused.
From here we crossed in a ferryboat which is worked by an iron
pulley attached to a high cord that goes across the river Reuss, which
flows from Lake Lucerne, and we came to
BADEN, four leagues, a small town, with a separate borough
where the baths are. It is a Catholic town under the protection
of the eight cantons of Switzerland, in which several great assem­
blies of princes have been held. We did not lodge in the town, but
in the said borough, which is right at the foot of the mountain along
a river, or rather torrent, called the the Limmat, which comes
from the Lake of Zurich. There are two or three uncovered public
baths, which only the poor people use. The others, in very
great number, are enclosed in the houses, and are divided and
separated into several little private cells, closed in and covered,
which they rent with the rooms; the cells are as dainty and well­
equipped as possible, and veins of hot water are drawn to them for
each bath.
The inns are very magnificent. In the one where we lodged there
have been as many as three hundred mouths to feed in one day.
There was still much company when we were there, and fully
a hundred and seventy beds serving the guests that were there.
There are seventeen common rooms and eleven kitchens, and an
inn next to ours has fifty furnished bedrooms. The walls of the inns
are all covered with the escutcheons of the gentlemen who have
lodged there.

5 Konigsfelden.
6 At Sempach.
 S W I T Z E R LA N D
The town is up above on the ridge, small and very beautiful,
as they almost all are in this region. For besides the fact that
they make their streets wider and more open than ours and their
squares larger, and have so many windows everywhere richly glazed,
they have the custom of painting nearly all the houses on the outside
and loading them with mottoes, which make a very pleasant
sight; and besides, there is no town in which there are not several
fountains, flowing with streams of water, which have been erected
sumptuously at the street corners, either of wood or of stone.
This makes their towns appear much more beautiful than those
of France.
The water of the baths gives off a smell of sulphur, like those
of Aigues-Caudes and others. Its warmth is moderate, like that of
Barbotan or Aigues-Caudes, and for this reason the baths are very
mild and pleasant. If anyone has to escort ladies who want to bathe
respectably and with delicacy, he may bring them here, for they are
alone in the bath, which seems like a very rich cabinet, bright, with
glazed windows, covered all around with painted wainscoting, and
very neatly floored, with chairs and little tables to read or play on
while in the bath if you want. The bather can empty and let in
as much water as he pleases; and each bedroom is next to its bath.
The walks along the river are fine, as well as the artificial walks of
certain galleries.
These baths are situated in a valley commanded by the sides of
mountains that are high but nevertheless for the most part fertile
and cultivated. For drinking, the water is a little insipid and flat, as if
it had been poured back and forth a lot; and as for the taste, it smacks
of sulphur and has a sort of salty tang to it. The people of the region
use it principally for bathing, during which they have themselves
cupped and bled so heavily that I have sometimes seen the two
public baths look like pure blood. Those who customarily drink take
a glass or two at the most. People ordinarily stop here five or six
weeks, and the baths are occupied almost all summer long. No other
nation uses them, or very few, except the Germans; but they come
here in very great crowds.
The use of them is very ancient, and Tacitus mentions it. Mon­
sieur de Montaigne tried his best to find the main source, but could
not learn anything about it; from all appearances, the sources are all
very low and virtually on a level with the river. It is less clear than the
other waters that we have seen elsewhere, and when you draw it, it
carries certain very fine little filaments. It does not have those little
 · T RA V E L J O U R N A L
sparkles that yoti see shining in other sulphurous waters when you
take them into the glass, includ ing, as the seigneur Maldonado said,
those of Spa.
The day afte! . we arrived , which was Monday, Monsieur de
·�·

Montaigne drank se�en little glasses of it, which amounted to one

big chopin of his house; the next day five big glasses, which
amounted to ten of the little ones and might make a pint. This
same Tuesday morning at nine o'clock, while the others were din­
ing, he got into the bath and after coming out sweated very hard in
bed. He stayed in the bath only a half hour; for the people of the
country who are in it all day long playing and drinking are in the
water only up to the loins; he stayed in up to the neck, stretched out
the full length of his bath.
This day there left the bath a Swiss lord, a very good servant
of our crown, who had had a long talk with Monsieur de Montaigne
all the preceding day about the affairs of the country of Switzerland,
and showed him a letter which the French ambassador, son of
the President de Harlay, had written him from Soleure, where he
is staying, advising him to serve the king during his absence, for
he had been summoned by the queen to meet her at Lyons, and to
oppose the designs of Spain and Savoy. The duke of Savoy, who
had just died, had made an alliance a year or two ago with certain
cantons; which the king had openly resisted, alleging that
they, being already alli ed with him, could not accept any new
bonds without prejudice to him; some of the cantons had realized
this, thanks especially to the mediation of the said Swiss lord,
and had refused this alliance. In truth, in all these parts they receive
the name of the king with reverence and friendship, and offer us all
possible courtesies. The Spaniards are in bad odor.
This Swiss had a train of four horses: his son, who is already in
the service of the king like his father, on one; a valet on another;
a tall, beautiful daughter on another, with a cloth saddle cover and
a woman's stirrup in the French fashion, a portmanteau behind her
and a bonnet box at the saddlebow, without any woman with her
(and yet they were two full days' journey from their home, which is
a town where the said lord is governor); the goodman himself on
the fourth.
The ordinary dress of the women seems to me as neat as our own,
even the head-dress, which is a bonnet a la coquarde, turning
up behind and with a slight projection in front, over the forehead;
this is trimmed all around with tufts of silk or fur borders; the
 SWITZ E R LA N D 1 0 77
natural hair hangs down behind� all braided. If you take off this
bonnet of theirs in play (for it does not stay on any better than ours),
they are not offended, and you see their head quite bare. The
younger ones, instead of a bonnet, 'fear merely a garland on their
head. They do not have much difference in dress to distinguish
their ranks. You salute them by kissing your hand to them and
offering to touch theirs. Otherwise, if in passing you take off your
hat and make them a bow, most of them stand still without any
movement, and that is their ancient fashion. Some nod their head
a little to return your salute. They are generally handsome women,
tall and fair.
They are a very good nation, especially to those who conform to
them. Monsieur de Montaigne, to essay completely the diversity of
manners and customs, let himself be served everywhere in the mode
of each country, no matter what difficulty this caused him. At all
events, in Switzerland he said he suffered no inconvenience, except
for having at table only a little cloth half a foot square for a napkin;
and the same cloth the Swiss do not even unfold at their dinner, and
yet they have plenty of sauces and many varieties of soups; but they
always serve as many wooden spoons, with silver handles, as there
are people. And never is a Swiss without a knife, with which they
pick up everything; and they hardly ever put their hands into
the dish.
Almost all their towns bear, above the particular arms of the
town, those of the Emperor and the house of Austria; and indeed
most of them have been dismembered from the said archduchy only
by the bad management of that house. They say here that all the
members of this house of Austria, except the Catholic King, are
reduced to great poverty, especially the Emperor, who is held in
small esteem in Germany.
The water that Monsieur de Montaigne drank on Tuesday
caused him three stools and was all voided before noon. Wednesday
morning he took the same amount as the day before. He finds that
when he makes himself sweat in the bath, the next day he makes
much less urine and does not pass the water he has drunk; which he
experienced also at Plombieres. For the water that he takes the next
day comes out colored and very scanty, whereby he judges that it
promptly changes into nourishment, whether this happens by the
evacuation of the preceding sweat or by the fasting; for when he
bathed he took only one meal; this was the reason why he bathed
only once.
1 078 .T R A V E L J O U R N A L
On Wednesday his landlord bought a lot of fish; the said lord
asked him why that was. He �as told in reply that most people of
the said place of Baden ate fisp on Wednesdays for religious reasons;
which confirmed- what he had heard, that those here who hold to
the Catholic religion are much more strict and devout because they
are surrounded by the contrary faith. He argued thus, that when
confusion and mixture occurs in the same town and spreads in one
and the same government, this relaxes the affections of men, for the
mingling reaches down to individuals, as happens at Augsburg and
in the Imperial towns; but when a town has only one system of
government (for the towns of Switzerland have each their separate
laws and government, apart from one another, and do not depend
on one another in the matter of their administration; they are united
as a league only in certain general respects) , the towns that each
form a separate state and a separate civil body with all its members
have the wherewithal to fortify and maintain themselves; they are
undoubtedly strengthened and further joined and united by the
impact of the neighboring contagion.
We quickly adapted ourselves to the warmth of their stoves, and
not one of us felt any discomfort from it. For once you have
swallowed a certain smell in the air that strikes you as you come
in, all that remains is a gentle and even warmth. Monsieur de
Montaigne, who slept in a room with a stove in it, was very pleased
with it and with feeling all night a pleasant and moderate warmth
of air. At least you do not burn either your face or your boots, and
you are free from the smoke you get in France. Also, whereas we put
on our warm furred dressing gowns when we enter the house, they
on the contrary stay in their doublets and go bareheaded in the
heated room, and get dressed warmly to go back into the open air.
On Thursday he drank the same amount; the water operated
both in front and behind, and he voided gravel, not in any great
quantity; and he found the waters even more active than others he
had tried, whether by the strength of the water or because his body
was so disposed; and yet he drank less of them than he had of any
others, and passed them not as undigested as the others.
On this Thursday he spoke to a minister of Zurich, a native of
this place, who arrived here, and found that the Zurichers' first
religion had been Zwinglian; from which this minister told him
they had come closer to the Calvinist, which was a little milder. And
questioned about predestination, the minister replied that they held
a mean between Geneva and Augsburg, but that they did not bother
 SWITZ E R LA N D 1 079
their people with this dispute. Of his own private judgment he
inclined more to the extreme of Zwingli, and praised it highly as
the creed that came closest to primitive Christianity.
On Friday, the Jth of October, after breakfast, at seven o'clock in
the morning, we left Baden; and before leaving, Monsieur de
Montaigne again drank his measure of the said waters; thus he
drank here five times. On the doubtful question of their operation,
in which he sees as much occasion for good hope as in any others,
both for the drinking and for the bathing, he would recommend
these baths as gladly as any others he had seen until then; inasmuch
as the lodgings are so conveniently located, so clean, so well dis­
tributed, each person having the share he wants, without depen­
dence or difficulty of access from one room to another, so that there
are quarters for private persons of low condition and others for the
great; separate baths, galleries, kitchens, cabinets, chapels, for sepa­
rate parties. And in the inn next to ours, which is called the Town
Court, ours being the Rear Court (they are public houses belonging
to the co-ruling cantons, and are kept by tenants) - in the said inn
next to ours they also have some fireplaces, French style. The master
bedrooms all have stoves.
The payment exacted of foreigners is a bit tyrannical, as in all
countries and especially our own. Four rooms furnished with nine
beds, two of which had stoves and a bath, cost us a crown a day for
each of the masters; and for the servants, four batzen each, that is to
say nine sous and a little over; the horses six batzen, which is about
fourteen sous a day; but besides that they added several thievish
charges, contrary to their custom.
The Swiss keep guard in their towns and even in the borough
where the baths are, which is only a village. Every night there are
two sentinels who do the rounds of the houses, not so much to guard
against enemies as for fear of fire or other disturbance. When the
hours strike, one of them is obliged to shout out aloud at the top of
his voice to the other and ask him what time it is; to which the other
in the same voice answers with news of the time, and adds that he
should keep good watch.
The women here do their washing in the open and in the public
laundry, setting up near the waters a little wood fire over which
they heat their water; and they do it better, and also scour their pots
and pans much better, than in our hostelries in France. In the
hostelries each chambermaid has her own particular job, also each
manservant.
1080 TRAVEL JOU RNAL
It is a misfortune for astrar\ger that, however diligently you try, it
is impossible to get inf?. rmation about the notable sights of each
place from the people o( the�ountry, unless you come across some
who are abler tJ:iah'th e ordinary; and they do not know what you are
...
asking them. I say this apropos of the fact that, after staying here for
five days and showing all possible curiosity, we had not heard about
what we found on the way out of town: a stone of the height of
a man, which seemed to be a part of some pillar, without ornament
or carving on it, planted at the corner of a house to be visible to those
passing on the highroad, on which there is a Latin inscription that
I had no means of transcribing; but it is simply a dedication to the
emperors Nerva and Trajan.
We came and crossed the Rhine at the town of Kaiserstuhl,
which is one of the allies of the Swiss, and Catholic; and beyond
it we followed the said river through a very beautiful flat country
until we came upon some waterfalls where it breaks against the
rocks, and which they call the cataracts, like those of the Nile. The
reason is that below Schaffhausen the Rhine encounters a bed full of
big rocks, where it is broken up; and below, in these same rocks, it
comes to a fall about two pikes high where it makes a great drop,
foaming and making an amazing noise. This stops the course of
boats and interrupts navigation on the said river. We came on
without a stop and had supper at
SCHAFFHAUSEN, four leagues, the capital town of one of the
cantons of the Swiss, of the religion I have mentioned above, that
of the people of Zurich. On leaving Baden we left Zurich on the
right, where Monsieur de Montaigne had planned to go, being only
two leagues away; but it was reported to him that the plague
was there.
At Schaffhausen we saw nothing rare. They are building a citadel
that will be rather handsome. There is a butt for crossbow shooting
and a place for this practice, as beautiful, large, and well provided
with shade, seats, galleries, and rooms, as can be; and there is
a similar place for harquebus shooting. There are water mills for
sawing wood, of which we had seen several elsewhere, and for
pounding flax and shelling millet.
There is also a tree, fashioned like others we had seen, especially
at Baden, but not of comparable size. The first and lowest branches
they use to form the floor of a round gallery twenty paces in dia­
meter; these branches they then bend upward and make them
embrace this gallery all around and rise up as high as they can.
 SWI T Z E RLA N D 1081
Afterward they clip the tree, and keep it from throwing out branches
up to the height that they want to give this gallery, which is about ten
feet. There they take the other branches that come from the tree,
which they lay over certain wicker mats to form the roof of the
chamber, and then bend them down to make them join those that
are climbing up, and they fill all the gaps with verdure. After this
they again clip the tree up to the top, where they let the branches
spread freely. This makes a very beautiful appearance and a very
handsome tree. Besides this, at the foot of the tree they have made
a fountain spring up, which spouts up above the floor of this gallery.
Monsieur de Montaigne paid a visit to the burgomasters of the
town, who, to do him honor, came with other public officers to sup
at our inn, and there presented some wine to Monsieur d'Estissac
and him. This was not without several ceremonious speeches on
both sides. The principal burgomaster was a gentleman, brought up
as a page with the late duke of Orleans, but he had already forgotten
all his French.
The canton professes to be strongly on our side, and has given
recent evidence ofit by refusing, in our favor, the confederation that
the late duke of Savoy sought with the cantons, of which I have
made mention above.
On Saturday, the 8th of October, at eight o'clock in the morning,
after breakfast, we left Schaffhausen, where the Crown offers very
good lodgings. A learned man of the country had a talk with
Monsieur de Montaigne and told him among other things that
the inhabitants of this town are not in reality very well disposed
toward our court; so that in all the deliberations he had attended
concerning the alliance with the king, most of the people were
always in favor of breaking it off; but owing to the intrigues of
certain rich men this turned out differently.
As we were leaving we saw an iron machine, such as we had also
seen elsewhere, by which they raise large stones to load the wagons
without using manpower.
We passed along the Rhine, which we had on our right hand, as
far as Stein, a little town allied to the cantons, of the same religion
as Schaffhausen (and yet along the road there were lots of stone
crosses) , where we recrossed the Rhine over another wooden bridge;
and skirting the river bank, having it on our left hand, we passed by
another little town, also one of the allies of the Catholic cantons.
There the Rhine expands to a marvelous width, as does our Gar­
onne at Blaye, and then it narrows again as far as Constance.
1082 .T R A V E L J O U R N A L

Germany, Austria, and the Alps

(� ctq.b er 8-27 , 1580)
- . -

CONSTANCE, four leagues, where we arrived around four o'clock.

This is a town of the size of Chalons, belonging to the archduke of
Austria, and Catholic. Because it was once, and in the last thirty
years, held by the Lutherans, whom the Emperor Charles V forcibly
dislodged from it, the churches still show this in the absence of
images. The bishop, who is a nobleman of this country and
a cardinal, living at Rome, draws a good forty thousand crowns of
revenue from it. There are canonries in the Church of Our Lady
which are worth fifteen hundred florins a year and are held by
noblemen. We saw one of these on horseback, coming from outside,
licentiously dressed as a warrior; and indeed they say there are many
Lutherans in the town.
We climbed the bell tower, which is very high, and found there
a man posted as a sentinel, who never leaves there, whatever the
occasion, and is confined there.
They are erecting on the bank of the Rhine a big covered
building fifty paces long and forty wide, or thereabouts; they
will put in it twelve or fifteen great wheels, by means of which they
will continually raise a great quantity of water to a floor which will
be one story higher, and other, iron wheels in like number (for the
lower ones are of wood) ; and they will raise the water in the same
way from this floor to another above. This water, having been raised
to this height, which is about fifty feet, will flow out through a big
wide artificial canal and be led into their town to set several mills
grinding. The artisan who was supervising this construction had
five thousand seven hundred florins for his labor alone, and was
furnished with wine besides. At the very bottom of the water they
are making a platform, closed all around, to break the course of the
water, they say, and so that it may come to rest in this box and thus
be drawn up more easily. They are also erecting some machines by
means of which they can raise or lower all this wheelwork according
as the river happens to be high or low.
The Rhine does not have that name here; for at the head of the
town it spreads out into the form of a lake, which is fully four
German leagues wide and five or six long. They have a beautiful
terrace overl0oking the pointed end of this big lake, where they
unload the merchandise; and fifty paces from the lake a handsome
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, AND T H E AL P S 1 0 83
•

little house where they keep a sentinel continually; and they have
attached to it a chain by which they close the entrance to the port,
having driven many piles which enclose on two sides the part of the
lake in which boats are docked and loaded. At the Church of Our
Lady there is a conduit which proceeds above the Rhine into the
suburbs of the town.
We recognized that we were leaving the country of Switzerland
by the fact that a little before we arrived in the town we saw several
noblemen's manors; for you hardly see any in Switzerland. But as for
private houses, both in the towns and in the country along the route
we followed, they are incomparably more handsome than in France,
and lack nothing but slate roofs; and especially in the hostelries,
where the treatment is better, for what they lack for our service is
due not to indigence - this is readily recognizable from the rest of
their equipment; and there is not an inn but where everyone drinks
out of large silver vessels, most of them gilded and chased - but to
custom. It is a very fertile country, notably in wines.
To come back to Constance: we were badly lodged at the Eagle,
and received from the landlord a sample of the barbaric German
unruliness and pride, over the quarrel of one of our footmen with
our guide from Basel. And because the thing even came before the
judges, to whom Monsieur de Montaigne went to complain,
the provost of the place - an Italian gentleman who has settled
and married here and has long had the right of citizenship -
answered Monsieur de Montaigne, when he asked whether his
servants would be believed in their testimony on our behalf,
that yes, they would be believed, provided Monsieur de Mon­
taigne discharged them; but that immediately afterward he could
take them back into his service. This was a remarkable piece
of subtlety.
The next day, which was Sunday, we remained until after dinner
because of this disturbance, and changed our lodging to the Pike,
where we were very well off. The son of the commandant of the
town, who was brought up as a page with Monsieur de Meru,1
always attended the gentlemen of our party at their meals and
elsewhere; yet he knew not a word of French.
The courses at their tables are changed frequently. Here, and
often since, after the cloth was removed, they were given other new

1 Charles de Montmorency, seigneur de Meru, third son of the Constable Anne

de Montmorency.
1084 TRAVEL JOU RNAL
courses with the wine: the fir�t, canaules,2 as the Gascons call them;
then gingerbread; and for the third a soft white bread cut into slices
but still holding togeth e! ; bepween the slices they toss a lot of spices
and salt, and alsq on top-of the crust of the loaf.
This country is extremely full ofleper hospitals, and the roads are
all full of lepers.
The village people serve their laborers for breakfast very flat
fouaces3 in which there is fennel, and on top of the fouaces little bits
of bacon cut up very small, and cloves of garlic.
Among the Germans, to pay honor to a man, they always go to
his left side, in whatever position he may be, and consider it an
offense to place themselves on his right, saying that in order to show
deference to a man you must leave him free on his right side to put
his hand to his weapons.
Sunday after dinner we left Constance, and after crossing the
lake one league away from the town, we came to sleep at
MARKDORF, two leagues, which is a little Catholic town, and we
stayed at the Cologne, the posthouse which is situated here for the
Emperor for the trip from Italy into Germany. Here, as in several
other places, they fill the mattresses with leaves from a certain tree,
which serve the purpose better than straw and last longer. It is a town
surrounded by a vast region of vineyards, where very good wines
are produced.
On Monday, October roth, we left after breakfast; for Monsieur
de Montaigne was lured by the fine day to change his plan of going
to Ravensburg that day, and turned aside a day's journey to go to
Lindau. Monsieur de Montaigne never ate breakfast; but they
would bring him a piece of dry bread that he ate on the way, and
this was sometimes helped down by the grapes he found; for the
vintage was still under way in that region and the country was full of
vines, especially around Lindau. They raise them from the ground
on trellises and thus leave a quantity of fine roads surrounded by
verdure, which are very beautiful. We passed a town named Buch­
horn, 4 which is Imperial and Catholic, on the shore of the Lake of
Constance, into which town all the merchandise from Ulm, Nur­
emberg, and elsewhere is brought in wagons, and beyond there they

2 A cake shaped like a crown.

3 A thick cake cooked fast in coals, the occasion for the war in Rabelais'
Gargantua.
4 Now Friedrichshafen.
 GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND THE ALPS 1085
•

take the Rhine route across the lak�. We arrived about three o'clock
in the afternoon at
L INDAU, three leagues, a small town situated a hundred paces
into the lake, which hundred paces you pass over a stone bridge;
there is only this entrance, all the rest of the town being surrounded
by this lake. The lake is a good league wide, and beyond it rise the
mountains of the Grisons. This lake and all the rivers hereabouts are
low in winter and swollen in summer, because of the melted snows.
In all this country the women cover their head with a fur hat or
bonnet like our calotte; the outside is of some better sort of fur such
as squirrel, and the inside of lambskin; and such a bonnet costs only
three testons. The window that is in the front of our calottes they
wear behind, and through it appears all their braided hair. They are
usually shod with boots, either red or white, which are not unbe­
coming to them.
Both religions are practiced. We went to see the Catholic church,
built in the year 866 and preserved in its entirety; and we also saw the
church used by the [Protestant] ministers. All the Imperial towns
are free to choose their religion, Catholic or Lutheran, according
to the wish of the inhabitants. They attach themselves more or
less to the one they favor. At Lindau there are only two or three
Catholics, from what the priest told Monsieur de Montaigne. The
priests do not fail for all that to receive their revenues freely and to
perform their service, as do also some nuns who are here. The said
sieur de Montaigne also spoke to the minister, from whom he did
not learn much of anything except that they feel the usual hatred
of Zwingli and Calvin. They say that in truth there are few towns
that do not have something particular in their belief; and under
the authority of Martin, whom they accept as their chief, they get
up many disputes over the interpretation of the meaning of
Martin's writings.5
We lodged at the Crown, which is a handsome inn. On the
paneled wall of the dining room there was a sort of cage, of the same
length as the wall, to lodge a great number of birds; it had alleyways
hung and fitted with brass wire, which gave the birds room to move
about from one end of the room to the other.

5 "
In his chapter Of Experience" (Essays III: 13 , p. 997) Montaigne wrote later:
"I have observed in Germany that Luther has left as many divisions and
altercations over the uncertainty of his opinions, and more, as he raised about
the Holy Scriptures."
ro86 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
Their furnitilre and �woodwork is all of pine only, which is the
most common tree in their forests; but they paint, varnish, and scour
it with care, and even·havc;.· brushes of hair with which they dust
their benches an.d.table·s..
They have �- great abundance of cabbage, which they chop up
small with a special instrument, and they put a great quantity of
it thus chopped up into vats with salt and make soups out of it
all winter.
Here Monsieur de Montaigne tried covering himselfin bed with
a feather quilt, as is their custom; and he was greatly pleased
with this practice, finding that it was a covering both warm and
light. In his opinion there is nothing to complain of, except, for
delicate souls, the bedding; but if anyone brought a mattress, which
is unknown here, and a curtain, in his baggage, he would find
nothing lacking. For as to table fare, they are so abundant in provi­
sions, and diversify their courses with so many sorts of soups, sauces,
salads - for example, besides the dishes that we are accustomed to,
some of them offered us soups made of quinces; others, baked apples
cut into slices on the soup, and cabbage salads; they also make broths
without bread, of various sorts, as with rice, into which everyone
fishes together, for there is no individual serving - and all this of
such good flavor in the good inns, that the cuisines of the French
nobility hardly seemed comparable; and there are few French noble­
men that have dining rooms so well adorned.
They have a great abundance of good fish, which they serve
in with the meat course; they disdain trout, and eat only the roe;
they have lots of game, woodcocks, young hares, which they dress
in a manner very different from ours, but at least as good. We
never saw victuals so tender as they ordinarily serve them. They
mix stewed plums and pear and apple tarts with the meat course,
and sometimes serve the roast first and the soup at the end, some­
times the other way around. Their fruit for dessert is only pears
and apples, which are very good, nuts, and cheese. Together with
the meat they bring out a tray of silver or pewter with four compart­
ments, in which they put various sorts of powdered spices; and they
mix caraway, or some similar seed, which is tangy and hot, with their
bread; and their bread is mostly made with fennel. After the meal
they put full glasses back on the table and serve two or three courses
of various things that provoke thirst.
Monsieur de Montaigne found three things lacking in his
travels: one, that he had not brought along a cook to instruct in
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, A N D T H E AL P S 1087
.

their ways so that some day the . cook could try them at home;
another, that he had not brought along a German valet or sought
the company of some gentleman of the country - for to live at the
mercy of some poor blockhead of a guide he found to be a great
inconvenience; the third, that before making the trip he had not
looked into the books that might have informed him about the rare
and remarkable things in each place, or that he did not have
a Miinster6 or some other such book in his coffers.
In truth there entered into his judgment a bit of passion, a certain
scorn for his country, which he regarded with hatred and indigna­
tion for other considerations; but at all events, he preferred the
conveniences of this country to the French, beyond comparison,
and conformed to them even to drinking wine without water. As for
drinking bouts, he was never invited to any except out of courtesy,
and never attempted any.
The cost ofliving in Southern Germany is higher than in France;
for by our reckoning a man and horse cost at least a sun-crown a day.
The landlords reckon, in the first place, the meal at four, five, or six
batzen each for table d'hote. They make another item of all you
drink before and after these two meals, and even the smallest
collations; so that Germans commonly set out in the morning
from their inn without drinking. The courses that are served after
the meal and the wine that is drunk with these, which constitutes the
principal expense of them, are put on the account with the col­
lations. In truth, to see the profusion of their services, and notably of
wine, especially where it is extremely dear and brought from distant
parts, I find their dearness excusable.
They themselves invite the servants to drink with them and keep
them at table for two or three hours. Their wine is served in vessels
like big pitchers, and it is a crime to see an empty goblet and not fill
it immediately; and never any water, not even for those who ask for
some, unless they are held in great respect.
Afterward they reckon the oats for the horses, and then the
stable, which also includes the hay. There is this good thing about
them, that they tell you almost with their first words what they
charge; and you do not gain much by haggling. They are vainglor­
ious, choleric, and heavy drinkers; but, said Monsieur de Mon­
taigne, they are neither traitors nor thieves.

6 Sebastian Munster. Montaigne owned a copy of his Cosmographie uni­

verse/le.
ro88 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
'
We left Lindau after b reakfast, and around two o'clock in the
afternoon came to
WANG EN, two leagues, where an accident to our baggage mule,
which was injure d ;fo_rced-us to stop, and we were constrained to hire
a wagon for the next day at three crowns a day; the wagoner, who
had four horses, paid his own expenses out of that. This is a little
Imperial town that has never been willing to harbor a congregation
of any other religion than the Catholic; in which scythes are made,
so famous that they send them to be sold even as far as Lorraine.
Monsieur de Montaigne left the next day, which was Wednes­
day, October r2th, in the morning, and turned off short toward
Trent by the most direct and usual route, and we came to dine at
IsNY, two leagues, a little Imperial town, very pleasantly laid out.
Monsieur de Montaigne, as was his custom, promptly went and
found a doctor of theology of this town, to pick up information,
and this doctor dined with our party. He found that all the people
were Lutherans, and saw the Lutheran church, which, like the
others that they hold in the Imperial towns, has been usurped
from the Catholic churches. Amid other talk that they had together
about the sacrament, Monsieur de Montaigne noted that some
Calvinists had informed him along the way that the Lutherans
mingled in with the original opinions of Martin several strange
errors, such as Ubiquitism, maintaining that the body of Jesus
Christ is everywhere, as in the host; whereby they fall into the
same difficulty as Zwingli, though by a different path, the one by
being too sparing of the presence of the body, the other by being too
prodigal of it (for by this reckoning the sacrament has no privilege
over the body of the Church or the assembly of three good men) .
And that their principal arguments were that the divinity was
inseparable from the body, wherefore, the divinity being every­
where, the body was everywhere also; and second, that since Jesus
Christ had always to be at the right hand of the Father, he was
everywhere, inasmuch as the right hand of God, which is the power,
is everywhere. This good doctor loudly denied this imputation, and
defended himself against it as against a calumny; but in fact it seems
to Monsieur de Montaigne that he did not defend himselfvery well.
He kept Monsieur de Montaigne company in going to visit a very
beautiful and sumptuous monastery, where Mass was being said;
and he entered and watched without taking off his bonnet until
Messieurs d'Estissac and de Montaigne had finished their prayers.
In a cellar of the abbey they went to see a long, cylindrical stone,
 G E R M A N Y , A U S T R I A , A N D T H E A L P, S 1089
without any other workmanship, taken, so it seems, from a column,
on which is this inscription in very legible Latin letters: "that the
emperors Pertinax and Antonius Verus have repaired the roads and
bridges at a distance of eleven thousand paces from Campidonum,"
which is Kempten, where we went for the night. This stone might
have been there because the road was under repair; for the said town
of Isny is not thought to be very ancient. However, having recon­
noitered the approaches to the said Kempten in both directions, not
only did we find that there is no bridge, but we could not recognize
any repair work worthy of such workmen. There are indeed some
mountains cut through, but no handiwork on a grand scale.
KEMPTEN, three leagues, a town of the size of Sainte-Foy, very
beautiful and populous and abounding in good lodgings. We were at
the Bear, which is a very handsome inn. They served us silver cups of
more different kinds (which are used only for ornament, very
elaborately worked and covered with the coats of arms of various
lords) than you will find in any but a few noblemen's houses. Here
there was evidence of what Monsieur de Montaigne was saying
elsewhere, that they omit what they do of our usage because they
despise it; for though they had a great abundance of pewter plate,
scoured just as at Montaigne, they served only on wooden plates,
well polished indeed and very handsome.
The seats in all this country are supplied with cushions to sit on,
and most of their wainscoted ceilings are vaulted in a half-moon
shape, which gives them a lovely grace. As for the linen, of which we
were complaining at the beginning, we have never since had any lack
of it; and for my master I have never failed to get some to make him
curtains for his bed. And if one napkin was not enough for him, they
changed it for him several times.
In this town there is a certain merchant who does a business of
a hundred thousand florins a year in linen. Monsieur de Montaigne,
on leaving Constance, would have gone to that canton in Switzer­
land7 from which linens come for all Christendom, except that to
return to Lindau, he would have had a four or five hour crossing of
the lake.
This town is Lutheran; and what is strange is that here too, as at
Isny, the Catholic church holds very solemn services; for the next
day, which was Thursday morning, a working day, Mass was said in
the abbey outside the town as it is at Notre Dame de Paris on Easter

7 Appenzell.
 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
Day, with music· and organ, and there were only monks present. The
people outside these Imperi � towns have not had this freedom to
change their religion. Thos <?-·h ere go to this service on holidays. It is
a very beautiful: abbey. _ The abbot holds it by right of principality,
and it is worth fifty�thousand florins of income to him. He is of the
house of Stein. All the monks are of necessity gentlemen. Hilde­
garde, wife of Charlemagne, founded it in the year 783, and is buried
here and held to be a saint; her bones have been disinterred from
a vault where they used to be and placed in a shrine.
The same Thursday morning Monsieur de Montaigne went to
the church of the Lutherans, which was like the others of their sect
and of the Huguenots, except that at the place of the altar, which is
at the head of the nave, there are some wooden benches that have
elbow rests on them, so that those who take their Lord's Supper may
kneel as they normally do. Here he met two old ministers, one of
whom was preaching in German to a not very large congregation.
When he had finished, they sang a psalm in German in a chant
somewhat remote from ours. After each verse the very fine organ,
recently installed, gave a musical response. As often as the preacher
named Jesus Christ, both he and the people took off their bonnets.
After the sermon the other minister went over and stood by the
altar with his face turned toward the people and a book in his hand;
and a young woman came before him, head bare and hair loose, and
there made a slight curtsy in the mode of the country, and remained
standing there alone. Shortly afterward a young man, who was an
artisan, with a sword at his side, also came forward and took his
place by the side of this woman. The minister said a few words to
both in their ear, then ordered each to say the paternoster, and
afterward began to read out of a book. He read certain rules for
people who marry; and he had them touch each other's hands,
without kissing. This done, he went away, and Monsieur de Mon­
taigne caught up with him. They had a long talk together; he took
the said lord to his house and study, which was handsome and well
fitted out. His name is Johannes Tilianus, of Augsburg. The said
lord asked about a new confession which the Lutherans have drawn
up and which all the doctors and princes who support it have signed;
but it is not in Latin.
As they were leaving the church, the violins and drums attending
the newlyweds were leaving by the other side. Asked whether they
permitted dancing, the minister answered, "Why not?" Asked why
they had Jesus Christ and many images painted on the windows and
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, A N D T H E ALP S .
1091
on the new organ, he replied that they did not prohibit images
intended to instruct people, provided people did not worship
them. Then why had they removed the old images from the
churches? It was not they that had done this, he replied; it was
their good disciples the Zwinglians, incited by the evil spirit, who
had passed there before them and committed these ravages, as well
as many others. This is the same reply that others of the Lutheran
confession had made to the said lord, particularly the doctor at Isny,
who, when asked whether he hated the figure and effigy of the cross,
immediately exclaimed, "How could I be such an atheist as to hate
this figure, so blessed and glorious for Christians?" and that those
were diabolical opinions. That same man said quite brazenly at
dinner that he would rather hear a hundred Masses than participate
in the Calvinist communion.
At this place they served us the meat of white hares. The town is
situated on the river Iller. We dined here on the said Thursday, and
came away by a hilly and sterile road to sleep at
P FRONTEN, four leagues, a little village, Catholic like all the rest
of this country, which belongs to the archduke of Austria.
I had forgotten to say on the subject of Lindau that at the
entrance to the town there is a large wall which gives evidence of
great antiquity, on which I did not perceive anything written.
I understand that its name in German means Old Wall, which
they told me comes from that wall.
On Friday morning, although our inn was very wretched, we
found no lack of victuals.
It is their custom never to warm either their sheets for sleeping or
their clothes for when they get up; and they are offended if you light
a fire in their kitchen for this purpose or use the one that is there;
and this is one of the biggest quarrels we had in all the inns. Even
here, in the midst of mountains and forests where ten thousand feet
of pine do not cost fifty sous, they would not allow us to make a fire,
any more than elsewhere.
Friday morning we left here and again took the easier road to the
left, leaving the mountain path which goes straight to Trent; for
Monsieur de Montaigne was minded to make a few days' detour to
see certain beautiful towns of Germany, and repented that at Wan­
gen he had abandoned his original plan of going there and had taken
this other route. On the way, as we had done elsewhere in several
places, we came across some water mills which receive water only
through a wooden flume that takes the water at the foot of some
1092 . T RAVE L JOU RNAL
rise, and then, raising and supporting it high above the ground,
sends it down a very steep slop e at the end of this flume. We came to
dine at ·- �·

FUSS EN, one l�ague. 'fhis � s a little Catholic town belonging to the
bishop of Aug·sburg: Here we found a lot of people of the retinue of
the archduke of Austria, who was at a castle near by with the duke of
Bavaria.
Here we placed our baggage on a float, as they call it - some
pieces of wood joined together, which are taken apart when you are
in port - to be taken to Augsburg on the river Lech, and 1 8 and
several others went along with it.
There is an abbey here where they showed our gentlemen
a chalice and a stole, kept in a reliquary, which had belonged to
a saint whom they call Magnus, who they say was a son of a king of
Scotland and a disciple of Columbanus. Pepin founded this mon­
astery for the said Magnus and made him its first abbot; and at the
top of the nave these words are inscribed, and above these words
some notes of music for a tune: Having heard byfame ofthe virtue of
the blessed Magnus, King Pepin has endowed, with royal liberality, the
place where the saint lived. Charlemagne afterward enriched it, as is
also written in the said monastery. After dinner, both parties of us
came to sleep at
SCHONGAU, four leagues, a little town of the duke of Bavaria, and
consequently strictly Catholic; for this prince, more than any other
in Germany, has kept his jurisdiction pure of contagion, and is very
stubborn about it.
There are good lodgings at the Star, and with a new ceremonial
form: they ranged the saltcellars on a square table from corner to
corner, and the candlesticks at the other corners, and made a Saint
Andrew's cross of them. They never serve eggs, at least up to now,
except hard-boiled, cut into quarters in salads, which are very good
and made with fresh herbs; they serve new wine, ordinarily right
after it is made; they thresh the wheat in the barns as they need it,
and thresh it with the big end of the flail. On Saturday we went on
to dine at
LAND S B E RG, four leagues, a little town of the said duke of
Bavaria, situated on the said river Lech, very handsome for its
size: walled inner town, outer town, and castle. We arrived here
on a market day, when there was a great number of people. In the

8 The secretary.
 GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND THE ALPS 1 0 93
.

middle of a very big square is a fOll n tain which spouts water out of
a hundred pipes to the height of a pike and scatters it in a very artful
way, the pipes being pointed in whatever direction is wanted. There
is a very beautiful church in the town and another in the outer town,
which are both on the rise of a steep hill, as is the castle also.
Monsieur de Montaigne here went to see a college of Jesuits,
who are very comfortably settled there in a brand new building and
are engaged in building a beautiful church. Monsieur de Montaigne
had as long a talk with them as his time allowed. Count von
Helffenstein is in command at the castle. If anyone even dreams
of any other religion than the Roman, he must keep quiet about it.
On the gate that separates the inner from the outer town there is
a great Latin inscription of the year 1552, where they say in these
words that "the Senate and the People of this town have built this
monument to the memory of William and Louis, brothers, dukes of
both Bavarias."9 There are lots of other mottoes in this same place,
like this one, It befits a soldier to be rough, not adorned with gold but
relying on his courage and his sword, and at the head, The world is a cage
offools. And in another very conspicuous place are certain words
extracted from some Latin historian about the battle that the consul
Marcellus lost against a king of this nation: The battle in which
Carloman, king of the Bavarians, fought with Marcellus the consul
and defeated him, etc. There are many other good Latin mottoes at
the doors of private houses. They often repaint their towns and their
churches, which gives them a very flourishing appearance. And, as if
precisely in honor of our passage, during the last three or four years
these had almost all been renovated where we were; for they put
down the dates of their work.
The clock of this town, like many others of this country, strikes
all the quarter-hours; and they say that the one in Nuremberg
strikes the minutes.
We left here after dinner, through a long plain of very level
pasture land, like the plain of Beauce, and came to
AuGSBURG, four leagues, which is considered the most beautiful
town in Germany, as Strasbourg is considered the strongest.
The first thing we noticed on our arrival was a strange arrange­
ment, and one that shows their cleanliness: the steps of the staircase
of our inn all covered with linen, on which we had to walk, so as not
to dirty the steps, which they had just washed and scoured, as they

9 Here and below the italicized passages are quoted in Latin.

1094 · T RAVE L J O U R N A L
do every S aturday. We have never noticed any cobwebs or mud in
their inns. In some there are1 curtains for those who want to draw
them over the windows: .
l
There are hardly any. tab es in the bedrooms, except those that
they attach to the foo t of each bed, which hang there by hinges
and may be raised or lowered as you wish. The footboards of
the beds rise two or three feet above the frames, and often to the
level of the headboard; the wood in them is very handsome and
elaborately carved; but our walnut much surpasses their pine. Also
they served here very shiny pewter plates underneath the wooden
ones, out of disdain. They often hang against the wall, beside the
beds, linen and curtains, so that people may not dirty their wall
by spitting.
The Germans are much in love with coats of arms; for in all the
inns there are thousands that the gentlemen of the country passing
through leave on the walls, and all their windows are furnished
with them.
The order of the courses is often changed. Here crayfish were
served up first - which everywhere else are served just before the end
- and of unusual size. In many hostelries, big ones, they serve
everything covered. What makes their panes shine so much is that
they have no windows fixed in our style, and that their frames can
be taken out when they want, and they furbish their glasswork
very often.
The next morning, which was Sunday, Monsieur de Montaigne
went to see several churches; and in the Catholic ones, which are in
great number, he found the service everywhere very well done.
There are six Lutheran churches and sixteen ministers; two of the
six are usurped from the Catholic churches, the other four they have
built. He saw one this morning which resembles a great college hall:
neither images, nor organs, nor crosses. The wall loaded with lots of
writings in German, passages from the Bible; two pulpits, one for
the minister - and there was one preaching then - and another
below where the man is who leads the singing of the psalms. At each
verse they wait for him to give the pitch for the following one; they
sing pell-mell, whoever wishes, and whoever wishes remains cov­
ered. After that a minister who was in the crowd went up to the
altar, where he read a lot of prayers out of a book; and at certain
prayers the people rose and clasped their hands, and at the name of
Jesus Christ made a low bow. After he had finished reading, uncov­
ered, he turned to the altar, on which there was a napkin, a ewer, and
 GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND TH E ALPS 1095
.

a saucer with water in it; a woman, followed by ten or twelve other

women, presented to him a child in swaddling clothes, its face
uncovered. Three times the minister took water from this saucer
with his fingers and sprinkled it over the child's face, saying certain
words. This done, two men approached, and each of them put two
fingers of his right hand on this child; the minister spoke to them,
and it was done. Monsieur de Montaigne spoke to this minister on
his way out. They receive no revenue from the churches; the Senate
pays them publicly. There was much more of a crowd in this church
alone than in two or three of the Catholic churches together.
We did not see one beautiful woman. Their clothes are very
different from one another's. Among the men it is hard to distin­
guish the nobles, for their velvet bonnets are worn by all kinds of
people, and everyone wears a sword at his side.
We were lodged at the sign of a tree called Linden in this country,
next to the palace of the Fuggers.10 One of this family, dying a few
years ago, left two solid millions of French crowns to his heirs; and
these heirs, to pray for his soul, gave the Jesuits here thirty thousand
florins in ready money, with which they have set themselves up very
well. The said house of the Fuggers is roofed with copper. In general
the houses are much more beautiful, big, and tall than in any city of
France, the streets much wider. Monsieur de Montaigne estimates
the city to be of the size of Orleans.
After dinner we went to see some fencing in a public hall where
there was a big crowd. You pay on entrance, as you do to see the
mountebanks, and extra for seats on the benches. They fought with
the poniard, the two-handed sword, the double-ended staff,
and the cutlass; afterward we saw some prize contests with the
crossbow and the longbow, in a place even more magnificent
than at Schaffhausen.
We saw a big channel of water flowing from there to the town
gate by which we had entered; this water is conveyed from outside
the town by a wooden aqueduct, which runs under the footbridge
over which we had passed and above the river that flows through the
town moat. This channel of water sets in motion certain very
numerous wheels which work several pumps, and by two lead
channels these raise the water of a spring, which at this spot is
very low, to the top of a tower at least fifty feet high. Here the

10 The fabulously wealthy banking family, probably the richest in Europe,

established in Augsburg since q68.
 · T RA V E L J O U R N A L
water pours into a big .stone vessel, and from this vessel it comes
down through many conduits, and from these is distributed
throughout the town, ··whi 9i by this means alone is all crowded
with fountains . . Individuals- who want a rivulet for themselves are
allowed it on payment to the town of ten florins of rent a year, or two
hundred florins paid up for good. It is now forty years since the town
has been adorned with this rich work.
Marriages between Catholics and Lutherans are common, and
the more eager party submits to the laws of the other. There
are a thousand such marriages; our landlord was Catholic, his
wife Lutheran.
They dust their glassware with a hair-duster attached to the end
of a stick.
They say that there are very fine horses for forty or fifty crowns.
The corporation of the town did Messieurs d'Estissac and de
Montaigne the honor of sending them as a present at their supper
fourteen big vessels full of their wine, which were offered them by
seven sergeants dressed in livery and an eminent officer of the town,
whom they invited to supper; for that is the custom, and you have
something given to the porters; they gave them a crown. The officer
who supped with them told Monsieur de Montaigne that there were
three such officers in the town who were responsible for thus
honoring strangers of some quality, and that for this reason they
took pains to learn their visitors' rank, in order to observe accord­
ingly the ceremonies that were their due: they give more wines to
some than to others. To a duke, one of the burgomasters comes
to make the present; they took us for barons and knights. Monsieur
de Montaigne, for some reason, wanted our party to dissemble and
not tell their ranks; and he walked unattended all day long through
the town; he thinks that this served to have them even more highly
honored. This was an honor that was paid them in all the towns
in Germany.
When he passed through the Church of Our Lady, being ex­
tremely cold (for the cold began to prick them on leaving Kempten,
and until then they had had the most fortunate weather possible), he
had, without thinking about it, his handkerchief to his nose, think­
ing that since he was thus alone and very plainly dressed, no one
would pay attention to him. When they were better acquainted with
him, they told him that the church people had found this bearing
strange. At last he had fall e n into the fault that he most avoided,
that of making himself noticeable by some mannerism at variance
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, A N D T H E A L P S 1097
.

with the taste of those who saw him; for as far as in him lies,
he conforms and falls into line with the ways of the place where he
happens to be, and in Augsburg he wore a fur cap around the town.
They say in Augsburg that they are free, not from mice, but from
the big rats with which the rest of Germany is infested; and on that
subject they relate many miracles, attributing this privilege to one of
their bishops who is buried here; and with the earth from his grave,
which they sell in little lumps the size of hazelnuts, they say you can
drive away this vermin in whatever country you take it to.
On Monday we went to see, in the Church of Our Lady, the
marriage ceremony of a rich and ugly girl of the town with an agent
of the Fuggers, a Venetian; we saw not one beautiful woman there.
The Fuggers, who are many and all very rich, hold the principal
positions in the town. We also saw two rooms in their house, the one
high, large, paved with marble, the other low, rich in medals ancient
and modern, with a little chamber at the end. They are among the
most sumptuous rooms I have ever seen. We also saw the dancing of
this company; it was nothing but allemandes.n They break them off
at the end of each number, and return the ladies to their seats, which
are benches ranged along the sides of the room in two rows, covered
with red cloth; the men do not mingle with the women. After a short
pause, they go and get them again; the man kisses his hand to the
lady; the lady receives him without kissing hers, and then, putting
his hand under her armpit, she embraces him cheek to cheek and
puts his right hand on her shoulder. The men dance and converse
with them uncovered and not very richly dressed.
We saw other houses of these Fuggers in other parts of the town,
which is beholden to them for all the expense that they employ in
embellishing it; these are pleasure houses for the summer. In one we
saw a clock that is worked by the motion of water, which serves as
a counterpoise. In the same place were two big covered fish ponds,
twenty paces square, full of fish. On all four sides of each pond there
are many little pipes, some straight, the others bent upward;
through all these pipes the water pours very charmingly into these
ponds, some sending the water in straight, the others spurting it
upward to the height of a pike. Between these two ponds there is
a space ten paces wide floored with planks; through these planks go
lots of little brass jets which cannot be seen. While the ladies are
busy watching the fish play, you have only to release some spring:

n A dance somewhat like the waltz.

 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
immediately all ·these jets spurt out thin, hard streams of water to
the height of a man's head, and fill the petticoats and thighs of the
ladies with this coolness. In �nother place where there is an amusing
fountain-pipe, while you are looking at it anyone who wants to can
open the passage to littfe imperceptible tubes, which from a hundred
places cast water into your face in tiny spurts; and in that place is this
Latin sentence: You were lookingfar trifling amusements; here they are;
enjoy them.
There is also an aviary twenty paces square, twelve or fifteen feet
high, enclosed on all sides with well-knotted and interlaced brass
wire; inside, ten or twelve pine trees and a fountain; this is all full of
birds. Here we saw some Polish pigeons, which they call Indian, and
which I have seen elsewhere; they are large, and have a beak like
a partridge.
We also saw the handiwork of a gardener, who, foreseeing the
storms and cold, had transported into a little covered shed lots of
artichokes, cabbages, lettuce, spinach, endive, and other plants that
he had picked, as if to eat them on the spot; and by putting their
roots into a certain sort of earth, he hoped to keep them good and
fresh for two or three months; and indeed he then had a hundred
artichokes, not at all withered, and yet he had picked them more
than six weeks before.
We also saw a bent instrument of lead, open on both sides, and
hollow. Having once filled it with water, holding both holes up, you
suddenly and dexterously turn it upside down, so that one end
drinks out of a vessel full of water, and the other discharges it
outside; when you have started this flow, the result is that, to
avoid the vacuum, the water always keeps filling the tube and
12
running out without stopping.
The arms of the Fuggers are a shield divided in the middle: on
the left, a fleur-de-lys azure on a field or; on the right, a fleur-de-lys
or on a field azure; which the Emperor Charles V gave them when
he ennobled them.
We went to see some people who were taking two ostriches from
Venice to the duke of Saxony. The male was blacker and had a red
neck; the female was more grayish, and laid lots of eggs. They were
leading them on foot, and they say that the beasts got less tired than
they, and were all the time escaping from them; but they keep them
attached by a collar that girds them around the loins over the thighs,

12 The instrument described is a siphon.

 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, A N D T H E AL P S 1099
.

and another over the shoulders; these go around their whole

body; and they have long leashes by which they stop them or turn
them as they please.
On Tuesday, by a singular courtesy of the lords of the town,
we went to see a postern which is in the said town, by which they
admit at all hours of the night anyone who wants to enter, whether
on foot or on horseback, provided he tells his name and the person
with whom he will stay in town or the name of the hostelry he is
seeking. Two trusty men, paid by the town, preside over this
entrance. People on horseback pay two batzen to enter, people on
foot one. The corresponding outside door is sheathed with iron; at
the side, there is a piece of iron attached to a chain, which piece
of iron you pull. This chain, by a very long route with many turns,
leads to the bedroom of one of the porters, which is very high up, and
rings a bell. The porter, from his bed and in his shirt, by a certain
machine that he moves back and forth, opens this first door,
more than a hundred paces from his room. The man who has entered
finds himself on a bridge forty paces long or thereabouts, all covered
over, which crosses the town moat; along the bridge is a wooden
channel, and along this the machinery moves which opens this first
door, which is immediately closed again on those who have entered.
When this bridge is passed, you find yourself in a little place where
you speak to this first porter and tell him your name and address.
Having heard it, he rings a bell to notify his mate, who is lodged one
story below in this gateway, where there is a big lodging; he, by
working a spring in a gallery adjoining his room, in the first place
opens a little iron barrier, and then, by turning a big wheel, raises the
drawbridge, without the visitor's being able to perceive any of these
movements, which are concealed by the thickness of the walls and
doors; and everything is promptly closed again with a great racket.
Beyond the bridge a big door opens, very thick, which is ofwood and
reinforced with many big sheets of iron. The stranger finds himself
in a room, and all the way along sees no one to speak to. After he is
shut up there, they open another, similar door to him; he enters
a second room in which there is a light; there he finds a brass vessel
hanging down by a chain; there he puts the money he owes for his
passage. This money is pulled up by the porter; if he is not satisfied,
he lets the man stew there till morning; if he is satisfied, as he
customarily is, he opens for him in the same way still another big
door like the others, which closes as soon as he has passed, and there
he is in the town.
IIOO • T RA V E L J O U R N A L

It is one of the most ingenious things that can be seen. The

queen of England sent an 1i.mbassador expressly to ask the city
government to reveal the w9.rking of these machines; it is said that
they refused. Under this_ gafeway is a great vault that will lodge five
hundred horse under cover, either to be used for help, or to be sent to
war without the knowledge of the townspeople.
On leaving there we went to see the Church of the Holy Cross,
which is very beautiful. They make a great celebration there about
a miracle that occurred nearly a hundred years ago. A woman would
not swallow the body of Our Lord. Having taken it out of her
mouth and put it, wrapped in wax, into a box, she confessed; and
they found the whole thing changed into flesh. For this they cite
plenty of attestations, and this miracle is written down in many
places in Latin and in German. They show under crystal that wax,
and then a little morsel having the redness of flesh. This church is
roofed with copper, like the house of the Fuggers, and that is not
very rare here.
The church of the Lutherans is right next to this one; here,
as elsewhere, the construction and lodgings are like the cloisters
of the Catholic churches. At the door of this church they have
placed the image of Our Lady holding Jesus Christ, with other
saints and some children, and these words: Suffer the little children
to come unto me, etc.
In our inn there was a machine consisting of two iron pistons
which plunged to the bottom of a very deep well. With a boy at the
top working a certain mechanism and making these iron pistons go
up and down two or three feet, the pistons, one after the other, beat
and pressed the water at the bottom of this well and, pushing it with
their plungers, forced it to gush through a leaden pipe which
delivers it to the kitchens and wherever it is needed.
They have a whitewasher on their payroll who immediately goes
over any part of their walls that has been blackened.
They served us pasties, both large and small, in earthenware
vessels of the color and exact shape of a pie crust. Few meals pass
at which they do not offer you sugar candies and boxes of sweet­
meats. The bread is the most excellent possible; the wines are good,
and in this region these are more often white; none is grown around
Augsburg, and they bring them from five or six days' journey away.
For every hundred florins that the landlords spend on wine, the
republic demands sixty, and half that amount from other private
persons who buy it only for their own use.
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, A N D T H E ALP S IIOI
They also have in many places.the custom of putting perfumes in
the bedrooms and dining rooms.
The town was originally entirely Zwinglian. Later, when
the Catholics were recalled, the Lutherans took the place of the
Zwinglians; at present there are more Catholics in positions
of authority, although they are greatly outnumbered. Monsieur
de Montaigne also visited the Jesuits here and found some very
learned ones.
Wednesday morning, October 1 9 th, we breakfasted here. Mon­
sieur de Montaigne was very sorry, being only a day's journey from
the Danube, to leave without seeing it or the town of Ulm, which
lies on its course, and a bath half a day's journey beyond which is
called Sauerbrunnen. It is a bath in flat country, of cold water, which
they heat up to use it for drinking or bathing. It has something
stinging in its taste that makes it pleasant to drink, and it is good for
maladies of the head and stomach; a famous bath, where you are
very magnificently lodged in very well-appointed inns, as at Baden,
from what we were told; but wintertime was advancing fast, and
then this road was quite in the opposite direction from ours, and we
would have had to retrace our steps back to Augsburg; and Mon­
sieur de Montaigne strenuously avoided passing over the same road
twice.
I left an escutcheon of the arms of Monsieur de Montaigne in
front of the door of the dining room at his lodging; it was very well
painted, and cost me two crowns to the painter and twenty sous to
the carpenter.
The town is bathed by the river Lech, Lycus. We passed through
a very beautiful countryside, fertile in wheat, and came to sleep at
BRUCK, five leagues, a big village in a very handsome setting in
the duchy of Bavaria, Catholic. We left there the next day, which
was Thursday, October 2oth, and after continuing through a great
plain of wheat (for this region has no wines) and then a prairie as far
as the eye could reach, we came to dine at
MUNICH, four leagues, a city about as big as Bordeaux, chief city
of the duchy of Bavaria, where they13 have their principal residence
on the river Isar, Ister. It has a handsome castle and finer stables
than I have ever seen in France or Italy, vaulted, to lodge two
hundred horses. It is a town strongly Catholic, populous, hand­
some, and mercantile.

r3 The dukes of Bavaria.

II02 'T RAVE L J O U R N A L
From a day's journey above Augsburg you can plan on spending
four livres a day for man and h orse, and forty sous per footman, at
the least.
Here we found _ curtains l n our bedrooms and no testers, and
moreover everything very clean; they clean their floors with saw­
dust, which they boil.
Everywhere in this country they cut up two varieties of turnip,
applying the same care and diligence as in threshing wheat. Seven or
eight men, with large knives in each hand, slash them, with
a rhythmic beat, in vessels resembling our wine presses; this makes
it possible for them to put them up and salt them for the winter, like
their cabbages. With those two vegetables they fill, not their gar­
dens, but their lands in the country, and they have harvests of them.
The duke, who is here now, married the sister of the duke of
Lorraine, and has by her two rather big boys and a girl. The duke
and his brother are both in town; they had gone hunting, ladies and
all , the day we were there.
On Friday morning we left here, and, through the forests of the
said duke, saw countless numbers of reddish animals14 in flocks, like
sheep; and we came without stopping to
lcKING, six leagues, a wretched little village in the same duchy.
The Jesuits, who govern in this region, have caused a great commo­
tion, which makes them hated by the people, by forcing the priests
to get rid of their concubines, under great penalties; and to see the
priests complain of it, it seems that formerly this was so tolerated
that they practiced it as ifit were something legitimate; and they are
still busy making remonstrances about it to the duke.
Here we had the first eggs that we had been served in Germany
on a fish day, or otherwise than cut up into quarters in salads. Also
they served us in wooden goblets with staves and hoops like barrels,
among many of silver. The lady of a noble house who was in this
village sent some of her wine to Monsieur de Montaigne.
Early on S aturday morning we left here; and after coming upon
the river Isar on our right and a large lake at the foot of the Bavarian
mountains, and climbing for an hour's ride a little mountain on top
of which there is an inscription saying that a duke of Bavaria had
had the rock cut through a hundred years ago or thereabouts, we
plunged right into the heart of the Alps by an easy, comfortable, and
delightfully well-kept road, the beautiful, serene weather favoring

14 Fallow deer.
 GE RMANY, AUSTRIA, AND T H E ALPS IIOJ
•

us. On descending this little mountain we came upon a very beauti-

ful lake, a Gascon league in length and as much in breadth, wholly
surrounded by very high and inaccessible mountains; and still
following this route at the foot of the mountains, from time to
time we came upon level patches of very pleasant meadowland,
on which there are houses; and without stopping we came on
to sleep at
MITTENWALD, a little village belonging to the duke of Bavaria,
rather well situated along the river Isar. Here they served us the first
chestnuts we had been served in Germany, and quite raw. There is
a steam bath in the hostelry where travelers are accustomed to be
sweated, for a batz and a half. I went there while the gentlemen were
having supper. There were lots of Germans who were being cupped
and bled.
The next morning, Sunday, October 23rd, we continued along
this path between the mountains, and on it came upon a gate
and a house that shuts off the passage. This is the entrance to
the district of Tyrol, which belongs to the archduke of Austria.
We came to dine at
SEEFELD, a little village and abbey, three leagues, pleasant site.
The church is rather fine, famous for the following miracle. In 138 4
a certain man, whose name is given in the particulars, not willing to
be content on Easter Day with the common host, asked for the great
one. When he had it in his mouth, the earth opened under him and
swallowed him up to his neck, and he held on to the corner of
the altar. The priest took the host out of his mouth. They still show
the hole, covered with an iron grill, and the altar that received the
imprint of this man's fingers, and the host, which is all reddish, as
with drops of blood. We also found here a recent writing, in Latin,
about a Tyrolean who, having a few days before tried to swallow
a piece of meat which stuck in his throat, and being unable either to
swallow it or throw it up for three days, made a vow and came to this
church, where he was instantly cured.
On leaving here we found, in the highlands we were crossing,
some beautiful villages; and then, having come down a half hour's
descent, at the foot of it we came upon a beautiful town, well
located; above, on a precipitous hill which seems inaccessible,
a handsome castle15 commands the road of this descent, which is
narrow and cut out of the rock. It is not quite wide enough for an

15 Fragenstein.
II04 · T RA V E L J O U R N A L
ordinary wagon, as indeed is the case in many places in these
mountains; so that the carter�· who venture up here are accustomed
to cut down the ordinary wagons by at least a foot.
Beyond we found a vall ef of great length, through which passes
the river Inn, which flows into the Danube at Vienna. In Latin it is
called Aenus. It is five or six days by water from Innsbruck to Vienna.
This valley seemed to Monsieur de Montaigne to present the most
agreeable landscape he had ever seen: now contracting as the moun­
tains pressed close, then widening, now on the side we were on,
which was the left side of the river, and creating new land for
plowing and cultivating on the very slopes of the less steep moun­
tains; now on the other side; and then revealing plains on two or
three levels, one above the other; and all full of beautiful noblemen's
houses and of churches; and all this closed and walled in on all sides
by mountains of measureless height.
On a rocky hill on our side we discovered a crucifix in a place
where it is impossible for any man to have gone without the artificial
aid of ropes, by which a man could let himself down from above.
They say that the Emperor Maximilian, grandfather of Charles V,
while hunting, lost his way on this mountain, and in testimony to
the danger he had escaped had this image erected. This story is also
painted in the town of Augsburg in the hall that serves the cross­
bowmen. In the evening we went to
I N N S B RUCK, three leagues, chief town of the county of
Tyrol, Aenopontum in Latin. Here dwells Ferdinand, archduke
of Austria. A very beautiful little town and very well built in the
depth of this valley, full of fountains and streams, which are a very
ordinary attraction in the towns we have seen in Germany
and Switzerland. The houses are almost all built in terraces along
the hillside.
We lodged at the Rose, a very good inn; they served us in pewter
plates. As for napkins in the French fashion, we had already had
some a few days before. Around some of the beds there were
curtains; and to show the character of the nation, they were beauti­
ful and rich, of a certain kind of linen, cut and open-worked, for the
rest short and narrow, in short of no use for what we use them for;
and a little tester three fingers wide with lots of tassels. They gave
me some sheets for Monsieur de Montaigne which had four fingers'
width of rich white lacework all around.
As in mo�t of the other towns of Germany, there are men here all
night in the streets who call out the hours that have struck.
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, A N D T H E ALPS rro5
.

Everywhere we have been they have this custom of serving fish

in with the meat; but on fish days, however, they do not serve meat
with the fish, at least not to us.
On the Monday we left here, skirting the said river Inn on our
left hand, along that beautiful plain; we went to dine at
HALL, two leagues; and we made this trip just to see it. It is a little
town like Innsbruck, the size of Libourne or thereabouts, on the
said river, which we crossed again over a bridge. It is from here that
they extract the salt that supplies all Germany, and every week nine
hundred loaves are made, at a crown apiece. These loaves are of the
thickness of a half a hogshead and of about that shape; for the vessel
that serves them as a mold is of that kind. This belongs to the
archduke; but the expense is very great. For the preparation of
the salt I saw more wood here in one place than I ever saw anywhere
else; for in several great caldrons made of iron plates, thirty good
paces around, they boil this salt water from which they make their
salt, which comes from more than two long leagues away, from one
of the neighboring mountains.
There are several fine churches, notably that of the Jesuits, which
Monsieur de Montaigne visited; and at Innsbruck he visited others,
which are magnificently situated and accommodated.
After dinner we again saw that side of the river, for there is
a beautiful house in that place where Archduke Ferdinand of
Austria is staying, whose hands Monsieur de Montaigne wanted
to kiss; and he had stopped by there in the morning, but had found
that the archduke was busy in his council, from what a certain count
had told him. After dinner we stopped by again and found him in
a garden, or least we thought we had caught a glimpse of him.
However, those who went to tell him that our gentlemen were there
and why, reported that he begged them to excuse him, but that on
the next day he would be more at leisure; that at all events if they had
any need of his favor they should make this known to a certain
Milanese count. This coolness, added to the fact that they were not
even allowed to see the castle, offended Monsieur de Montaigne
a little; and as he was complaining about it that same day to an
officer of the house, he was answered that the said prince had replied
that he did not like to see Frenchmen and that the house of France
was hostile to his. We returned to
INNSBRUCK, two leagues. Here we saw in a church eighteen very
handsome bronze effigies of the princes and princesses of the house
of Austria.
no6 · T RA V E L J O U R N A L
We also went to attend a supper party given by the Cardinal of
Austria and the margrave of l3 urgau, sons of the said archduke by
a concubine from the town gf Augsburg, a merchant's daughter,1 6
whom, having had.these.two sons by her and no others, he married
to legitimize the.m; -and in that same year the said woman passed
away. The whole court still wears mourning for her.
Their service was about like that of our princes. The hall was
hung with black cloth, also the dais and chairs. The cardinal is the
elder, and I think he is not yet twenty. The margrave drinks only
bottled wine, and the cardinal very diluted wine. They have no
special container for their place settings, but these are uncovered;
and the service of the courses is in our style. When they come to sit
down, it is a bit away from the table, and this is moved close to them,
all loaded with food, the cardinal at the head; for the head with
them is always the right side.
We saw in this palace some tennis courts and a rather handsome
garden. The archduke is a great builder and deviser of such luxuries.
We saw at his place ten or twelve field pieces, carrying a ball the size
of a large goose egg, mounted on wheels as gilded and enriched as
possible, and even the pieces are all gilded. They are only of wood,
but the muzzle is sheathed with an iron plate, and the bore is
entirely lined with the same kind of plate. One single man can
carry one on his back, and fire it not as often, but with almost as
big a charge, as those cast in metal.
At his castle in the fields we saw two oxen of unusual size, all
gray, with white heads, which the duke of Ferrara had given him; for
the said duke had married one of his sisters, the duke of Florence
another, the duke of Mantua a third. He had three of his sisters at
Hall, whom they called the three queens; for the daughters of the
Emperor are given these titles, as others are called countesses or
duchesses because of their lands; and they give them the surname
of the kingdoms possessed by the Emperor. Of the three, two are
dead; the third is still there, but Monsieur de Montaigne could not
see her; she is shut up like a nun, and has welcomed and established
the Jesuits there.
Here they hold that the said archduke cannot leave his estates
to his children and that they revert to the successors to the Empire;
but they were unable to give us an intelligible reason for this,

16 Philippine \Velser (152 ;80), member of one of the big business families of
Augsburg.
 GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND THE ALPS no7
•

and what they say about his wife - that she was not of suitable
lineage - does not appear plausible, since he married her, and every­
one holds that she was legitimate, and also the children. At all
events, he is amassing a big pile of money in order to have enough
to give them.
On Tuesday we left in the morning and resumed our road,
crossing that plain and following the mountain path. At one league
from the inn we climbed a little mountain an hour's ride high, by an
easy road. On our left hand we had a view of several other moun­
tains, which, having a more extended and gentler incline, are cov­
ered with villages and churches, and for the most part cultivated
right to the top, very pleasant to see for the diversity and variety of
the sites. The mountains on our right hand were a little wilder, and
there were only rare spots where there was any habitation. We
crossed several streams or torrents with various courses; and on
our way, both on the heights and at the foot of our mountains, we
found many little towns and big villages and many handsome
hostelries, and among other things two castles and gentlemen's
houses on our left hand.
About four leagues from Innsbruck, on our right hand, on a very
narrow road, we came upon a richly worked bronze tablet, attached
to a rock, with this Latin inscription: "The Emperor Charles V,
returning from Spain and Italy from receiving the imperial crown,
and Ferdinand, king of Hungary and Bohemia, his brother, coming
from Pannonia, seeking each other after being eight years without
seeing each other, met on this spot in the year 1530, and Ferdinand
here ordered this memorial to be made." They are represented
embracing each other.17 A little later, passing through a gateway
set up across the road, we found on it some Latin verses making
mention of the passage of the said Emperor, and of his lodgin@
in this place, after he had captured the king of France, and Rome.1
Monsieur de Montaigne said that he liked this mountain pass
very much because of the diversity of the objects to be seen, and we
found no discomfort except from the thickest and most unendur­
able dust that we had ever felt, which accompanied us across this
whole pass between the mountains.19 Ten hours later (Monsieur de
Montaigne said that this stretch represented one stage, or post, for

17 This memorial still exists, on the Lueg Pass.

18 In 1525 (at Pavia) and 1527 respectively.
19 The Brenner Pass.
II08 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
him; it is true that his custom, whether or not he is to stop on the
'
road, is to feed his horses oats before leaving the inn in the morning)
we arrived, with him still fa§ting, late at night at
"'
STERZI NG, sey€n leagues, a little town of the said county ofTyrol,
rather pretty, · above which, a quarter of a league away, there is
a beautiful new castle.
On the table here they served us rolls, quite round, joined
together. In all Germany the mustard is served liquid and is of the
taste of French white mustard. The vinegar everywhere is white.
Wine is not grown on these mountains, but wheat grows in almost
sufficient abundance for the inhabitants. They drink very good
white wines.
There is the greatest security in all these passes, and they
are heavily traveled by merchants, carriers, and carters. Instead
of the cold for which this pass is decried, we had an almost
unendurable heat.
The women in this region wear cloth bonnets just like our toques,
and their hair hanging in braids, as elsewhere. Monsieur de Mon­
taigne, coming across a pretty young girl in a church, asked her if she
could speak Latin, taking her for a schoolboy.
There were curtains for the beds here, of coarse linen dyed red,
divided into alternating strips of four fingers' width, one part being
of a close weave, the other of a loose weave. We have found no
bedroom or public room in all our travel in Germany that was not
wainscoted, the ceilings being very low.
Monsieur de Montaigne had the colic this night for two or
three hours and was very hard pressed, from what he said in the
morning; and in the morning on rising he passed a stone of medium
size, which broke easily. It was yellowish on the outside, and,
when broken, more whitish on the inside. He had caught a cold
the day before and felt bad. He had not had an attack of the
colic since the one at Plombieres. This one partly removed
the suspicion he had that he had taken into his bladder at the said
Plombieres more sand that he had got rid of, and he feared that
some matter had stopped there and become caught and stuck;
but seeing that he had got rid of this one, he finds it reasonable
to believe that it would have attached itself to the others if there had
been any. As soon as he was on the road he complained of pain in his
loins, which was the reason, he said, why he lengthened this day's
journey, thinking he was more relieved on horseback than he would
have been elsewhere .
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, AND T H E ALPS II09
•

In this town he sent for the schoolmaster, to talk with him about
his Latin; but the man was a fool from whom he was unable to
derive any information about the things of this country.
The next day, which was Wednesday, October 26th, after break­
fast, we left here through a plain half a quarter-league wide, having
the river lsarco [Eisack] on our right side. This plain lasted us for
about two leagues; and on the neighboring mountains were many
cultivated and inhabited spots, often in locations whose approaches
we could not even guess at. There are four or five castles on this
road. Afterward we crossed the river over a wooden bridge and
followed it on the other side. We found many workers repairing
the roads merely because they were stony, about as much so as those
in Perigord. Afterward, through a stone gateway, we climbed to
a height where we found a plain a league wide or thereabouts, and
from it discovered on the other side of the river another at an equal
height, but both of them barren and stony. The rest of the country,
along the river below us, consisted of very handsome meadows. We
came, without stopping, to sup at
B RESSANONE, four leagues, a very beautiful little town through
which the river passes under a wooden bridge; it is a bishopric.
We saw here two very beautiful churches, and were lodged at the
Eagle, a handsome inn. The surrounding plain is not very wide; but
the mountains round about, especially on our left hand, stretch out
so gently that they allow themselves to be combed and primped
right up to the ears. Everything seems to be filled with steeples and
villages well up into the mountainside, and near the town are many
beautiful houses very pleasantly built and situated.
Monsieur de Montaigne said that all his life he had distrusted
other people's judgment on the matter of the conveniences of
foreign countries, since every man's taste is governed by the ordering
of his habit and the usage of his village; and he had taken very little
account of the information that travelers gave him; but in this spot
he wondered even more at their stupidity, for he had heard, and
especially on this trip, that the passes of the Alps in this region were
full of difficulties, the manners of the people uncouth, roads inac­
cessible, lodgings primitive, the air insufferable. As for the air,
he thanked God that he had found it so mild, for it inclined rather
toward too much heat than too much cold; and in all this trip up to
that time we had had only three days of cold and about an hour of
rain. But that for the rest, if he had to take his daughter, who is only
eight, for a walk, he would as soon do so on this road as on any path
IIIO . T RAVEL J O U RNAL
in his garden. Arid as for the inns, he had never seen a country where
they were so plentifully distr�buted and so handsome, for he had
always lodged in handsome lowns well furnished with victuals and
wine, and more �easonably than elsewhere.
There was a way 'o f turning a spit here which was by a machine
with several wheels, by which a cord was tightly wound around
a big iron vessel. When this began to unwind, they slowed down
its unwinding, so that this movement lasted about an hour, and
then it had to be wound up again. As for smokej acks, we had seen
several already.
They have so great an abundance of iron that besides all the
windows being grated, and in various ways, their doors, even
the shutters, are covered with iron plates.
Here we found vineyards again, which we had lost sight of since
before Augsburg.
Hereabouts most of the houses are vaulted on every floor; and
what they do not know how to do in France, to use pantiles to cover
very narrow slopes, they do in Germany, even on the steeples. Their
tile is smaller and hollower, and in some places plastered over
the joints.
We left Bressanone the next morning and came upon that same
very open valley, and the hillsides along most of the road were
adorned with many beautiful houses. Having the river Isarco on
our left hand, we passed through a little town where there are many
artisans of all sorts, called Klausen; from there we came to dine at
KOLMANN , three leagues, a little village where the archduke has
a pleasure house. Here they served us goblets of painted earth­
enware among those of silver, and they washed the glasses with
white sand; and the first course was served in a very neat little frying
pan, which they put on the table with a little iron instrument to
support it and raise its handle. In this frying pan were eggs poached
in butter.
As we left there the road narrowed on us a bit and some rocks
pressed in on us, so that, since the defile was narrow for both us and
the river together, we would have been in danger of colliding, if they
had not placed between it and the travelers a wall as a barrier, which
in various places extends for more than a German league. Although
most of the mountains close to us here are wild rocks, some massive,
others split and broken up by the flow of the torrents, and others
scaly and ser1ding down pieces of astounding size (I believe it must
be dangerous here in very stormy weather), just as elsewhere, we
 GE RMANY, AU STRIA, AND TH E ALPS IIII

have also seen whole forests of pines torn up from their footing and
carrying down in their fall little mountains of earth clinging to their
roots; yet the fact remains that the country is so populous that above
these first mountains we saw others higher up, cultivated and
inhabited, and we learned that on top of them there are big,
beautiful fields which furnish wheat to the towns below, and very
rich farmers and beautiful houses.
We crossed the river over a wooden bridge, of which there were
several, and put it on our left. We discovered, among other things,
a castle on the most eminent and inaccessible mountain height that
presented itself to our sight, which they say belongs to a baron of the
district, who lives in it and has a fine estate and fine hunting grounds
up there. Above all these mountains there is still a top fringe of the
Alps; these the people leave alone, for they block the outlet from this
valley, so that you continually have to return to our channel and
come out again by one of the two ends.
The archduke draws from this country of Tyrol, whose whole
revenue derives from these mountains, three hundred thousand
florins a year; and he has more from here than from all the rest of
his domain. We crossed the river once more over a stone bridge and
came early to
B oLZANO, four leagues, a town of the size of Libourne, on the
said river, rather unattractive compared with the others in Germany,
so that Monsieur de Montaigne exclaimed that he clearly recog­
nized that he was beginning to leave Germany: the streets narrower,
and no handsome public square. There still remained fountains,
streams, painted houses, and glass windows.
There is so great an abundance of wines here that they supply all
Germany with them. The best bread in the world is eaten all along
these mountains. Here we saw the church, which is one of the most
beautiful. Among other things there is a wooden organ; it is high up,
near the crucifix, before the high altar; and yet the person who plays
it sits more than twelve feet below, at the foot of the pillar to which it
is attached; and the bellows are outside the wall of the church, more
than fifteen paces behind the organist, supplying him with their
wind from underground.
The open space in which this town lies is scarcely bigger than is
needed to contain it; but the mountains, especially on our right
hand, stretch out their flanks a little and enlarge it.
From this place Monsieur de Montaigne wrote to Frarn;ois
Hotman, whom he had seen at Basel, that he had taken such great
III2 - T RA V E L J O U R N A L
pleasure in visiting Germaqy that he left it with great regret,
although it was Italy he was going to; that foreigners had to suffer
here as elsewhere from the:· exactions of innkeepers; but that he
thought this might be �rrected if a man was not at the mercy of
guides and interpreters, who sell accommodations and participate in
this profit. All the rest seemed to him full of comfort and courtesy,
and especially of justice and security.
We left Balzano on the Friday morning early and came, to give
a measure of oats to the horses and have breakfast ourselves, to
B RONZOLO, two leagues, a little village above which the river
Isarco, which had led us thus far, comes to mingle with the
river Adige, which runs on to the Adriatic Sea, and runs on
wide and peaceful, no longer in the manner of those we had come
upon among these mountains above, noisy and furious. So this
plain, as far as Trent, begins to widen a bit, and the mountains
to lower their horns a bit in some places; however, they are less fertile
on their flanks than the preceding ones. There are some marshes in
this valley which hug the road; the rest is very easy and level and
almost always in the bottom of the valley.
Two leagues beyond Bronzolo we came to a big town in which
there was a great gathering of people because of a fair. Beyond this,
another village, well built, named S alorno, where the archduke has
a small castle, on our left hand, in a strange location, on the top
of a crag.

Italy: The Road to Rome

(October 28-November 2 9 , 1580)

From there we came to sleep at

TRENT, five leagues, a town a little larger than Agen, not very
pleasant, and having completely lost the graces of the German
towns; the streets mostly narrow and tortuous.
About two leagues above Trent, the Italian language begins.
This town is divided in half between these two languages,
and there is a quarter in the town and a church which they call
that of the Germans, and a preacher of their language. As for
the new religions, there has been no talk of them since Augsburg.
It is situated on this river Adige. We saw the cathedral, which seems
to be a ve1 y ancient building, and right near it is a square
tower which gives evidence of great antiquity. We saw the new
 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E I I IJ

church, of Our Lady, where our Council1 was held. In this church
there is an organ, given by a private person, of surpassing beauty,
raised up within a marble structure, elaborately carved with
many excellent statues, notably those of certain little singing boys.
This church was built, as it tells us, in 1520, by "Bernardus
Clesius, cardinal," who was bishop of this town and a native of this
same place.
This used to be a free town and under the charge and rule of the
bishop. Later, when pressed by war against the Venetians, they
called the count of Tyrol to their aid, in return for which he has
retained a certain authority and right over their city. The bishop and
he are in dispute, but the bishop, who is at present Cardinal
Madruccio, has possession.
Monsieur de Montaigne said he had taken note along the way of
the citizens who have benefited the towns of their birth: the Fuggers
at Augsburg, to whom is due most of the embellishment of that city,
for they have filled all the street corners with their palaces, and the
churches with many works; and this Cardinal Clesius, for besides
this church and several streets that he restored at his own expense,
he had some very fine building done in the castle of the town. It is
not much on the outside, but inside it is the best furnished and
painted and decorated and the most livable to be seen anywhere.
All the panels on the ground floor have many rich paintings and
mottoes; the raised work is elaborately gilded and carved; the
floor, of a certain earth hardened and painted like marble, partly
arranged in our style, partly in German style, with stoves. One of
these is of earthenware, burnished like brass, and made in the form
of several large human figures, which receive the fire into their
limbs; and one or two others, near a wall, give out water that
comes from the fountain in the court very far below: it is a fine
piece of work. Here we also saw, among the other paintings on
the ceiling, a nocturnal triumph by torchlight, 2 which Monsieur de
Montaigne greatly admired. There are two or three round cham­
bers; in one there is an inscription saying that this Clesius, in
the year 1530, had been sent to the coronation of the Emperor
Charles V, which was performed by Pope Clement VII on S aint
Matthew's Day, as ambassador from Ferdinand, king of Hungary

l The Council of Trent, held in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore from 1545
to 1563.
2 The Triumph of Caesar.
1114 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
and Bohemia, count of Tyrol, and brother of the said Emperor; and
that there, from being bishop of Trent, he was made a cardinal. And
around the chamber he has�-.had placed and hung on the wall the
arms and names of the·.gentlemen who accompanied him on this
trip, about fifty,- all -vas-s als of this bishopric and counts or barons.
There is also a trap door in one of the said chambers by which he
could slip into town without using his doors. There are also two
rich fireplaces.
He was a good cardinal. The Fuggers built, but for the service of
their descendants; this man built for the public; for he has left this
castle furnished with better than a hundred thousand crowns' worth
of furniture, which is still there, for the bishops his successors; and
in the public purse of the succeeding bishops a hundred and fifty
thousand thalers in ready money, which they enjoy without damage
to the capital; and yet they have left his Church of Our Lady
unfinished, and him rather meanly buried. Among other things
there are several paintings from the life and a lot of maps. The
bishops that succeeded him have added no furniture to this castle -
and there is some for both seasons, winter and summer - and it
cannot be alienated.
We are now going by the Italian miles, five of which come to one
German mile; and they count up to twenty-four hours a day without
dividing them in the middle.3 We lodged at the Rose, a good inn.
We left Trent Saturday after dinner and followed a similar road
in that valley, now widened and flanked by high uninhabited moun­
tains, having the said river Adige on our right hand. Here we passed
a castle of the archduke which commands the road, as elsewhere we
have found many similar obstacles that close off the roads and hold
them subject; and when it was already very late (and until then we
had not yet had any taste of evening damps, so regularly did
we schedule our travel) , we arrived at
ROVERETO, fifteen miles, a town belonging to the said archduke.
Here we found our own style of lodging again, and found lacking
not only the cleanliness of the bedrooms and furniture of Germany,
and their windowpanes, but also their stoves, in which Monsieur de
Montaigne found much more comfort than in fireplaces.

3 Most subsequent references to the time of day in the journal follow this
pattern. Since they also reckon by starting the day at sunset, this translation
simply gives the equivalents in our system of counting the time.
 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E I I I5

As for food, the crayfish here . failed us; in which connection

Monsieur de Montaigne remarked as a great wonder that they had
been served us at every meal since Plombieres, and for nearly two
hundred leagues of country. Here, and along these mountains, they
very commonly eat snails, much larger and fatter than in France, and
not so good in taste. They also eat truffles, which they peel and put,
in very fine slices, into oil and vinegar; these are not bad. At Trent
they served some that had been kept a year. Here again, and to
Monsieur de Montaigne's taste, we found lots of oranges, lemons,
and olives.
On the beds are slit curtains of linen or a kind of rough serge, in
broad bands, and fastened at intervals. Monsieur de Montaigne also
regretted those featherbeds that are used as a covering in Germany.
They are not beds such as ours, but of very fine down, enclosed
in very white fustian at the good inns. The underbedding even
in Germany is not of this sort, and you cannot use it as a cover
without discomfort.
I truly believe that if Monsieur de Montaigne had been alone
with his own attendants he would rather have gone to Cracow
or toward Greece by land than make the turn toward Italy; but the
pleasure he took in visiting unknown countries, which he found
so sweet as to make him forget the weakness of his age and of
his health, he could not impress on any of his party, and everyone
asked only to return home. Whereas he was accustomed to say that
after spending a restless night, he would get up with desire and
alacrity in the morning when he remembered that he had a new
town or region to see. I never saw him less tired or complaining less
of his pains; for his mind was so intent on what he encountered,
both on the road and at his lodgings, and he was so eager on
all occasions to talk to strangers, that I think this took his mind
off his ailment.
If someone complained to him that he often led his party, by
various roads and regions, back very close to where he had started
(which he was likely to do, either because he had been told about
something worth seeing, or because he had changed his mind
according to the occasions), he would answer that as for him, he
was not going anywhere except where he happened to be, and that
he could not miss or go off his path, since he had no plan but to
travel in unknown places; and that provided he did not fall back
upon the same route or see the same place twice, he was not failing
to carry out his plan. And as for Rome, which was the goal of the
nr6 • T RA VE L J O U R N A L
others, he desired less to se-e it than the other places, since it was
known to every man, and th1ere was not a lackey who could not tell
them news of Florence and�·Ferrara. He also said that he seemed to
be rather like p�0ple �ho are reading some very pleasing story and
therefore begin to be afraid that soon it will come to an end, or any
fine book; so he took such pleasure in traveling that he hated to be
nearing each place where he was to rest, and toyed with several plans
for traveling as he pleased, if he could get away alone.
On Sunday morning, wishing to reconnoiter Lake Garda, which
is famous in that country, and from which comes very excellent fish,
he hired three horses for himself and the seigneurs de Cazalis and de
Mattecoulon, at twenty batzen each; and Monsieur d'Estissac hired
two others for himself and the sieur du Hautoy, and without any
servant, leaving their own horses at this inn (at Rovereto) for that
day, they went to dine at
TORBOLE, eight miles, a little village within the jurisdiction of
Tyrol. It is situated at the head of this great lake. At the other side
of this head there is a little town and a castle, called La Riva, to
which they were taken on the lake, which is five miles going and as
much coming back; and they made the trip with five rowers in three
hours or thereabouts. They saw nothing at the said La Riva but
a tower which seems to be very old, and, by chance, the lord of the
place, who is Signor Fortunato Madruccio, brother of the cardinal
who is at present bishop of Trent. The view down the lake is
boundless, for it is thirty-five miles long. The width, all they
could discover of it, was only the said five miles. This head of the
lake belongs to the county of Tyrol, but all the lower part, on both
sides, is under Venetian rule; here there are lots of beautiful
churches, and plenty of beautiful parks of olive and orange trees,
and other such fruit trees. This lake becomes furiously agitated
when there is a storm. The surroundings of the lake are mountains
more forbidding and arid than any others that we had seen on our
road, from what the said lords reported; adding that on leaving
Rovereto they had crossed the river Adige and left the road to
Verona on their left hand, and had entered a low valley where they
had found a very long village and a little town; that it was the
roughest road they had seen, and the wildest view, because of
these mountains which obstructed their way. Leaving Torbole,
they returned for supper to
ROVERE'i'O, eight miles. Here they put their baggage on some of
those rafts which they call floats in Germany, to be taken to
 I TA LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E III7
Verona on the said river Adige for . a florin, and the next day I had
charge of taking it there. At supper they served us poached eggs for
the first course, and a pike, amid great plenty of every kind of flesh.
The next day, which was Monday, they left here early in the
morning; and following this valley, rather populous but hardly
fertile, and flanked by high scaly and arid mountains, they came to
dine at
BORGH ETTO, fifteen miles, which is still in the county of
Tyrol; this county is very large. In this connection, Monsieur de
Montaigne, asking whether it consisted of anything but this valley
through which we had passed and the mountaintops that had been
offered to our sight, was given this answer: that there were many
such mountain valleys, just as big and fertile, and other handsome
towns, and that it was like a dress which we see only pleated, but that
if it were spread out the Tyrol would be a very big country.
We4 still had the river on our right hand. Leaving here after
dinner, we followed the same sort of road as far as Chiusa, which is
a little fort that the Venetians have won, in the hollow of a rock on
this river Adige; we descended along this river by a steep slope of
massive rock, where horses have a hard time getting secure footing,
and went through the said fort, where the state of Venice, whose
jurisdiction we had entered one or two miles after leaving Bor­
ghetto, maintains twenty-five soldiers. They came to sleep at
VOLARGNE, twelve miles, a little village and a miserable inn, as are
all those on this road as far as Verona. Here, from the castle of the
place, a maiden lady, sister of the absent lord, sent some wine to
Monsieur de Montaigne.
The next morning they completely lost the mountains on their
right hand, and left far on one side on their left hand a chain of hills.
For a long time they followed a barren plain, which then, approach­
ing the said river, became a little better, and fertile in vines trained
on trees, as they are in this country; and on All Saints' Day, before
Mass, they arrived at
VERONA, twelve miles, a city of the size of Poitiers, and like it
having a vast quay, on the said river Adige, which goes through
it and over which there are three bridges. I also arrived here with my
baggage. Without the health certificates that they had gotten at
Trent and had confirmed at Rovereto, they could not have entered

4 The "we" does not include the secretary, who usually refers to the rest of the
party as "they." The same discrepancy occurs occasionally later.
III8 ' T RA V E L J O U R N A L
the city; and yet there was no rumor of danger from the plague;
but it is out of custom, or in drder to filch some quattrino or so that
they cost. · .".

We went to �ee the cathedral, where Monsieur de Montaigne

found the behavior of the men strange on such a day, at High
Mass: they were talking right in the choir of the church, covered,
standing, their backs turned toward the altar, and looking as if they
were not thinking of the service except at the elevation. There was
an organ, and some violins which accompanied it during Mass.
We also saw some other churches, in which there was nothing
singular - nothing in the adornment or beauty of the women,
among other things.
They went to the Church of Saint George, among other places;
the Germans have left plenty of evidence of having been there, and
many escutcheons. There is one inscription, among others, stating
that certain German noblemen, having accompanied the Emperor
Maximilian in taking Verona from the Venetians, placed some work
or other on an altar here. He thought it remarkable that the Signory
preserves in its city the evidence of its losses, as also it preserves in
their entirety the proud tombs of the poor lords of La Scala.5 It is
true that our host of the Little Horse, which is a very good inn
where we were treated to a superfluity of food at a cost of one-fourth
more than in France, enjoys possession of one of these tombs for his
family. We saw the castle here, and the party was shown through by
the lieutenant of the governor of the castle. The Signory maintains
sixty soldiers there: rather, from what they told Monsieur de
Montaigne at the castle itself, against the townspeople than
against foreigners.
We also saw a convent of monks who are called the Jesuates of
Saint Jerome. They are not priests, and neither say Mass nor preach,
and are mostly ignorant; and they pride themselves on being excel­
lent distillers of orange-flower liqueurs and similar waters, both
here and elsewhere. They are dressed in white, and wear dark
brown robes and little white birettas; many are handsome young
men. Their church is very well accommodated, as is their refectory,
where their table was already laid for supper. Our gentlemen saw
here certain old ruins, very ancient, of the time of the Romans,
which these men say were an amphitheater, and they patch them up
with other fragments that are discovered underneath. On our return

5 More commonly known as the Scaligers.

 I TA LY: T H E ROAD TO RO M E III9
from there we found that they had perfumed their cloisters for us,
and they had us enter a cabinet full of phiah and earthenware
vessels, and there they perfumed us.
The finest thing we saw here, and what Monsieur de Montaigne
said was the handsomest building he had seen in his life, was
a place they call the Arena. This is an oval amphitheater, which
seems almost entire - all the seats, all the arches and outer structure
- except the extreme end of the outer part: in short, there is enough
left to reveal the shape and use of these buildings as they were. The
Signory is employing some criminals' fines on it, and has repaired
some bit; but what they are doing is very far from what would be
needed to restore it entirely; and he strongly doubts whether the
whole city is up to this restoration. It is oval in shape; there are forty­
three tiers of steps, each a foot or more high, and it is about six
hundred paces around at the top. The noblemen of the country still
use it for jousting and other public pleasures.
We also saw the Jews, and Monsieur de Montaigne was in their
synagogue and had quite a talk with them about their ceremonies.
There are some very beautiful squares and beautiful market
places. From the castle, which is up high, we could make out
Mantua in the plain, twenty miles away on the right of our road.
They have no lack of inscriptions; for they never even repair some
little gutter, either in town or on the roads, without inscribing on it
the name of the podesta and that of the workman. They have this in
common with the Germans, that they all have coats of arms, the
merchants as well as others; and in Germany not only the big towns
but most of the small ones have some sort of coat of arms of
their own.
We left Verona and saw on our way out the Church of Our Lady
of the Miracles, which is famous for several strange incidents, in
consideration of which they are rebuilding it anew, of a very hand­
some round shape. The steeples here are covered in many places
with bricks laid crosswise. We passed over a long plain of varied
nature, now fertile, now otherwise, having the mountains very far
off on our left hand and some on our right, and, without stopping,
came to sup at
V1cENZA, thirty miles. This is a big city, a little smaller than
Verona, where there are plenty of noblemen's palaces.
The next day we saw several churches, and the fair that was being
held here: in a big square, many booths that are built of wood on the
spot for this purpose.
II20 • T RAVEL J O U R N A L
We also saw some Jesuates, who have a handsome monastery
here; and we saw their shop for waters, which they sell to the
public; and we got two boµles of perfume for a crown; 6 for they
also make meditj.flal wa_ters for all maladies. Their founder is P. Urb.7
S aint Giovanni Cotombini, a Sienese gentleman, who founded the
order in the year 136 7. Cardinal di Pelveo is for the present their
protector. They have no monasteries except in Italy, and there they
have thirty. They have a very handsome habitation. They flagellate
themselves every day, they say; each of them has his little chains at
his place in their oratory, where they pray God without singing, and
are there together at certain hours.
The old wines were then already beginning to fail us, and
it troubled me because of his colic that he should drink those
muddy wines - which were otherwise good, however. We regretted
leaving those of Germany, although they are for the most
part spiced and have various scents which the Germans find deli­
cious, especially sage; and they call that sage wine, which is not bad
when you get used to it, for otherwise their wine is good
and generous.
We left here Thursday after dinner; and by a very level, wide,
straight road, with ditches on both sides, and a little raised, having
on all sides a very fertile terrain, with the mountains, as usual, visible
a long way off, we came to sleep at
PADUA , eighteen miles. The hostelries cannot be compared for
any sort of treatment with those of Germany. It is true that they are
a third less expensive and very near the same as in France.
The city is indeed very vast, and in my opinion its enclosed area is
at least the size of Bordeaux. The streets are narrow and ugly; very
sparsely populated, few beautiful houses; the situation very pleasant,
with an open plain extending very far all around.
We were here all the next day, and saw the fencing, dancing, and
riding schools, where there were more than a hundred French
gentlemen; which Monsieur de Montaigne reckoned as a great
disadvantage for the young men of our country who go there,

6 The Italian crown (scudo) was worth ro giulii, roo baiocchi, or in French
money 50 sous or .833 crown (ecu) . It is not always clear, however, in the Italian
part of the Traveljournal, whether Montaigne is speaking in terms of French or
Italian crowns.
7 In the papacy of Urban V. This is an addition made by Montaigne, according
to Qyerlon.
 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E 1121
inasmuch as this society accustoms them to the ways and language
of their own nation and deprives them of the means of acquiring
foreign acquaintances.
The Church of Saint Anthony seems to him beautiful; the roof
is not in one piece, but in several domelike projections. There
are many rare sculptures in marble and bronze. He looked with
a kindly eye at the bust of Cardinal Bembo, which shows the
sweetness of his character and something indefinable of the ele­
gance of his mind.
There is a hall, the biggest I ever saw without pillars, where their
justice is dispensed; and at one end is the head of Livy, thin, showing
him as a studious and melancholy man: an ancient work that lacks
only speech. His epitaph is there also; when they found it they
erected it thus to do themselves honor, and with reason. Paulus,
the jurisconsult, is also there, over the door of this place; but
Monsieur de Montaigne thinks this is a recent work. The house
which is on the site of the ancient Arena is worth seeing, and so
is its garden. The students live here very reasonably at seven
crowns a month for the master and six for the valet, in the most
decent pensions.
We left there Saturday morning early by a very fine causeway
along the river, having on either side very fertile plains of wheat,
very well shaded with trees sown in orderly rows in the fields where
they have their vines, and the road furnished with plenty of beautiful
pleasure houses, and among others a house of the Contarini family,
at the gate of which an inscription states that the king8 lodged there
on his way back from Poland. We came to
Fus INA , twenty miles, where we dined. This is only a hostelry,
from which one embarks for Venice. Here all the boats along this
river land, by means of machines and pulleys turned by two horses in
the manner of those that turn oil mills. They transport these boats,
with wheels that they put underneath, over a wooden flooring, and
launch them into the canal which goes on into the sea, in which
Venice is situated. We dined here, and having got into a gondola, we
came to sup at
VENICE , five miles. Next day, which was Sunday morning,
Monsieur de Montaigne saw Monsieur du Ferrier, ambassador of
the king, who gave him a very cordial welcome, took him to Mass,

8 Henry III of France, who was king of Poland for about five months before
becoming king of France in 1574.
II22 • T RAVEL J O U R N A L
and kept him to dinner with him.9 On the Monday Monsieur
d'Estissac and he dined there again. Among other remarks of the
said ambassador, this dhe s�emed strange to him: that he had no
dealings with �ny m �n of the city, and that they were such
a suspicious sort of people that if one of their gentlemen spoke to
him twice, they would hold him suspect; and also this, that the city
of Venice was worth fifteen hundred thousand crowns in revenue to
the Signory.
For the rest, the rarities of this town are well enough known.
Monsieur de Montaigne said he had found it different from what he
had imagined, and a little less wonderful. He reconnoitered it and
all its particulars with extreme diligence. The government, the
situation, the arsenal, the Square of Saint Mark, and the crowds
of foreign people seemed to him the most remarkable things.
On Monday, November 7th, at supper, Signora Veronica
Franca,1° a Venetian gentlewoman, sent a man to present him
with a little book of letters that she had composed; he had the said
man given two crowns.
On the Tuesday after dinner he had the colic, which lasted him
two or three hours - not one of the most extreme, to look at him -
and before supper he passed two big stones, one after the other.
He did not find here that famous beauty that they attribute to
the ladies of Venice, and yet he saw the noblest of those who make
a traffic of it; but it seemed to him as wonderful as anything else to
see such a number of them as a hundred and fifty or thereabouts
spending like princesses on furniture and clothes, having no other
funds to live on except from this traffic; and many of the nobles of
the place even keeping courtesans at their expense in the sight and
knowledge of all .
For his own service he hired a gondola for day and night at two
lire, which is about seventeen sous, without any expense for the
boatman. Food is as expensive as in Paris, but still this is the city
where you live at the cheapest rate in the world, inasmuch as a train
of valets is of no use to us at all here, for everyone goes around by

9 A note on the manuscript in Montaigne's hand reads (according to Qyer­

lon) : "This old man, who has passed seventy-five, from what he says, enjoys
a healthy and cheerful old age. His manners and his talk have something
scholastic about them; little vivacity or incisiveness. His opinions very evidently
lean, in the matter of our affairs, toward the Calvinistic innovations."
10 One of the many distinguished Venetian courtesans.
 I TA LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E 1 1 2J
himself; and the expense for clothes likewise; and then there is no
need of a horse.
On Saturday, November 12th, we left here in the morning and
came to
FUSINA , five miles, where we took a boat, men and baggage, for
two crowns. Monsieur de Montaigne has customarily been afraid of
the water; but in the belief that it is the motion alone which upsets
his stomach, and wanting to test whether the movement of this
river, which is even and uniform, since the boat is drawn by horses,
would upset it, he tried it and found that he had no trouble from it.
You have to pass two or three locks on this river, which close and
open for travelers. We came by water to sleep at
PADUA , twenty miles. Here Monsieur de Cazalis left the party
and stayed on here as a boarder for seven crowns a month, well
lodged and treated. He could have kept a lackey for five crowns; and
yet these are pensions of the highest class, where there was good
company, and especially the sieur de Millac, son of Monsieur de
Salagnac. They usually have no valets and only a houseboy or some
women who wait on them; each one has a very clean bedroom; the
fire for their rooms, and candles, they furnish for themselves. They
treat you well, as we saw. You live here very reasonably; which is in
my opinion the reason why many foreigners, even those who are no
longer students, reside here. It is not the custom to go about the
town on horseback or with many attendants. In Germany I noticed
that everyone wears a sword at his side, even the workmen; in the
territories of this Signory, quite to the contrary, no one wears one.
Sunday, November r3th, after dinner we left here to see some
baths which were on our right hand. Monsieur de Montaigne
headed straight for Abano. This is a little village near the foot of
the mountains, three or four hundred paces above which there is a
somewhat elevated stony place. This height, which is very spacious,
has many springs of boiling hot water spouting from the rock.
Around the source it is too hot to bathe in, let alone to drink. It
leaves a trace around its course that is quite gray, like burned ash,
and a lot of sediment that is in the form of hard sponges. The taste is
a bit salty and sulphurous. The whole countryside is full of steam;
for the streams that flow here and there in the plain carry this heat
and the smell very far.
There are two or three little houses here, rather poorly accom­
modated for sick people, into which they turn aside canals of these
waters to make them into baths for the houses. Not only is there
I I 24 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
steam where the water is, but the rock itself steams through all its
crevices and joints and giv�s out heat all over, so that they have
pierced holes in some place;. where a man can lie down and get hot
and sweaty froll! this e�halation; which happens instantly. Monsieur
de Montaigne ·put �some of this water into his mouth after it had
stood a long time and lost its excessive heat; he found its taste more
salty than anything else.
Further along, on our right hand, we discovered the abbey
of Praglia, which is very famous for its beauty, its wealth, and
its courtesy in receiving and entertaining strangers. He would not
go there, considering that he was to revisit all this region, notably
Venice, at his leisure,II and thought nothing of this visit; and
what had made him undertake it was his extreme hunger to see
that city. He said that he could not have stayed peacefully in
Rome or anywhere else in Italy without having had a look at Venice;
and for that purpose he had turned out of his way. In this hope he left
at Padua, with one Master Frarn;ois Bourges, a Frenchman, the
works of Cardinal Cusanus, which he had bought in Venice.
From Abano we passed on to a place called S an Pietro Basso, and
we still had the mountains on our right very near. It is a countryside
of meadows and pastures which is likewise all steaming in various
places from these waters, some boiling, others tepid, others cold; the
taste a little more dead and insipid than the others'; less smell of
sulphur, indeed virtually none at all; a little saltiness.
We found here some traces of ancient buildings. There are two
or three wretched little houses round about to lodge the sick;
but in truth this is all very primitive, and I would not be minded
to send my friends here. They say it is the Signory that takes little
care of the place and fears the influx of foreign lords. These
last baths, he said, reminded him of those of Prechacq, near Dax .
The trace of these waters is all reddish, and left some of the mud
on his tongue; he found no taste in it; he thinks the waters contain
more iron.
From here we passed by a very beautiful house belonging to
a gentleman of Padua, where the Cardinal d'Este, ill with the
gout, had been staying for more than two months, to enjoy
the comfort of the baths and, even more, the proximity of the ladies
of Venice; and right near there we stopped to sleep at

u He never aid return. Presumably this is one of the plans interrupted by his
recall to France as mayor of Bordeaux.
 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E 1 1 25
BATTAGLIA, eight miles, a little village on the Frassine canal,
which, having no depth, sometimes only two or three feet, never­
theless conveys surprisingly big boats. Here we were served on
earthenware dishes and wooden plates for lack of pewter; otherwise
passably enough.
Monday morning I went on ahead with the mule. They went to
see some baths which are five hundred paces from here, by the levee
along this canal. There is, so Monsieur de Montaigne reported, only
one house over the bath, with ten or twelve rooms. In April and May
they say that plenty of people go there, but most of them lodge in
the said village or in this chateau of the Signor Pie, in which the
Cardinal d'Este was dwelling. The water of the baths comes down
from a little mountain ridge, and flows through channels into the
said house and on below; they do not drink it at all, and rather drink
that of San Pietro, which they send for. It comes down from this
same ridge by channels right near the good sweet water; according
as it takes a shorter or longer course, it is more or less hot. He went
to the top of the hill to see the source; they could not show it to him,
and put him off by saying that it came from underground. He finds
little taste to it in the mouth, like that of San Pietro, little smell of
sulphur, little saltiness; he thinks that if anyone drank it he would
get the same effect as from that of San Pietro. The trace it leaves in
its conduits is red.
In this house there are baths and other places where the water
only trickles down, and you place the sick member under it; they
told him that it is usually the forehead for head ailments. They have
also, in some places in these channels, made little stone cells in
which you shut yourself up, and then, when you open the airhole to
the channel, the steam and heat immediately make you sweat hard;
these are dry vapor-baths, of which they have several kinds.
The principal use made is of the mud bath. They fetch the mud
from a big basin that is below the house, in the open, by means of an
instrument with which they draw it to take it to the house, which is
quite near. There they have several wooden instruments fit for legs,
arms, thighs, and other parts, to lay and enclose the said limbs in
after filling this wooden vessel full of this mud, which they renew
according to the need. This mud is black like that of Barbotan, but
not so granulated, and greasier, warm with a moderate warmth, and
with virtually no smell. All these baths have no great advantage
unless it is the proximity to Venice; everything about them is crude
and unattractive .
II26 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
They left Battaglia a(ter breakfast and followed that canal, which
they call the Two- Roaa Oanal, from the causeways on either
side. Very near there .they �ame upon the bridge of the canal.12
In this place they, �ave 111 a & highways on the outside of the canal
walls, at the height -0f the said causeways, on which travelers pass;
the highways on the inside go down to the level of the bottom
of the canal. At that point there is a stone bridge which joins these
two highways, over which bridge flows the canal from one arch of
a viaduct to the other. Over this canal there is a very high bridge; the
boats which follow the canal pass under it and above those
which want to cross this canal. There is another big stream right
at the bottom of the plain which comes from the mountains
and whose course crosses this canal. In order to conduct it without
interrupting this canal, this stone bridge has been made across
which the canal flows and under which flows this stream, cutting
across the canal, over a planking dressed with wood on the
sides, so that this stream is capable of carrying boats: there would
be enough room both in width and in height. And then with
other boats continually passing on the canal and coaches on the
arch of the highest bridge, there were three roads, one above
the other.
From there, still keeping this canal on our right hand, we skirted
a little town called Monselice, low-lying, but whose confining wall

goes up to the top of a mountain and encloses an old castle which

used to belong to the lords of this town; now it is nothing but ruins.
And leaving the mountains on our right, we followed the road to the
left, raised, handsome, level, and which in the hot season must be
well shaded; on either side of us there were very fertile plains that
have, according to the custom of the country, amid their wheat
fields many trees arranged in rows, from which hang their vines.
Very big gray oxen are so common here that I no longer found
strange what I had noted about those of the Archduke Ferdinand.
We came onto a raised causeway, and on both sides were marshes
more than fifteen miles wide stretching as far as the eye could reach.

12 The original of the following passage is even more confusing than this
translation of it and may well include many misreadings of the manuscript.
Modern editors offer a variety of conjectures, none of them very comprehen­
sible. This much at least should be clear: a mountain stream flows between
artificial bank!' across and beneath the canal. The canal at this point flows over
a viaduct. A bridge crosses it above.
 I TA LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E 1127
These were formerly great ponds, but the Signory attempted to dry
them up to get farmland; they have succeeded in some places,
but very few. At present it is a huge extent of muddy land, sterile
and full of reeds. They lost more than they gained by trying to
change its nature. .
We crossed the river Adige on our right, on a ferry: a deck resting
on two little boats, with a capacity of fifteen or twenty horses, which
slides along a rope attached on the other side of the water, more than
five hundred paces away; and to keep the rope in the air there are
several little boats in between, which support this long rope with
forked sticks.
From there we came to sleep at
ROVIGO, twenty-five miles, a very small town still in the territory
of the said Signory. We lodged outside the town. They began
to serve us salt in blocks, from which you take some like sugar.
There is no less abundance of food than in France, whatever people
are accustomed to say; and the fact that they do not lard
their roast takes away hardly any of its savor. Their bedrooms, for
lack of glass and proper closing of the windows, are less clean than
in France; the beds better made, smoother, with lots of mattresses;
but they have hardly any but badly woven little canopies, and
are very parsimonious of white sheets. Anyone who went alone
or with a small retinue would get none. The cost as in France, or
a little more.
This is the birthplace of the excellent Celius, who took from
it the surname Rhodiginus.13 It is very pretty, and there is a very
handsome square; the river Adige passes through the middle.
Tuesday morning, November 15th, we left here, and after doing
a long stretch on the causeway, like that at Blois, and crossing
the river Adige, which we came upon on our right, and then the
Po, which we found on the left, over a ferry like that of the day
before (except that on this platform there is a permanent cabin in
which you pay the toll while crossing, according to the printed
regulations they have posted there; and in the middle of the crossing
they stop their boat short to settle accounts and get their pay before
landing) , and after getting off in a low plain, where it seems as
though in very rainy weather the road would be impassable, we
came in one stage, in the evening, to

13 Author of a popular compilation which Montaigne owned and borrowed

from once or twice, the Lectionum antiquarum libri triginta.
II28 • T RAVEL J O U R N A L
FERRARA, tWenty miles. - Here for their passports and health
certificates they stopped us for a long time at the gate, and everyone
else likewise. The city"is o(.the size of Tours, situated in very flat
country: many p alaces ?·-most of the streets wide and straight, not
very populous. · · �

On the Wednesday morning Messieurs d'Estissac and de Mon­

taigne went to kiss the duke's hands. He was informed of their
intention; he sent a lord of his court to welcome them and bring
them to his cabinet, where he was with two or three others, waiting
for them. We passed through several closed chambers where
there were several well-dressed gentlemen. They had us all come
in. We found him standing at a table waiting for them. He put his
hand to his bonnet when they came in, and remained uncovered as
long as Monsieur de Montaigne spoke to him, which was rather
a long time. He asked him first if he understood the language, and
having been answered yes, he told them in very eloquent Italian that
he was very glad to see gentlemen of that nation, being at the service
of, and under much obligation to, the Most Christian King. They
had some other conversation together and then they withdrew, the
lord duke never having covered himself.
We saw in a church the effigy of Ariosto, a little fuller in face
than he appears in his books; he died at the age of fifty-nine, on the
6th of June, 1533 .
They serve fruit here on plates.
The streets are all paved with bricks. The colonnades, which
are continuous at Padua and serve as a great convenience for walking
about in all weather under cover without getting muddy, are lacking
here. At Venice the streets are paved with the same material, and
so sloping that there is never any mud.
I had forgotten to say about Venice that the day we left there we
found on our path several boats with their holds filled entirely with
fresh water; the boatload is worth a crown delivered at Venice and
the water is used to drink or to dye cloth. While we were at
Fusina we saw how with horses incessantly turning a wheel, water
is drawn from a stream and poured into a channel, from which
channel the said boats receive it, lining up below.
We were all that day at Ferrara, and there saw many beautiful
churches, gardens, private houses, and everything that they told us
was remarkable: among other things, at the J esuates, a rose tree that
bears flower:;; every month of the year; and even then there was one,
which was given to Monsieur de Montaigne. We also saw the
 I T A LY : T H E ROAD T O RO M E II29
Bucentaur, 14 which the duke, to emulate the one at Venice, had had
made for his new wife, who is beautiful and too young for him, to
take her around on the river Po. We also saw the duke's arsenal, in
which there is a piece of ordnance thirty-five spans long which
carries a shot one foot in diameter.
The cloudy new wines that we were drinking, and the water, just
as muddy as when it comes out of the river, alarmed him about
his colic.
On all the bedroom doors in the hostelry is written: Remem­
ber your health certificate. As soon as you have arrived you
must send your name to the authorities, and the number of your
men. Then they send word to give them lodging; otherwise they do
not do so.
On Thursday morning we left here15 and went through a level
and very fertile country, difficult for pedestrians in muddy weather,
inasmuch as the soil of Lombardy is very rich; and then, the roads
being closed in by ditches on either side, they have no space in which
to step aside to avoid the mud, so that many people of the country
walk with little stilts half a foot high. We went in the evening,
without stopping, to
BOLOGNA, thirty miles, a large and beautiful city, much bigger
and more populous than Ferrara. At the inn where we lodged, the
young seigneur de Monluc1 6 had arrived an hour before, coming
from France; he had stopped in the said city to attend the schools of
fencing and horsemanship.
On Friday we saw the fencing of the Venetian who boasts of
having invented new techniques in that art which prevail over all
others; and in truth his style of fencing is in many respects different
from the usual ones. The best of his students was a young man from
Bordeaux named Binet.
Here we saw a square tower, 17 ancient, so constructed that it leans
all to one side and seems to threaten its own downfall. We also saw
the academy of the sciences, which is the handsomest building I have
ever seen for this purpose.
14 The state barge.
15 It is curious that the secretary's account says nothing of Montaigne's visit to
the poet Tasso, then insane, about which Montaigne speaks bitterly in the Essays
(II: 12, p. 441).
16 Blaise de Monluc, grandson of his famous namesake.
17 Presumably the Torre Garisenda, which has the greater lean of the two
leaning towers of Bologna.
IIJ O T RA V E L J O U R N A L
On the S aturday after .dinner we saw some comedians, with
whom Monsieur de Montaigne was very pleased; and there, or
from some other cause, he· got a headache, which he had not had
for several years; and yet at _th{ same time he said he had a lack of
pain in his kidneys more pure than he had been accustomed to
for a long time, and enjoyed a comfortable feeling in his stomach
such as he had had on returning from Bagneres. His headache
passed away during the night.
This is a city all enriched with handsome wide colonnades and
a very great number of beautiful palaces. You live as at Padua, or just
about, and very reasonably; but the city is a little less peaceable
because of the old feuds that exist between factions of certain
families in the city, one of which has always had the French on
their side, the other the Spaniards, who are here in very great
numbers. In the square there is a very handsome fountain.
On Sunday Monsieur de Montaigne had planned to take the
road to the left toward Imola, the March of Ancona, and Loreto, to
get to Rome; but a German told him that he had been robbed by
bandits in the duchy of Spoleto. So he turned right, toward Flor­
ence. We immediately plunged into a rugged road and mountainous
country, and came to sleep at
L oIANO, sixteen miles, a rather uncomfortable little village.
There are only two hostelries in this village, which are famous
among all those in Italy for the treachery that is practiced on
travelers in feeding them with fine promises of every sort of comfort
before they set foot to the ground, and laughing at them when they
have them at their mercy: about which there are popular proverbs.
We left here early the next morning and until evening followed
a road which in truth is the first on our trip that can be called
uncomfortable and wild, and in the midst of mountains more
difficult than in any other part of this trip; we came to sleep at
scARPERIA, twenty-four miles, a very small town of Tuscany,
where they sell quantities of little cases, scissors, and similar mer­
chandise.
Monsieur de Montaigne took all possible pleasure in the rivalry
among the landlords. They have the custom of sending seven or
eight leagues to meet strangers and conjuring them to choose their
inn. You will often find the landlord himself on horseback, and in
various places many well-dressed men in wait for you; and all along
the road, Mor sieur de Montaigne, who wanted to draw them out,
had himself amusingly entertained with the various offers that each
 I T A L Y : T H E R O A D T O R CTM E IIJ I

one made him; and there is nothing that they will· not promise. 1 8
There was one who offered him ·a hare purely as a gift if he was
willing just to visit his house. Their disputes and competition stop at
the gates of the town, and they do not dare say one more word. They
have this in common, that they offer you a guide on horseback at
their expense to guide you and carry part of your baggage to the inn
you are going to; which they always do, and pay their expense. I do
not know whether or not they are obliged to by some ordinance
because of the danger of the roads.
We had made our bargain as early as Bologna for what we were
to pay and get at Loiano. Urged as we were by the people of the inn
where we stayed and elsewhere, Monsieur de Montaigne had sent
one of us to inspect all the inns, the food, and the wines, and to learn
the conditions before we all dismounted; and he chose the best. But
it is impossible to make such careful terms that you escape their
trickery; for they will make you lack the wood, the candles, the
linen, or the hay that you have forgotten to specify.
This route is full of travelers, for it is the ordinary highroad
to Rome.
I was here informed19 of a stupid thing I had done in forgetting
to visit a mountaintop ten miles this side of Loiano and two miles
off the road, from which, in rainy or stormy weather and by night,
you can see flames coming out to a very great height; and my
informant told me that in the big upheavals there are sometimes
disgorged little pieces of money with some figure or other. We
should have seen what all this was.
We left Scarperia the next morning with our landlord as guide
and went along a fine road between many populated and cultivated
hills. We turned out of our way to the right for about two miles to
see a palace that the duke of Florencc20 built here twelve years ago,
which he exercises all his five natural senses to embellish. It seems as
though he purposely chose an inconvenient, sterile, and moun­
tainous site, yes, and even without springs, so as to have the honor
of sending to get water five miles from there, and his sand and lime
another five miles. It is a place that has nothing level about it. You

r8 A note in the original edition, possibly by O!ierlon but more probably by

Montaigne, here adds: ''Anche ragazze et ragazzi" - "Even young girls and
young boys."
19 This paragraph seems to have been written by Montaigne.
20 Francis I de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany.
I IJ 2 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
have a view of many hills, which is the general shape of the country.
The house is called Pratolinar. The building is contemptible to see it
from far off, but from �.e ar it is very beautiful, though not up to the
most beautiful in Franc�. They say that there are six score furnished
rooms; we sa\\'." ten ·o r twelve of the finest. The furniture is pretty, but
not magnificent.
There is one miraculous thing, a grotto with several cells and
rooms; this part surpasses all that we have ever seen elsewhere. It is
encrusted and formed all over of a certain material which they say
is brought from certain mountains, and they have joined it invisibly
with nails. There is not only music and harmony made by the
movement of the water, but also a movement of several statues
and doors with various actions, caused by the water; several animals
that plunge in to drink; and things like that. At one single move­
ment the whole grotto is full of water, and all the seats squirt water
on your buttocks; and if you flee from the grotto and climb the castle
stairs and anyone takes pleasure in this sport, there come out of
every other step of the stairs, right up to the top of the house,
a thousand jets of water that give you a bath.
The beauty and richness of this place cannot be described in
detail. Among other things, below the castle there is a walk fifty feet
wide and five hundred paces long or thereabouts, which has been
made almost level, at great expense. On both sides there are long
and very handsome railings of freestone; every five or ten paces
along these railings there are springing fountains in the wall, so
that there are nothing but fountain jets all along the walk. At the
bottom there is a beautiful fountain that pours into a big basin
through a conduit set in a marble statue of a woman doing her
washing. She is wringing out a tablecloth of white marble, from the
dripping of which this water comes out; and underneath there is
another vessel where it seems as if there is water boiling for washing.
There is also a marble table in a hall of the castle around which there
are six seats, at each of which you raise a lid of this marble by a ring,
and under the lid there is a vessel attached to the said table. In each
of the said six vessels there springs up a fountain of fresh water in
which each man may cool his glass, and in the middle is a big one to
put the bottle in.
We also saw some very wide holes in the ground where they keep
a large quantity of snow all year round; and it is placed on a litter of
broom, and then all this is covered, up to a great height, in the form
of a pyramid, with thatch, like a little barn. There are a thousand
 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E n33
reservoirs. And they are building the body of a giant, which is three
cubits wide at a rough estimate, and the rest in the same proportion;
from this will pour a fountain in great abundance. There are
a thousand reservoirs and ponds, and all this drawn from two
springs by an infinity of earthen pipes. In a very handsome big
aviary we saw some little birds like goldfinches, which have two
long feathers in their tail like those of a big capon. There is also
a singular stove. We stayed here two or three hours and then
resumed our journey and went over the top of certain hills to
FLORENCE, seventeen miles, a city smaller in size than Ferrara,
situated in a plain, surrounded by a thousand highly cultivated hills.
The river Arno passes through and is crossed by bridges. We found
no moats around the walls.
That day Monsieur de Montaigne passed two stones and a lot of
gravel, without having had any other feeling of it than a slight pain
in the lower abdomen.
On the same day we saw the grand duke's stable, very large,
vaulted, in which there were not many valuable horses; indeed, he
was not there that day. There we saw a sheep of a very strange shape;
also a camel, some lions, some bears, and an animal the size of a very
big mastiff and the shape of a cat, all marked in black and white,
which they call a tiger.
We saw the Church of San Lorenzo, where still hang the flags
that we lost under Marshal Strozzi in Tuscany. There are in this
church several pieces of flat painting, and very beautiful and excel­
lent statues by Michelangelo. We saw the cathedral, which is
a very big church with the bell tower all faced with black and
white marble; it is one of the most beautiful and sumptuous things
in the world.
Monsieur de Montaigne said tha t he had never until then seen
a nation where there were so few beautiful women as the Italian.
The lodgings he found much less comfortable than in France and
Germany; for the food is not half so abundant as in Germany, nor so
well prepared. They serve the food without larding in both places;
but in Germany it is much better seasoned, and varied with sauces
and soups. The lodgings in Italy are much worse: no common
rooms; the windows large and wide open, except for a big wooden
shutter that keeps out the light if you want to keep out the sun or the
wind; which he found much more intolerable and irremediable than
the lack of curtains in Germany. Besides, they have only little cots
with wretched canopies, one at the most in each bedroom, with
u3 4 T R"A V E L J O U R N A L
a truckle bed underneath; and anyone who hated to lie hard would
find himself up against it. An equal or greater lack of linen. The
wines generally worse, and.for ihose who hate a sickly sweetness,
unbearable in this se�son. The expense, it is true, is a little less. They
say that Florence is the fnost expensive city in Italy. I had made our
bargain, before my master arrived at the hostelry, the Angel, at seven
reals a day for man and horse, and four reals for a man on foot.
The same day we saw a palace of the duke, where he himself
takes pleasure in working at counterfeiting oriental stones and
cutting crystal; for he is a prince somewhat interested in alchemy
and the mechanical arts, and above all a great architect.
The next day Monsieur de Montaigne led the way up to the top
of the cathedral, where there is a globe of gilt brass which from
below seems of the size of a ball, and when you are there proves
capable of holding four people.21 There he saw that the marble with
which this church is encrusted, even the black (for this work is all
variegated and carved) , is already beginning to give way in many
places and is cracking from the frost and the sun; which made him
fear that this marble was not very genuine.
He wanted to see the houses of the Strozzi and the Gondi, where
some of their kin still reside. We also saw the palace of the duke,
where Cosimo, the duke's father, has had a painting made of the
capture of Siena and the battle we lost. Yet in various places in this
city, and especially in the said palace on the old walls, the fleurs-de­
lys hold the first rank of honor.
Messieurs d'Estissac and de Montaigne were at a dinner of the
grand duke; for so they call him here . His wife was seated in
the place of honor; the duke below; below the duke, the duchess's
sister-in-law; below her, her husband, the brother of the duchess.
This duchess22 is beautiful by Italian notions, an agreeable and
imperious face, big bust, and breasts the way they like them. To
Monsieur de Montaigne she seemed certainly clever enough to have
bewitched this prince and to keep him devoted to her for a long
time. The duke is a stout, dark man of my height, large limbs, face
and bearing full of courtesy, passing always uncovered through
the throng of his courtiers, who are a handsome group. He has
a healthy bearing, that of a man of forty. On the other side of the

21 The text says "forty," but "four" is probably intended.

22 Bianca Capello of Venice, who had been the grand duke's mistress during his
first marriage.
 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E u35
table were the duke's two brother:,s , the cardinal and another young
man of eighteen.
They bring drink to this duke and his wife in a basin, in which
there is an uncovered glass full of wine and a glass bottle full of
water; they take the glass of wine, pour as much as they do not want
into the basin, fill it with water themselves, and then put the glass
back in the basin, which the cupbearer holds for them. The duke put
in a good deal of water; she, almost none. The fault of the Germans
is to use immoderately big glasses; here it is the opposite, to have
them so extraordinarily small.
I do not know why this city should be privileged to be surnamed
"the beautiful"; it is so, but without any advantage over Bologna, and
little over Ferrara, and it is incomparably inferior to Venice. True, it
is fine to discover from this bell tower the infinite multitude of
houses that cover the hills all around for a good two or three leagues,
and this plain where the city is situated, which seems to extend to
a length of two leagues; for the houses seem to touch each other, so
thickly are they sown. The city is paved with slabs of flat stone,
without method or order.
After dinner the four gentlemen and a guide took post horses to
go and see a place of the duke's called Castello. The house has
nothing worth while about it; but there are various things about
the gardens. The whole estate is situated on the slope of a hill, so
that the straight walks are all on a slope, but a soft and easy one; the
cross walks are straight and level. One sees there many arbors, very
thickly interwoven and covered with all kinds of odoriferous trees
such as cedars, cypresses, orange trees, lemon trees, and olive
trees, the branches so joined and interlaced that it is easy to see
that the sun at its greatest strength could not get in; and copses of
cypress and of those other trees disposed in order so close to each
other that there is room for only three or four people to pass abreast.
There is a big reservoir, among other things, in the middle of which
you see a natural-looking artificial rock, and it seems all frozen over,
by means of that material with which the duke has covered his
grottoes at Pratolino; and above the rock is a large bronze statue
of a very old hoary man seated on his rear with his arms crossed,
from all over whose beard, forehead, and hair water flows inces­
santly, drop by drop, representing sweat and tears; and the fountain
has no other conduit than that.
Elsewhere they had the very amusing experience of seeing what
I have noted above; for as they were walking about the garden and
r r3 6 T"R A V E L J O U R N A L
looking at its curiosities,-- the gardener left their company for
this purpose; and as they wer� in a certain spot contemplating
certain marble statues, there�. spurted up under their feet and
between their legs, through an"'i nfinite number of tiny holes, jets of
water so minute that they were almost invisible, imitating supremely
well the trickle of fine rain, with which they were completely
sprinkled by the operation of some underground spring which
thegardener was working more than two hundred paces from
there, with such artifice that from there on the outside he made
these spurts of water rise and fall as he pleased, turning and
moving them just as he wanted. This same game is found here in
several places.
They also saw the master fountain, which issues from a conduit
in two very big bronze effigies, of which the lower holds the other in
his arms and is squeezing him with all his might;23 the other half
fainting, his head thrown back, seems to spurt this water forcibly out
of his mouth; and it shoots out with such power that the stream of
water rises thirty-seven fathoms above the height of these figures,
which are at least twenty feet high. There is also a chamber among
the branches of an evergreen tree, but much richer than any other
that they had seen; for it is all filled out with the live green branches
of the tree, and on all sides this chamber is so closed in by this
verdure that there is no view out except through a few apertures that
must be opened up by pushing aside the branches here and there;
and in the center, through a concealed pipe, a jet of water rises right
in this chamber through the center of a small marble table. Water
music is also made here, but they could not hear it, for it was late for
people who had to get back to town. They also saw the duke's
escutcheon here high over a gateway, very well formed of some
branches of trees fostered and maintained in their natural strength
by fibers that one can barely discern. They were here in the most
unpropitious season for gardens, and were all the more amazed.
There is also a handsome grotto, where you see all sorts of animals
represented to the life, spouting the water of these fountains,
some by the beak, some by the wing, some by the claw or the ear
or the nostril.
I forgot to say that in the palace of this prince, in one of the big
rooms, is seen the figure of a four-footed animal in bronze relief on
a pillar, represented to the life, of a strange shape, the front all scaly,

23 Hercules squeezing Antaeus, figures by Bartolommeo Ammannati.

 I T A LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E n3 7
and on the backbone something that looked like liorns. They say
that it was found in a mountain cavern of this country and brought
here alive a few years ago. 24 We also saw the palace where the Qyeen
Mother was born. 25
In order to try out all the comforts of this city, as he had of others,
Monsieur de Montaigne wanted to see the rooms to let and the
conditions of the boarding houses; he found nothing worth while.
You find rooms to let only in the hostelries, so they told him; and
those that he saw were dirty and much more expensive than in Paris
or even in Venice; and the board wretched, at more than twelve
crowns a month for the master.
Also there is no worth-while practice either of arms, or of horse­
manship, or of letters.
Pewter is rare in all this region, and food is served only in vessels
of painted earthenware, rather dirty.
Thursday morning, November 2 4 th, we left here and found
a country moderately fertile, very thickly populated and cultivated
everywhere, the road bumpy and stony; and in one stretch, which
was very long, we came very late to
SIENA, thirty-two miles, four stages; they make them of eight
miles, longer than ours ordinarily are.
On Friday Monsieur de Montaigne examined the town with
curiosity, notably in respect to our wars.2 6 It is an irregular town,
planted on the ridge of a hill, on which the better part of the streets
are situated; its two slopes are covered with various streets in tiers,
and some of these go climbing to still greater heights. It is numbered
among the beautiful towns of Italy, but not of the first rank, nor of
the size of Florence. Its appearance testifies to its great antiquity.
It has a great abundance of fountains, from which most of the
private persons drain off small strea1ns for their particular service.
They have good, cool cellars here.
The cathedral, which scarcely yields to that of Florence, is coated
almost all over, inside and out, with this same marble: square pieces
of marble, some a foot thick, others less, which they apply like

24 This seems to be a sculptured Etruscan chimaera, discovered around 1558.

The travelers either misunderstood their informant or were misinformed, per­
haps deliberately.
25 Catherine de' Medici was born in the Pitti Palace.
26 Siena was captured by the French under Lansac in 1552; though heroically
defended under Monluc in 1554-55, it was finally lost.
 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
wainscoting to these buildings made of brick, the ordinary building
!·
material of this country.
The handsomest part of !he town is the round plaza, 27 very
beautiful and grand, curving iri from all directions toward the palace
that forms one of the fronts of this circle and is less curved than the
rest. Opposite the palace, at the upper end of the place, there is a very
beautiful fountain, which, through several conduits, fills a great
basin where everyone can draw very fine water. Several streets
converge in this circle by graded stone steps. There are plenty of
very ancient streets and dwellings: the principal ones are those of the
Piccolomini, the Ciaia, the Tolomei, and the Colombini, and that of
the Cerretani. We saw evidences of three or four hundred years
of age. The arms of the city, which you see on many pillars, are the
she-wolf with Romulus and Remus hanging at her teats.
The duke of Florence treats the noblemen who favored our side
courteously, and has near his person Silvio Piccolomini, the most
able nobleman of our time in every kind of knowledge and exercise
of arms. As one who has to guard himself principally against his own
subjects, he lets his towns take care of fortifying themselves, and
concentrates on citadels, which are supplied with arms and guarded
with all possible expense and diligence, and with such suspicion that
very few people are permitted to approach them.
The women mostly wear hats on their heads. We saw some who
took them off out of reverence, like the men, at the point of the
elevation during Mass.
We were lodged at the Crown, fairly well, but still without
windowpanes or frames.
Monsieur de Montaigne, asked by the gatekeeper at Pratolino
whether he was amazed at the beauty of the place, after praising
it, strongly condemned the ugliness of the doors and windows -
big pine planks, without shape or workmanship, and clumsy and
awkward locks like those in our villages - and then the roofing of
hollow tiles; and he said that if there was no means of getting slate
or lead or brass, they should at least have hidden these tiles by the
shape of the building, which the gatekeeper said he would repeat to
his master.
The duke still allows the ancient mottoes and emblems of
this town to exist, and everywhere these ring of liberty; yet they
have taken from their places and hidden in a certain spot in the

27 The Piazza del Campo.

 I TA LY : T H E R O A D T O R O M E IIJ 9

town the tombs and epitaphs of the Frenchmen who died, 2 8 under
color of some improvement in the building and shape of
their church.
On Saturday the 26th after dinner we continued the journey
through a countryside of similar aspect and came to sup at
B uoNCONVENTO, twelve miles, a castello of Tuscany: so they call
walled villages which, because of their smallness, do not deserve the
name of towns.
Sunday morning very early we left here, and since Monsieur de
Montaigne wanted to see Montalcino because of the associations
the French have had with it, he turned out of his way to the right,
and with Messieurs d'Estissac, de Mattecoulon, and du Hautoy,
went to the said Montalcino, which they say is a badly built town of
the size of Saint-Emilion, situated on one of the highest mountains
in the whole region, but accessible. They happened to arrive there
as High Mass was being said, and they heard it. At one end there is
a castle where the duke keeps his garrisons; but in Monsieur de
Montaigne's opinion, all this is not very strong, for the place is
commanded on one side by another higher mountain within
a hundred paces of it.
In this duke's territories the memory of the French is maintained
in such great affection that you can scarcely remind the people of
the French without tears coming to their eyes; for even war seems
sweeter to them, if accompanied by some form of liberty, than
the peace they enjoy under tyranny. When Monsieur de Montaigne
inquired there whether there were not some tombs of the French­
men, he was answered that there had been several in the Church
of Saint Augustine, but that they had been covered up by the
duke's command.
The road of this day's journey wa� mountainous and stony, and
brought us in the evening to
LA PAGLIA , twenty-three miles, a tiny village of five or six houses
at the foot of several barren and forbidding mountains.
The next morning early we resumed our trip along a very stony
bottom, where we crossed and recrossed a hundred times a torrent
which runs all the length of it. We came to a big bridge built by the
present Pope Gregory, where the territories of the duke of Florence
end, and entered those of the Church. We came upon Acquapen­
dente, which is a little town; and it is so named, I believe, because of

28 Those who died in the capture or in the defense of Siena.

 . T RAVEL J O U R N A L
a torrent which ·right next to it hurtles over some rocks into the
plain. From there we passed 9-an Lorenzo, which is a walled village,
and through Bolseno, which is another, turning about the lake that
is named Bolseqq,_ thirty rrfi:Ies long and ten miles wide, in the
middle of whieh'are...s een two rocks like islands, on which they say
there are monasteries. We continued without a halt, by this moun­
tainous and barren road, to
MONTEFIASCONE, twenty-six miles, a little town situated on the
top of one of the highest mountains in all the district. It is small, and
shows signs of considerable age.
We left here in the morning and crossed a beautiful fertile plain
in which we came upon Viterbo, which is in part situated on the
crest of a hill. It is a beautiful town, of the size of Senlis. We noticed
here many beautiful houses, a great abundance of workmen, beauti­
ful and pleasant streets; in three parts of town, three very beautiful
fountains. Monsieur de Montaigne would have stopped here
because of the beauty of the place, but his mule, which went
ahead of him, had already passed on. Here we began to climb
a high mountainside, at the nearer foot of which is a little lake
which they call Vico. From there, through a very pleasant valley
surrounded by low hills on which there is lots of timber (a somewhat
rare commodity in these parts), and by this lake, we came in good
time to
RONCIGLIONE, nineteen miles, a little town and castle belonging
to the duke of Parma, 29 as there are also on these roads many houses
and lands belonging to the house of Farnese.
The inns on this road are of the best, since it is the ordinary post
highway. They take five giulii per day to rent a horse, or two giulii
per post; and the rate is the same if you want them for two or three
posts or for several days, your horse being cared for at no expense to
you: for from place to place the landlords take charge of the horses of
their fellow landlords; indeed, if your hired one fails you, they
stipulate that you can take another instead somewhere else on
your road. At Siena, we had the experience of seeing a Fleming
who was in our company - unknown, a foreigner, all alone - being
trusted with a hired horse which was to take him to Rome. There is
this exception, that you pay the hire before starting out; but for the
rest, the horse is at your mercy, subject to your word that you will
leave him where you promise to.

29 Ottavio Farnese.
 I TA LY : R O M E
Monsieur de Montaigne rejoi�ed in their custo � of dining and
supping late, in accordance with his humor; for here they do not
dine in the good houses before two in the afternoon or sup before
nine; so that in places where we found actors, the play begins only at
six o'clock, by torchlight, and lasts two or three hours, and then you
go to supper. He said that it was a good country for lazy people, for
you get up very late.
We left here the next day three hours before daylight, so eager
was he to see the pavement of Rome. He found that the night damp
gave his stomach as much trouble morning as evening, or very little
less, and felt bad because of it until daylight, although the night was
clear. At a distance of fifteen miles we caught sight of the city of
Rome, and then lost it again for a long time. There are some villages
on the road, and hostelries. We came across some districts with
roads raised and paved with very big paving stones, which, to look at
them, seemed something ancient; and nearer the city some evidently
very ancient ruins, and some stones which the popes have reerected
in honor of their antiquity. Most of the ruins are of brick, witness
the Baths of Diocletian - a small , simple brick like ours, not of the
size and thickness that is seen in the antiquities and old ruins in
Franee and elsewhere.
Rome did not make a great show to see it from this road. We had
far on our left the Apennines; the country is unpleasant, full of
humps and deep clefts, incapable of allowing the passage of troops
in battle formation; the land bare, treeless, to a large extent barren;
the country very open for more than ten miles around; and almost all
of this sort, with very few houses.

Italy: Rome
(November 30, 1580-April 1 9 , 1581)

Through this sort of country we arrived at about eight in the

evening on the last day of November, the feast of Saint Andrew, at
the Porta del Popolo, in
ROME, thirty miles. Here they made some difficulties for us, as
elsewhere, because of the plague at Genoa.
We took lodgings at the Bear, where we also stayed the next day;
and on the second day of December we took rented rooms in the
house of a Spaniard, opposite Santa Lucia della Tin ta. Here we were
well accommodated with three handsome bedrooms, dining room,
 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
larder, stable, and kitchen,.- at twenty crowns a mouth, out of which
the host provided a cook and fire for the kitchen.
The inns are generallyfurni__shed a little better than in Paris, since
they have a great deal ofgil('leather, with which the lodgings of
a certain class ate ·upholstered. We could have had lodging at the
same price as our own at the Gold Vase, rather near there, uphol­
stered with cloth of gold and silk, like that of kings. But besides that
the bedrooms were not separate, Monsieur de Montaigne thought
that this magnificence was not only useless but also troublesome on
account of the care required by this furniture, for each bed was
worth four or five hundred crowns. At our inn we had made
a bargain to be supplied with linen about the same as in France;
the custom of the country is to be a little more sparing.
Monsieur de Montaigne was annoyed to find so great a number
of Frenchmen here that he met almost no one in the street who did
not greet him in his own language. New to him was the sight of so
great a court, so thronged with prelates and churchmen, and it
seemed to him more populous in rich men, and coaches, and horses,
by far, than any other that he had ever seen. He said that the
appearance of the streets in many respects, and especially in
the multitude of people, reminded him more of Paris than any
other city he had ever been in.
The modern city is built all along the river Tiber, on both sides.
The hilly quarter, which was the site of the old city, where he went
every day and took a thousand walks, is occupied by a few churches
and some remarkable houses and gardens of the cardinals. He
judged by very clear appearances and by the height of the ruins
that the shape of these mountains and of the slopes was completely
changed from the old shape; and he held it as certain that in many
places we were walking on the tops of entire houses. It is easy to
judge, by the Arch of Severus, that we are more than two pikes'
length above the ancient street level; and in truth, almost every­
where, you walk on the top of old walls which the rain and the coach
ruts uncover.
He disagreed with those who compared the freedom of Rome to
that of Venice, principally on these grounds: that even the houses
were so unsafe that those who brought rather ample means were
ordinarily advised to give their purse in keeping to the bankers of the
city, so as not to find their strongbox broken open, as had happened
to many. Item, that going about at night was hardly very safe. Item,
that in this month of December, our first month here, the general of
 I TALY: RO M E I I 4J

the Franciscans was suddenly disrpissed from his office and locked
up for having condemned in his sermon, at which the Pope and
the cardinals were present, the idleness and pomp of the prelates
of the Church, without going into any particulars, and merely using,
with some asperity in his voice, some ordinary commonplaces on
this subject. Item, that his [Montaigne's] baggage had been
inspected by the customs on his entry into the city, and examined
right down to the smallest articles, whereas in most of the other
cities of Italy these officers were content when you merely offered
your baggage for inspection; and that besides this, they had taken
from him all the books they had found in order to examine them,
which took so long that a man who had anything else to do might
well consider them lost; besides, the rules were so extraordinary here
that the book of hours of Our Lady, because it was of Paris, not of
Rome, was suspect to them, and also the books of certain German
doctors of theology against the heretics, because in combating them
they made mention of their errors. In this connection he was grate­
ful for his good luck because, though he had not been warned at
all that this was to happen to him, and though he had passed
through Germany and was of an inquiring nature, he had no for­
bidden book in the lot. However, some lords of the city told him
that even if some had been found, he would have got off with the
loss of the books.
Twelve or fifteen days after our arrival he felt ill; and because of
an unusual defluxion of his kidneys which threatened him with
some kind of ulcer, by the prescription of a French doctor of the
Cardinal de Rambouillet, aided by the dexterity of his apothecary,
he overcame his scruples one day and took some cassia in big doses
on the end of a knife first lightly dipped in water, which he swal­
lowed very easily, and had two or three stools from it. The next day
he took some Venetian turpentine, which they say comes from the
mountains of Tyrol, two large doses done up in a wafer on a silver
spoon, sprinkled with one or two drops of some good-tasting syrup;
he observed no other effect from it than a smell of March violets in
his urine. After that he took three times, but not in quick succession,
a certain sort of drink that had precisely the taste and color of
almond milk, and indeed his doctor told him it was just that;
however, he thinks there were some quatre-semences-froidel in it.

r A combination of the four "cold" seeds: cucumber, gourd, melon, and

pumpkin.
I I44 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
There was nothing difficult or ;xtraordinary in the taking of this last
except the hour of the morning: all that, three hours before the meal.
Nor did he feel what gooa th �t almond milk did him, for the same
indisposition still �a&ed afterward; and later, on the twenty-third of
December, he h·ad a very severe colic, for which he took to his bed
around noon and was there until evening, when he ejected a lot of
gravel, and after that a big hard stone, long and smooth, which
stopped five or six hours in passing through the penis. All this time,
since his baths, his bowels had been in good order, and he thought
that this protected him against many worse accidents. At this time
he skipped several meals, now dinner, now supper.
On Christmas Day we went to hear the Pope's Mass at Saint
Peter's, where Monsieur de Montaigne had a convenient place for
seeing all the ceremonies at his ease. There are several particular
forms: the Gospel and the Epistle are said first in Latin and then in
Greek, as is also done on Easter Day and Saint Peter's Day. The
Pope gave Communion to several others, and with him at this
service there officiated the cardinals Farnese, Medici, Caraffa, and
Gonzaga. There is a certain instrument for drinking from the
chalice, in order to provide safety from poison. It seemed novel to
him, both at this Mass and others, that the Pope and cardinals and
other prelates are seated, and, almost all through the Mass, covered,
chatting and talking together. These ceremonies seem to be more
magnificent than devout.
For the rest, it seemed to him that there was nothing special
about the beauty of the women worthy of that preeminence that
reputation gives to this city over all the others in the world; and
moreover that, as in Paris, the most singular beauty was found
among those who put it on sale.
On December 2 9 th Monsieur d'Elbene, who was then ambassa­
dor, a studious gentleman and long a good friend of Monsieur de
Montaigne, recommended that he kiss the Pope's feet. Monsieur
d'Estissac and he got into the said ambassador's coach. When the
ambassador was admitted to audience, he had them called by
the Pope's chamberlain. They found the Pope and with him the
ambassador alone, which is the fashion; he has beside him a little
bell that he rings when he wants someone to come to him.
The ambassador was seated at his left hand, uncovered; for the
Pope never takes off his cap for anyone whatever, nor is any ambas­
sador with hir�1 with his head covered. Monsieur d'Estissac entered
first, and after him Monsieur de Montaigne, and then Messieurs de
 I T A LY : R O M E n45
'
Mattecoulon and du Hautoy. After one or two steps into the
chamber, in the corner of which the said Pope is seated, those who
enter, whoever they may be, put one knee on the ground and wait for
the Pope to give them his benediction, which he does; after that they
get up again and proceed until about the middle of the room. It is
true that most people do not go straight to him, cutting across the
room, but sidle along the wall in order, after turning, to make
straight for him. At this halfway point they once more get down
on one knee and receive the second benediction. This done, they go
toward him as far as a velvet carpet spread out at his feet seven or
eight feet farther forward. At the edge of this carpet they go down
on both knees. There the ambassador, who was presenting them,
knelt on one knee and pulled back the Pope's robe from his right
foot, on which there is a red slipper with a white cross on it. Those
who are on their knees drag themselves in this position up to his foot
and lean down to the ground to kiss it. Monsieur de Montaigne said
he had raised the end of his foot a bit. They made way for one
another to kiss, then withdrew to one side, still in this posture. This
done, the ambassador covered the Pope's foot again, and, rising from
his seat, told him what seemed proper for the recommendation of
Monsieur d'Estissac and Monsieur de Montaigne. The Pope, with
a courteous countenance, admonished Monsieur d'Estissac to pur­
sue study and virtue, and Monsieur de Montaigne to continue in the
devotion he had always borne to the Church and the service of the
Most Christian King, and said that he would gladly be of service to
them whenever he could: those are Italian phrases of service. They
for their part said not a word to him; but having there received
another benediction before the Pope rose, which is the sign of
dismissal, went back the same way. This is done according to each
person's notion; however, the commonest way is to move away
backward, or at least to withdraw to the side, in such a way that
one always looks the Pope in the face. At the halfway point, as in
coming, they again went down on one knee and had another ben­
ediction; and at the door, again on one knee, the final benediction.
The language of the Pope is Italian, smacking of the Bolognese
patois, which is the worst idiom in Italy; and then by nature his
speech is halting. 2 For the rest, he is a very handsome old man, of
middle height, erect, his face full of majesty, a long white beard,

2 This is Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Buoncompagno of Bologna, 1502-1585), Pope

from 1572 until his death, a strong fighter against Protestantism, who
 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
more than eighty years old, as healthy and vigorous for his age as
anyone can wish, without gotit, without colic, without stomach
trouble, and not subject' to �ny ailment: of a gentle nature, not
very passionate a�out the_ affairs of the world; a great builder, and
in that respect "he will leave in Rome and elsewhere exceptional
honor to his memory; a great almoner, I should say beyond all
measure. Among other evidences of this, there is not a girl about
to marry whom he does not aid in setting up house, if she is of low
estate; and in this respect they count his liberality as ready money.
Besides that,3 he has built colleges for the Greeks, and for the
English, Scots, French, Germans, and Poles, and has endowed
each one with more than ten thousand crowns a year in perpetuity,
besides the huge expense of the buildings. He has done this to call to
the Church the children of those nations, corrupted by evil opinions
against the Church; and there the boys are lodged, fed, dressed,
instructed, and provided with everything, without one quattrino of
their own going into it for anything whatever. The troublesome
public charges he readily casts off on the shoulders of others and
avoids giving himself trouble.
He gives as many audiences as one wants. His replies are
short and decided, and you waste your time if you combat his
reply with new arguments. In what he judges to be just, he trusts
himself; and even for his son, whom he loves with a frenzy, he
will not stir a bit against this justice of his. He gives advancement
to his relations, but4 without any prejudice to the rights of
the Church, which he preserves inviolable. He is very lavish in
public buildings and the improvement of the city's streets; and
in truth, his life and his conduct have nothing very extraordin­
ary about them one way or the other, but incline much more to
the good.
On the last day of December the two of them [Montaigne
and d'Estissac] dined at the house of the cardinal of Sens, who
observes more of the Roman ceremonies than any other French­
man. The very long benedicites and graces were said by two
publicly celebrated the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day. Most of the
details given here, except for his age, are confirmed by other witnesses.
3 These few lines, from "there is not" to "Besides that," are an addition to the
manuscript in Montaigne's hand.
4 The following passage, from "but without" to "the city's streets," and the
shorter one a few lines later, "but incline much more to the good," are additions
to the manuscript in Montaigne's hand.
 I T A LY : R O M E u47
chaplains i n response to each oth�r i n the fashion o f the church
service. During his dinner a paraphrase of the Gospel of the
day was read in Italian. They washed with him both before and
after the meal. Everyone is served with a napkin to wipe his mouth
and hands with; and in front of those to whom they want to
do particular honor, who are seated beside or opposite the master,
they place big silver squares on which their saltcellar stands, of
the same sort as those they put before the great in France. On top
of this there is a napkin folded in four, and on this napkin the bread,
knife, fork, and spoon. On top of all this there is another napkin,
which you are to use, and leave the rest in the state it is in; for after
you are at table, they give you, beside this square, a silver or earth­
enware plate which you use . Of all that is served at table the carver
gives portions on plates to those who are seated, in the order of
seating, and they do not put their hand to the dish, least of all to the
master's dish.
They also served Monsieur de Montaigne with drink, as they
ordinarily did at the ambassador's when he ate there, in this way:
they presented to him a silver basin on which there was a glass with
wine and a little bottle, of the size of those you put ink in, full of
water. He takes this glass with his right hand and this bottle with
the left, and pours as much water as he likes into his glass, and then
puts this bottle back into the basin. When he drinks, the man who
serves him offers the said basin under his chin, and he himself then
replaces his glass in the said basin. This ceremony is performed only
for one or two persons at most below the master.
The table was removed immediately after grace, and the chairs
promptly arranged along one side of the room, on which the
cardinal had them sit, after him. Then there appeared two church­
men, well dressed, with I know not what instruments in their hands,
who knelt before the cardinal and informed him of I know not what
service that was being performed in some church. He said nothing
at all to them, but as they rose after speaking and were going away,
he raised his cap to them a little.
A little later he took them in his coach to the Hall of the
Consistory, where the cardinals assembled to go to vespers. The
Pope arrived and dressed to go to vespers too. The cardinals did not
kneel at his benediction, as the people do, but received it with a deep
inclination of the head.
On the third day ofJanuary, 158 1 , the Pope passed in front of our
window. In front of him walked about two hundred horses bearing
 " T RAVE L J O U R N A L
persons of his court of one or the other robe.5 Beside him was the
Cardinal de' Medici, who was conversing with him covered and
was taking him to dine··witQ· him. The Pope had on a red hat, his
white apparel and .red velvet hood, as usual, and was mounted on
a white hackn·ey harnessed with red velvet with gold fringes and
lace. He mounts on horseback without the help of a groom, and yet
is in his eighty-first year. Every fifteen steps he gave his benediction.
After him came three cardinals, and then about a hundred men­
at-arms, lance on thigh, in full armor except for the head. There was
also another hackney with the same trappings, a mule, a handsome
white charger, and a litter following him, and two robe bearers who
carried valises at their saddlebow.
That same day Monsieur de Montaigne took some turpentine,
without any reason except that he had a cold, and afterward he
passed a lot of gravel.
On January nth, in the morning, as Monsieur de Montaigne was
leaving the house on horseback to go to the bankers', it happened
that they were taking out of prison Catena, a famous robber and
bandit captain who had kept all Italy in fear and to whom some
monstrous murders were ascribed, especially those of two Capu­
chins whom he had made to deny God, promising on that condition
to save their lives, and then massacred without any reason either of
advantage or of vengeance. Monsieur de Montaigne stopped to see
this spectacle. Besides the formalities used in France, they carry in
front of the criminal a big crucifix covered with a black curtain, and
on foot go a large number of men dressed and masked in linen, who,
they say, are gentlemen and other prominent people of Rome who
devote themselves to this service of accompanying criminals led to
execution and the bodies of the dead; and there is a brotherhood of
them. There are two of these, or monks dressed and masked in the
same way, who attend the criminal on the cart and preach to him;
and one of them continually holds before his face a picture on which
is the portrait of Our Lord, and has him kiss it incessantly; this
makes it impossible to see the criminal's face from the street. At the
gallows, which is a beam between two supports, they still kept this
picture against his face until he was launched. He made an ordinary
death, without movement or word; he was a dark man of thirty
or thereabouts.
After he was strangled, they cut him into four quarters. They

5 Churchmen or laymen.
 I TALY: R O M E II49
hardly ever kill men except by a �imple death, and 'exercise their
severity after death. Monsieur de Montaigne here remarked what
he has said elsewhere, 6 how much the people are frightened by the
rigors exercised on dead bodies; for these people, who had appeared
to feel nothing at seeing him strangled, at every blow that was
given to cut him up cried out in a piteous voice. As soon as
a criminal is dead, one or several Jesuits or others get up on some
high spot and shout to the people, one in this direction, the other in
that, and preach to them to make them take in this example.
We remarked in Italy, and especially in Rome, that there are
almost no bells at all for the service of the Church, and less in Rome
than in the smalle st village in France; also that there are no images,
unless they have been made very recently. Many old churches have
not a one.
On January r4th he again took turpentine without any
apparent effect.
On this same day I saw two brothers executed, former servants
of the Castellano's secretary, who had killed him a few days before
in the city by night, in the very palace of the said Signor Giacomo
Buoncompagno, the Pope's son. They tore them with red-hot
pincers, then cut off their fist in front of the said palace, and having
cut it off they put on the wound capons that they had killed and
immediately opened up. They were executed on a scaffold: first they
were clubbed with a big wooden mace, and then their throats were
cut immediately. This is a punishment they say is sometimes used in
Rome, though others maintained that it had been adapted to the
misdeed, since they had killed their master in that way.
As for the size of Rome, Monsieur de Montaigne said that the
space enclosed by the walls, which is more than two-thirds empty,
including ancient and modern Rome, might equal the enclosure you
would make around Paris if you walled in all the faubourgs that
surround it. But ifyou count the size by the number and crowding of
houses and habitations, he thinks that Rome does not come within
a third of the size of Paris. In the number and size of public squares,
and beauty of streets and houses, Rome wins by far.
He also found the cold of winter very nearly approaching that of
Gascony. There were heavy frosts around Christmas, and some
unbearably cold winds. It is true that even then there is very often
thunder, hail, and lightning.

6 Essays II: n, p. 382.

n5 0 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
The palaces are divided i 1lto numerous apartments, one leading
to another; you thread your way through three or four rooms before
you are in the princip·al OI)t!. In certain places where Monsieur
de Montaigne qined in- ceremony, the buffets are not where you
dine but in another room through which you pass first, and they go
there to get you a drink when you ask for it; and the silver plate is on
display there.
Thursday, January 26th, Monsieur de Montaigne - after going to
see Mount J aniculum, beyond the Tiber, and to look at the sights of
that place (among others a large piece of old wall that had fallen in
ruins two days before), and to contemplate the configuration of
all the parts of Rome, which may not be seen so clearly from any
other place; and from there having gone down to the Vatican to see
the statues enclosed in the niches of the Belvedere and the beautiful
gallery that the Pope is erecting for paintings from all parts of Italy,
which is very nearly finished - lost his purse and what was in it; and
he thought what had happened was that in giving alms two or three
times, the weather being very rainy and unpleasant, instead of
putting his purse back into his pocket he had slipped it through
the slashings of his breeches.
All these days he spent his time only in studying Rome. At the
beginning he had taken a French guide; but when this man quit
because of some fancy or other, he made it a point of pride to learn
all about Rome by his own study, aided by various maps and books
that he had read to him in the evening; and in the daytime he would
go on the spot to put his apprenticeship into practice; so that in a few
days he could easily have guided his guide.
He said that one saw nothing of Rome but the sky under which it
had stood and the plan of its site; that this knowledge that he had of
it was an abstract and contemplative knowledge of which there was
nothing perceptible to the senses; that those who said that one at
least saw the ruins of Rome said too much, for the ruins of so
awesome a machine would bring more honor and reverence to its
memory: this was nothing but its sepulcher. The world, hostile to
its long domination, had first broken and shattered all the parts of
this wonderful body; and because, even though quite dead, over­
thrown, and disfigured, it still terrified the world, the world had
buried its very ruin. These little signs of its ruin that still appear
above the bier had been preserved by fortune as testimony to that
infinite greatness which so many centuries, so many conflagrations,
and all the many conspiracies of the world to ruin it had not been
 I TA LY : R O M E II51
able to extinguish completely. But jt was likely that these disfigured
limbs which remained were the least worthy, and that the fury of the
enemies of that immortal glory had impelled them to destroy first
of all what was most beautiful and most worthy; and the buildings of
this bastard Rome which they were now attaching to these ancient
ruins, although fully adequate to carry away the present age with
admiration, reminded him precisely of the nests which sparrows and
crows in France suspend from the arches and walls of the churches
that the Huguenots have recently demolished.
He feared further, seeing the space that this tomb occupies, that
we were not aware of all ofit, and that the sepulcher itself was for the
most part buried; and that judging from the fact that such paltry
rubble as pieces of tile and broken pots had built up in ancient times
to a pile of such excessive size that it equals in height and breadth
several natural mountains (for he compared it in height to the hill of
Gurson and estimated it to be twice as broad) ,7 this must have been
an express ordinance of the Fates, to make the world feel that they
had conspired for the glory and preeminence of this city by so novel
and extraordinary a testimonial to its greatness.
He said he could not easily make people agree, seeing the
small space occupied by some of these seven hills, and notably
the most famous ones, like the Capitoline and the Palatine, that
so great a number of buildings had been arrayed there. Merely to see
what remains of the Temple of Peace, beside the Forum Roman um,
of whose quite recent fall you still see evidence, as of a great moun­
tain broken up into many horrible rocks, it does not seem that two
such buildings could fit into the whole space of the Capitoline Hill,
where there were fully twenty-five or thirty temples, besides many
private houses.
But in truth, many conjectures that we make from the descrip­
tion of this ancient city have hardly any verisimilitude, since even its
site has infinitely changed in form, some of the valleys having been
filled up, even in the lowest places that were there; as for example, in
the place of the Velabrum, which because of its lowness received the
sewage of the city and had a lake, hills have arisen of the height of
the other, natural hills that are round about, as a result of the piling
and heaping up of the ruins of these great buildings; and Mount
Savello is nothing but the ruin of a part of the Theater of Marcellus.

7 The short passage in parentheses is an addition to the manuscript in Mon­

taigne's hand.
 · T RAVEL J O U R N A L
He thought that an ancient Roman could not recognize the site of
his city even if he saw it. It nas often happened that after digging
deep down into the ground �eople would come merely down to the
head of a very high column which was still standing down below.
They do not s·e ek . any other foundations for their houses than old
ruined buildings or vaults, such as are seen at the bottom of all the
cellars, nor the support of the ancient foundation or of a wall which
is in its place; but on the very broken pieces of the old buildings,
however fortune has located them, they have planted the feet of their
new palaces, as on great chunks of rocks, firm and assured. It is
easy to see that many streets are more than thirty feet below those
of today.
On January 28th Monsieur de Montaigne had the colic, which
did not keep him from any of his ordinary actions, and passed
a rather biggish stone and other smaller ones.
On the 3oth he went to see the most ancient religious ceremony
there is among men, and watched it very attentively and with great
profit: that is, the circumcision of the Jews.
He had already seen their synagogue at another time, one Satur­
day morning, and their prayers, in which they sing without order, as
in the Calvinist churches, certain lessons from the Bible in Hebrew,
that are suited to the occasion. They sing the same songs, but with
extreme discord, because they do not keep time and because of the
confusion of so many voices of every sort of age; for the children,
even the very youngest, take part, and all without exception under­
stand Hebrew. They pay no more attention to their prayers than we
do to ours, talking of other affairs in the midst of them and not
bringing much reverence to their mysteries. They wash their hands
on coming in, and in that place it is an execrable thing to doff one's
hat; but they bow the head and knees where their devotions ordain
it. They wear over their shoulders or on their head a sort of cloth
with fringes attached: the whole thing would be too long to
describe. After dinner their doctors each in turn give a lesson on
the Bible passage for that day, doing it in Italian. After the lesson
some other doctor present selects some one of the hearers, and
sometimes two or three in succession, to argue with the reader
about what he had said. The one we heard seemed to him to argue
with great eloquence and wit.
But as for the circumcision, it is done in private houses, in
the most co.:lvenient and lightest room in the boy's house. Where
he was, because the house was inconvenient, the ceremony was
 I T A LY : R O M E u53
performed at the entrance door. They give the boys a godfather
and a godmother, as we do; the father names the child. They
circumcise them on the eighth day from their birth. The godfather
sits down on a table and puts a pillow on his lap; the godmother
brings him the infant there and then goes away. The child is
wrapped in our style; the godfather unwraps him below, and then
those present and the man who is to do the operation all begin to
sing, and accompany with songs all this action, which lasts a short
quarter of an hour. The minister may be other than a rabbi, and
whatever he may be among them, everyone wishes to be calle d to
this office, for they hold that it is a great blessing to be employed at it
often: indeed, they pay to be invited to do it, offering, one a garment,
another some other commodity for the child; and they hold that he
who has circumcised up to a certain number, which they know,
when he is dead has this privilege, that the parts of his mouth are
never eaten by worms.
On the table where this godfather is seated there is also a great
preparation of all the instruments necessary for this operation.
Besides that, a man holds in his hands a phial full of wine
and a glass. There is also a brazier on the ground, at which brazier
this minister first warms his hands, and then, finding this child
all stripped, as the godfather holds him on his lap with his head
toward him, he takes his member and with one hand pulls
back toward himself the skin that is over it, with the other pushing
the glans and the member within. To the end of this skin which he
holds toward the said glans he applies a silver instrument which
stops the said skin there and keeps the cutting edge from injuring
the glans and the flesh. After that, with a knife he cuts off this skin,
which they immediately bury in some earth which is there in a basin
among the other preparations for this mystery. After that the
minister with his bare nails plucks up also some other particle
of skin which is on this glans and tears it off by force and pushes
the skin back beyond the glans.
It seems there is much effort and pain in this; however, they find
no danger in it, and the wound is always cured in four or five days.
The boy's outcry is like that of ours when they are baptized. As soon
as this glans is thus uncovered, they hastily offer some wine to the
minister, who puts a little in his mouth and then goes and sucks
the glans of this child, all bloody, and spits out the blood he has
drawn from it, and immediately takes as much wine again, up to
three times. This done, they offer him, in a little paper cup, some red
n54 , T RAVEL J O U R N A L
powder which they say is dragon's blood, 8 with which he salts and
covers the whole wound; and then he very tidily wraps this boy's
member with cloths cut specially for this. That done, they give him
a glass full of win�, which wine they say he blesses by some prayers
that he says. He takes a swallow of it, and then dipping his finger
in it he three times takes a drop of it with his finger to the boy's
mouth to be sucked; and afterward they send this glass, in the same
state, to the mother and the women, who are in some other part of
the house, to drink what wine is left. Besides that, another person
takes a silver instrument, round as a tennis ball, held by a long
handle (which instrument is pierced with little holes, like our
cassolettes), and carries it to the nose, first of the minister, and
then of the child, and then of the godfather: they suppose that
these are odors to confirm and enlighten minds for devotion. He
meanwhile still has his mouth all bloody.
On the 8th, and then again on the 12th, he had a touch of colic
and passed some stones without great pain.
The Shrovetide that took place in Rome that year was more
licentious, by permission of the Pope, than it had been for several
years before: we found, however, that it was not much of a thing.
Along the Corso, which is a long street in Rome that gets its name
from this very thing, they race, now four or five boys, now some
Jews, now some old men stark naked, from one end of the street to
the other. You have no pleasure in it except in seeing them pass in
front of the place where you are. They do the same with horses, on
which are little boys who drive them with whips, and with donkeys
and buffaloes driven with goads by men on horseback. For each race
there is a prize offered which they call ii palio: pieces of velvet or
cloth. The gentlemen, in a certain part of the street where the ladies
have a better view, run at the quintain on fine horses, and have good
grace at it; for there is nothing that this nobility so commonly knows
how to do well as exercises on horseback. The stand which Mon­
sieur de Montaigne had made cost them three crowns. It was indeed
situated in a very fine place in the street.
On those days all the beautiful gentlewomen of Rome were seen
at leisure: for in Italy they do not mask themselves as in France, and
show themselves with faces quite uncovered. As for perfect and rare
beauty, there is no more of it, he said, than in France, and except in
three or four he found no excellence; but commonly they are more

8 A red resin used as an astringent.

 I TA LY : R O M E n55
attractive, and you do not see so m�ny ugly ones as in' France. Their
heads are without comparison more advantageously dressed, and
the lower part below the girdle. The body is better in France: for
here they are too loose around the girdle and carry that part like our
pregnant women. Their countenance has more majesty, softness,
and sweetness. There is no comparison between the richness of their
apparel and of ours: all is full of pearls and precious stones. Wher­
ever they let themselves be seen in public, whether in a coach, at
a festival, or in the theater, they are apart from the men; however,
at dances they intermingle freely enough, where there are occasions
for talking and touching hands.
The men are very simply dressed, for all occasions, in black
and Florentine serge; and because they are a little darker than we
are, they somehow do not look like dukes, counts, and marquises,
which they are, but have a rather mean appearance; for the rest, they
are as courteous and gracious as possible, whatever the common run
of Frenchmen say, who cannot call people gracious who find it hard
to endure their excesses and their ordinary insolence. In every way
we do all we can to get a bad reputation here. However, they have an
ancient affection or reverence for France which makes those people
very respected and welcome who deserve the least bit to be, and who
merely control themselves without offending them.
On Thursday before Lent he went to the feast of the Castellano.
A good deal of preparation had been made, notably an amphitheater
very artfully and richly disposed for combat in the lists, which
combat took place at night, before supper, in a square barn with
an oval-shaped entrenchment in the middle. Among other singula­
rities, the pavement was painted in an instant with various designs
in red: having first coated the pavement with some sort of plaster or
lime, they laid over it a piece of parchment or leather cut into
a stencil of the devices they wanted; and then they passed a brush
dipped in red over this piece and printed through the openings what
they wanted on the pavement, and so quickly that in two hours the
whole nave of a church would be painted so.
At supper the ladies are served by their husbands, who stand
about them and give them drink and what they ask for. They served
a great deal of roast fowl dressed in its natural feathers as if alive;
capons cooked entire in glass bottles; quantities of hares, rabbits,
and live birds in pasties; admirably folded linen. The ladies' table,
which was of four dishes, could be taken off in pieces, and under­
neath there was another all served and covered with sweetmeats.
 ' T RAVEL J O U R N A L
The men do riot wear·masks when they go visiting. They do wear
inexpensive masks when they walk about town in public or set up
teams for tilting at the ring. 'f.here were two fine rich companies got
up in this fashio�- on Shrove Monday to run at the quintain; they
surpass us above all in abundance of very handsome horses.
[ TH E JOURNAL BY MONTAIGNE IN FRENCH ]
Having dismissed the one of my men who was doing this fine
job, and seeing it so far advanced, whatever trouble it may be to me,
I must continue it myself.
On February r6th, returning from the station, 9 I came across
a priest in vestments in a little chapel busy curing a possessed
man: he was a melancholy man and as if half dead. They were
holding him on his knees before the altar, with some kind of cloth
around his neck by which they held him fast. The priest read in his
presence lots of prayers and exorcisms, commanding the devil to
leave this body, and he read them from his breviary. After this he
turned his remarks to the patient, now speaking to him, now speak­
ing to the devil in his person, and then insulting him, beating him
with great blows of his fist, spitting in his face. The patient replied
to his questions with a few inept replies: now for himself, saying how
he felt the movements of his malady; now for the devil, how much
he feared God and how much these exorcisms acted against him.
After that, which lasted a long time, the priest, for his last effort,
retired to the altar and took the pyx, in which was the Corpus
Domini, in his left hand, in the other hand holding a lighted taper
upside down so that he made it melt and be consumed, meanwhile
uttering prayers, and at the end harsh and threatening words against
the devil, in the loudest and most magisterial voice he could. As the
first candle went out close to his fingers, he took another, and then
a second and third additional one. This done, he replaced the pyx,
that is to say the transparent vessel containing the Corpus Domini,
and came and joined the patient again, speaking to him now as to
a man, had him untied, and returned him to his people to take him
back home.
He told us that this devil was of the worst type, obstinate, and
would cost a lot of effort to cast out. And to ten or twelve of us
gentlemen who were there he told several stories about this science
and his ordinary experience of it, notably that the day before he had

9 A church where a procession goes for a service.

 I T A LY : R O M E n57
rid a woman of a big devil who, in. coming out, had pushed nails,
pins, and a tuft of his hair out of this woman through her mouth.
And because someone answered him that she was not yet com­
pletely recovered, he said that this was another sort of spirit, lighter
and less harmful, who had returned into her that morning; but that
this sort (for he knows their names, their divisions, and their most
particular distinctions) was easy to conjure. That is all I saw. My
man made no other face than to gnash his teeth and twist his mouth
when they presented the Corpus Domini to him, and he sometimes
mouthed these words, sifata volent; 1 0 for he was a notary, and knew
a little Latin.
On the first day of March I went to the station of Saint Sixtus. u

At the high altar the priest who was saying Mass was beyond the
altar, his face turned toward the people; behind him there was no
one. The Pope went there that same day; a few days before he had
had removed from this church the nuns who were there, because
that place was a little too far out of the way, and had accommodated
there all the poor who were begging throughout the city - a very fine
arrangement. The cardinals gave twenty crowns each to start this
movement off, and extremely generous alms were given by other
private persons. The Pope endowed this hospital with five hundred
crowns a month.
In Rome there are a great many private devotions and brother­
hoods in which many great evidences of piety are seen. The people
as a whole seem to me less devout than in the good towns in France,
though indeed more ceremonious, for in that respect they
are extreme. I am writing here in freedom of conscience. Here are
two examples.
While a certain man was in bed with a courtesan, amid the
license of that relationship, behold at midnight the Ave
Maria rang; she immediately jumped out of bed onto the floor
and got on her knees to say her prayer. When a man was with
another courtesan, behold the good mother (for the young ones
especially have old governesses, whom they treat as mothers or
aunts) comes banging at the door, and with anger and fury tears
from this young one's neck a ribbon from which hung a little
Madonna, so as not to contaminate it with the filth of her sin.

10 "If the Fates will."

II The Sistine Chapel. The nuns were removed (and replaced by the poor) not

from the chapel itself but from a neighboring convent.

 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
The young one felt extreme coptrition for having forgotten to take it
from her neck as she was accustomed to do.
The ambassador froin th�·t sar of Muscovy also came that day to
this station, dressed in . a scarlet mantle and a cassock of cloth of
gold, with a hat in the form of a nightcap, of cloth of gold, furred,
and beneath it a skullcap of cloth of silver. He is the second
ambassador who has come from Muscovy to the Pope. The other
was in the time of Pope Paul III. There they maintained that his
mission was to move the Pope to interpose in the war that the king
of Poland was making on his master, alleging that it was up to his
master to sustain the first attack of the Turk, and that if his neighbor
weakened him he would remain incapable of the other war, which
would be a great window opened to the Turk to come at us; offering
besides to give ground on certain differences in religion that he had
with the Roman Church. He was lodged with the Castellano, as the
other one had been in the time of Pope Paul, and was entertained at
the Pope's expense. He strongly insisted on not kissing the Pope's
feet but only his right hand, and would not give in until it was
attested to him that the Emperor himself was subject to that
ceremony: for the example of kings was not enough for him. He
did not know how to speak any language but his own, and had come
without an interpreter. He had only three or four men in his retinue,
and said that he had passed through great danger in crossing Poland
in disguise. His nation is so ignorant of the affairs of this part of the
world that he brought to Venice letters from his master addressed
to the Grand Governor of the Signory of Venice. Qyestioned about
the meaning of this inscription, he said that they thought Venice
was under the dominion of the Pope and that he sent governors
there as he did to Bologna and elsewhere. God knows with what
relish these magnificos received this piece of ignorance! He made
presents, both there and to the Pope, of sables and black fox, which
is a still rarer and richer fur.
On March 6th I went to see the Vatican Library, which is in five
or six large rooms all in a row. There are a large number of books
attached onto several rows of desks; there are also some in coffers,
which were all opened to me; lots of books written by hand, and
especially a Seneca and the Moral Essays of Plutarch. Among the
remarkable things I saw there were the statue of the good Aristides
with a handsome bald head, a thick beard, a big forehead, a look full
of gentleness and maj esty: his name is written on the very ancient
pedestal; a book from China, in strange characters, the leaves made
 I TA LY: RO M E n5 9
.

of some material much softer and more pellucid than our paper; and
because this cannot endure the stain of ink, the writing is on only
one side of the sheet, and the sheets are all double and folded
at the outside edges, by which they hold together. They think it is
the membrane of some tree. I also saw a bit of the ancient papyrus,
on which there were unknown characters: it is the bark of a tree.
I saw the breviary of S aint Gregory, written by hand; it bears no
evidence of the year, but they hold that it has come down from him
from hand to hand. It is a missal about like ours, and was brought to
the last Council of Trent to serve as a testimony of our ceremonies.
I saw a book by Saint Thomas Aquinas in which there are correc­
tions in the hand of the author himself, who wrote badly, a small
lettering worse than mine. Item, a Bible printed on parchment, one
of those that Plantin has just done in four languages, which King
Philip sent to the present Pope, as is stated in the inscription on the
binding; the original of the book that the king of England12 com­
posed against Luther, which he sent about fifty years ago to Pope
Leo X, inscribed with his own hand, with this most elegant Latin
distich, also in his own hand:
To Leo Ten, Henry, king of the English, sends
This work, a pledge of loyalty between two friends.
I read the prefaces, the one to the Pope, the other to the reader: he
excuses himself because of his military occupations and lack of
ability; for scholastic Latin, it is good.
I saw the library without any difficulty; anyone can see it thus,
and can make whatever extracts he wants; and it is open almost every
morning. I was guided all through it and invited by a gentleman
to use it whenever I wanted. Our ambassador was leaving Rome at
that time without having seen it, and complained that they wanted
him to pay court to Cardinal Sirleto, master of this library, for
this permission: and, he said, he had never been able to see that
handwritten Seneca, as he hugely desired to do. Fortune brought
me to it, since on this testimony of his I considered the thing
hopeless. All things are easy in this way from certain angles, and
inaccessible from others. Opportunity and opportuneness have their
privileges, and often offer to the common people what they refuse
to kings. Curiosity often gets in its own way, as also do greatness
and power.

12 Henry VIII.
n6o T RA V E L J O U R N A L
I also saw here a handwritten Virgil in extremely large lettering
and those long, narrow characters that we see here in the inscrip­
tions of the time of the· emp_erors, as for example around the age of
Constantine, which have a sort of Gothic fashion and have lost that
square proportion that is in the old Latin writings. This Virgil
confirmed me in what I have always judged, that the first four
lines that they put in the Aeneid 13 are borrowed: this book does
not have them. There is an Acts of the Apostles written in very
beautiful gold Greek lettering, as fresh and recent as if it were of
today. This lettering is massive and has a solid body raised on the
paper, so that if you pass your hand over it you feel the thickness.
I think we have lost the use of this kind of writing.
On March 13th an old patriarch of Antioch, an Arab, very well
versed in five or six languages of that part of the world, and having
no knowledge of Greek or any other of our tongues, with whom
I had become quite intimate, made me a present of a certain mixture
to help my stone, and prescribed the use of it for me in writing. He
enclosed it for me in a little earthenware pot, and told me that
I could keep it ten or twenty years, and hoped for such results from it
that from the first taking I should be completely cured of my malady.
In order that, if I should lose his writing, I may find it here: "You
must take this drug as you are going to bed after a light supper, in
a dose the size of two peas, and mix it with lukewarm water after
crumbling it with your fingers, and take it five times, leaving out
every other day."
Dining one day in Rome with our ambassador, with Muret14 and
other learned men present, I got on the subject of the French
translation of Plutarch;15 and against those who esteemed it much
less highly than I do, I maintained at least this: that where the
translator missed the real meaning of Plutarch, he has substituted

13 These lines are not included in the text in modern editions.

14 Marc-Antoine Muret (1526-85), one of the leading Latinists of his time,
a teacher of Montaigne at the College de Guyenne in Bordeaux, author of
a Latin play Julius Caesar, commentator of Ronsard's first Amours. He fled from
France to Italy in 1554 because of a morals charge, and from 1563 on taught at
the University of Rome. Montaigne praises him in the Essays (I : 26, pp. 156/) as
the best orator of his time.
15 The famous Amyot translation of the Li«Jes (1559) and Moral Essays
(1572), which .vere Montaigne's favorite books. See Essays II: 4, p. 318, and
passim.
 I T A LY : R O M E n61
another that is probable and well in keeping with what precedes and
what follows. In order to show me that even in this I was granting
him too much, two passages were produced. One, the critique of
which they attribute to the son of Monsieur Mangot, advocate in
the Parlement of Paris, who had just left Rome, is in the "Life of
Solon," at about the middle, where he says that Solon boasted
of having freed Attica and removed the boundaries that separated
inherited plots of land. He was wrong, for the Greek word signifies
certain marks which were placed on lands that were mortgaged or
alienated, so that purchasers should be warned of this mortgage.
What he substituted about "limits" has no recognizable sense, for
that would be making the lands not free but common. Estienne's
Latin1 6 comes closer to the truth. The second passage, right at the
end of the treatise "On the Education of Children": "The observa­
tion of these rules," he says, "may rather be wished than advised."
The Greek, they say, suggests "is more to be desired than hoped for,"
a sort of proverb that is found elsewhere. Instead of this clear and
easy meaning, the one the translator has substituted is weak
and strange. Wherefore, accepting their assumptions about the
proper meaning of the words, I admitted their conclusion in
good faith.
The churches in Rome are less beautiful than in most of the good
towns of Italy, and likewise in Italy and Germany in general they are
ordinarily less beautiful than in France. At Saint Peter's one sees, at
the entrance of the new church, banners hanging as trophies: their
inscription states that they are banners won by the king [of France]
from the Huguenots; it does not specify where and when. Beside
the Gregorian chapel, in which you see an infinite number of votive
tablets attached to the wall, there is among others a little square
picture, rather wretched and badly painted, of the battle of Mont­
contour. In the room next to the Sistine Chapel (where, on the wall,
there are several paintings of memorable incidents concerning the
Holy See, such as the naval battle of John of Austria) ,17 there is
a picture representing that Pope treading underfoot the head of that
Emperor18 who came to ask his pardon and kiss his feet; but not the
16 The Latin translation by Henri Estienne (Stephanus) in 1572.
�7 The great victory of the Spaniards and Venetians over the Turks at Lepanto
m 1571·

18 Pope Alexander III and Frederick Barbarossa, in Venice, in n77. The

Emperor acknowledged Saint Peter's right to tread enemies underfoot, and
the Pope then claimed it equally for himself.
 ' T RAVEL J O U R N A L
words spoken by both men according to history. There are also two
places where the wounding ah d the death of Admiral de Chatillon19
are painted very authefiticalJy.
On March 15th Monsielir de Monluc20 came to get me at day­
break to carry out the plan we had made the day before of going to
see Ostia. We crossed the Tiber by the Bridge of Our Lady and went
out by the Porta del Porto, which in ancient times they called Port­
uensis; from there we followed an uneven road, through country
moderately fertile in wines and wheat; and after about eight miles,
returning to the Tiber, we descended into a large plain covered with
meadows and pasture land, at the end of which was once situated
a large town, many great and handsome ruins of which may be seen
on the shores of the Lake of Traj an, which is an overflow of the
Tyrrhenian Sea and into which ships used to come; but now the
sea comes into it only very little, and still less into another lake a little
above this place, which they call the Port of Claudius. We might
have dined here with the cardinal of Perugia, who was there; and in
truth there is nothing so courteous as these lords and their servants.
And the said lord cardinal sent me word by one of my men who
promptly went to convey my respects that he had reason to complain
of me; and this same valet was taken for a drink to the wine cellar of
the said cardinal, who had no friendship or acquaintance with me,
and in this was practicing only an ordinary hospitality toward all
strangers who have some breeding. However, I was afraid that the
daylight might fail us for making the tour I wanted to make, since
I had greatly lengthened my trip in order to see these two banks of
the Tiber.
Here we crossed by boat a little branch of the Tiber and entered
the S acred Isle, about the length of a good Gascon league, covered
with pasture land. There are some ruins and marble columns, as
there are many in this place Porto, where the old city ofTraj an used
to be; and the Pope has some of them dug up every day and taken to
Rome. When we had crossed this island we came upon the Tiber,
and since we had no suitable means of getting the horses across, we
were about to retrace our steps; but by chance, behold there arrived

19 Chatillon, better known as Coligny, the Protestant leader, was killed in the
Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day in 1572. Pope Gregory XIII hailed the
news of the massacre with great joy.
20 Blaise de Monluc, grandson of the marshal, whom Montaigne had already
seen in Bologna. See Traveljournal, p. 1129.
 I T A LY : R O M E
on the other bank ::;everal gentlemen - the sieur du Bellai, the baron
de Chasai, the sieur de Marivau, and others. Whereupon I crossed
the river and made a deal with these gentlemen that they should
take our horses and we theirs. Thus they returned to Rome by the
road on which we had come, and we by theirs, which was the one
straight to Ostia.
OsTIA, fifteen miles, is situated along the old bed of the Tiber;
for the river has changed its course a little and moves farther from
the old course every day. We had a snack for breakfast at a little
tavern. Beyond we saw La Rocca, a small, rather strongly fortified
castle; no guard is mounted there. The popes, especially the present
one, have erected on this seacoast big towers or lookouts, about
every mile, to provide against the raids that the Turks often used to
make, especially at vintage time, taking cattle and men. From these
towers, by means of a cannon shot, they warn one another with such
great speed that immediately the alarm is flying to Rome. Around
Ostia are the salt marshes, which supply all the territories of the
Church: there is a large marshy plain into which the sea flows.
All along this road from Ostia to Rome, which is the Via
Ostensis, there are great marks of its ancient beauty: a great many
causeways, many ruins of aqueducts, and almost the entire length of
it sown with great ruins, and more than two-thirds of the said road
still paved with those big square black slabs with which they used to
pave their highways. Seeing this bank of the Tiber, you easily accept
as true the opinion that on both sides this road was lined with
residences all the way from Rome to Ostia. Among other ruins,
about halfway to Rome we came across on our left hand a very
beautiful sepulcher of a Roman praetor, the inscription of which is
still seen entire. The ruins of Rome are discernible for the most part
only by the solidity and thickness of the construction. They used to
make stout brick walls and then encrust them with slabs either of
marble or of some other white stone, or a certain cement, or big tiles
coated on the outside. This crust, on which the inscriptions were,
has almost everywhere been ruined by the years; whereby we have
lost most of our knowledge of such things. Inscriptions are seen
wherever the building has walls of thick and massive stone.
The approaches to Rome, almost everywhere, look uncultivated
and barren, either for want of soil, or, what I consider more likely,
because this city has hardly any laborers and men who live by the
wo rk of their hands. When I came here I found on the way many
groups of villagers who came from the Grisons and Savoy to earh
 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
something in the season by laboring in the vineyards and the
gardens; and they told me that every year this was their source .
of income. .
The city is all . court_ a rnJ all nobility: every man shares in the
ecclesiastical idleness. There are no shop-lined streets, or fewer than
in a small town: it is nothing but palaces and gardens. You see no
Rue de la Harpe or Rue de Saint-Denis; it seems to me that I am
always on the Rue de Seine or on the Oll ai des Augustins in Paris.
The city hardly changes its appearance from a working day to
a holiday. All through Lent they do the rounds of the stations;
there is no less of a crowd on a working day than on any other. At
this time there are nothing but coaches, prelates, and ladies. We
returned to sleep at
RoME, fifteen miles. On March 16th I wanted to go and try
the Roman steam baths, and went to those of Saint Mark, which are
considered among the noblest. Though I was unattended, I was
treated there moderately well and with all possible respect.
The custom is to bring lady friends if you want, who are rubbed
down with you by the attendants. There I learned that quicklime
and orpiment mixed with lye, two parts of lime and the third
of orpiment, go to make that drug and unguent with which they
make the body hair fall out, after applying it for a short half of
a quarter hour.
On the 1Jth I had my colic for five or six hours, endurable,
and some time after passed a stone as big as a big pine nut, and of
that shape.
At this time we had roses in Rome, and artichokes; but as for me,
I found the heat nothing extraordinary, keeping dressed and covered
as at home.
Fish are less abundant than in France; their pike especially is no
good at all , and they leave it for the people. They rarely have soles
and trout; very good barbel, much bigger than in Bordeaux,
but expensive. Dorados are highly prized, and the mullets bigger
than ours and a little firmer. The oil here is so excellent that the
pricking which remains in my throat in France when I have eaten
much of it, I do not have at all here. They eat fresh grapes here
all year long, and even as late as this time of year there are very good
ones hanging from the trellises. Their mutton is no good and is held
in scant esteem.
On the 18th the ambassador of Portugal made obeisance
to the Pope for the kingdom of Portugal on behalf of King Philip
 I TA LY : R O M E
.

- the same ambassador who was here to represent the deceased king
and the Cortes opposed to King Philip.
On my return from Saint Peter's I met a man who informed me
humorously of two things: that the Portuguese made their obeisance
in Passion week;21 and then, that on this same day the station was at
San Giovanni Porta Latina, in which church a few years before
certain Portuguese had entered into a strange brotherhood. They
married one another, male to male, at Mass, with the same cere­
monies with which we perform our marriages, read the same mar­
riage gospel service, and then went to bed and lived together.
The Roman wits said that because in the other conjunction, of
male and female, this circumstance of marriage alone makes it
legitimate, it had seemed to these sharp folk that this other action
would become equally legitimate if they authorized it with cer­
emonies and mysteries of the Church. Eight or nine Portuguese of
this fine sect were burned.
I saw the Spanish ceremony. They fired a salvo of cannon from
the Castle of Sant' Angelo, and the ambassador was conducted
to the palace by the Pope's trumpeters and drummers and archers.
I did not go in to watch the harangue and the ceremony. The
ambassador from the tsar of Muscovy, who was at a decorated
window to see this ceremony, said that he had been invited to see
a great assemblage, but that in his country, when they speak of
troops of horse, it is always twenty-five or thirty thousand; and he
laughed at all this ado, from what I was told by the very man who
was commissioned to talk to him through an interpreter.
On Palm Sunday I found in a church at vespers a boy sitting
beside the altar on a chair, dressed in a great new robe ofblue taffeta,
head bare, with a crown of olive branches, holding in his hand
a lighted torch of white wax. He was a boy of fifteen or thereabouts,
who, by order of the Pope, had been delivered from prison that day;
he had killed another boy.
At Saint John Lateran some transparent marble is to be seen.
The next day the Pope did the seven churches . He had on boots
with the hairy side in, and on each foot a cross of whiter leather. He
always takes a Spanish horse, a hackney and a mule, and a litter, all
decked out in the same way; that day the horse was missing. His
groom had two or three pairs of gilt spurs in his hand and was
waiting for him at the foot of Saint Peter's stairs; he refused them

21 The point being that they suffered in making it.

rr66 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
and asked for his litter, in which there were two red hats of almost
the same fashion hanging on nails.
On this day in the· eve!ling my Essays were returned to me,
corrected according to . the. opinion of the learned monks. The
Master of the · Sacred Palace22 had been able to judge them only by
the report of some French friar, since he did not understand our
language at all ; and he was so content with the excuses I offered on
each objection that this Frenchman had left him that he referred it
to my conscience to redress what I should see was in bad taste.
I begged him on the contrary to follow the opinion of the man who
had made the judgment, admitting in certain things - such as
having used the word "fortune," having named heretic poets, having
excused Julian, and the objection to the idea that anyone who was
praying should be free from evil impulses at the time; item, esteem­
ing as cruelty whatever goes beyond plain death; item, that a child
should be brought up to do anything;23 and other things of that sort
- that this was my opinion, and that they were things I had put in,
not thinking they were errors; in other matters denying that the
corrector had understood my thought. The said Master, who is an
able man, was full of excuses for me, and wanted me to realize that
he was not very sympathetic to these revisions; and he pleaded very
ingeniously for me, in my presence, against another man, also an
Italian, who was opposing me.
They did not return to me the book on the histories of the Swiss,
translated into French, solely because the translator - whose name,
however, is not given - is a heretic; but it is a marvel how well they
know the men of our countries. And the best part was that they told
me that the preface was condemned.
That same day, in the Church of Saint John Lateran, in place
of the ordinary penitents who are seen performing this office in

22 The Master of the Sacred Palace at this time was Sisto Fabri (1541-94),
professor of theology at the University of Rome, soon (1583) to be made general
of the Dominican Order.
23 The passages criticized in the Essays, in order of mention, are these, or others
like them: Fortune: II: 4, p. 320, and passim. Heretic poets (Beza and Buchanan) :
II : 17, p. 609. Julian: II : 19, passim. Praying: I: 56, passim. Torture: I: 31, p. 189;
II: n, p. 38r. Training a child: I: 26, p. 150.
Montaigne made no changes because of the criticisms, probably in part at
least in order not to alter his self-portrait. In the Essays later he once allu des to
his use of the � ord "fortune" (I: 56, p. 284), and once defends himself for praising
heretics as poets (III: to, p. 942) .
 I T A LY : R O M E
most of the churches, Monsign9r the Cardinal S an Sisto was
seated in a corner, tapping on the head, with a long wand that he
had in his hand, the passers-by, including the ladies, but with
a smiling face, and with greater courtesy according to their rank
and beauty.
On the Wednesday of Holy Week I did the seven churches with
Monsieur de Foix24 before dinner, and we put in about five hours at
it. I do not know why some people are scandalized to see the vice of
some particular prelate freely accused, when it is known and public;
for that day, both at Saint John Lateran and at the Church of the
Holy-Cross-in-Jerusalem, I saw the history, written at full length in
a very conspicuous place, of Pope Sylvester II, which is the most
damaging that can be imagined.
The tour around the city, which I have made several times on
the city side from the Porta del Popolo to the Porta San Paolo, can
be made in a good three hours or four, traveling light and at a walk;
the tour of the part on the other side of the river is made in an hour
and a half at the most.
Among other pleasures that Rome furnished me in Lent were
the sermons. There were excellent preachers, such as that renegade
rabbi who preaches to the Jews on Saturday after dinner in
the Church of the Trinity. There are always sixty Jews there; this
number is compelled to attend. He was a very famous doctor among
them, and by their very arguments, by their rabbis, and by the text of
the Bible, he combats their belief. In that science and in the lan­
guages used in it he is admirable.
There was another preacher who preached to the Pope and the
cardinals, named Padre Toledo (in depth of learning, in pertinence,
and in readiness, he is a very rare man) ; another, very eloquent and
popular, who was preaching to the Jesuits, with much ability, besides
his excellent language; the last two are Jesuits. It is a marvel how
much of a place this College holds in Christendom; and I believe
there never was a brotherhood and body among us that held such
a rank, or, to sum up, that produced such results as these men will, if
their plans continue. They will soon possess all Christendom: it is
a nursery of great men in every sort of greatness. It is the one limb of
our Church that most threatens the heretics of our time.

24 Paul de Foix (1528-84) , to whom Montaigne dedicated La Boetie's French

verses. After the death of Foix, Montaigne praised him highly in the Essays
(III: 9, p. 888).
n68 "TRAVEL JOURNAL
One preacher's joke was that we turned our coaches into astro­
labes. The commonest exerdse of the Romans is to promenade
through the streets; and orginarily the enterprise of leaving the
house is undertaken solely "'to go from street to street, without
having any place in mind to stop at; and some streets are particularly
affected to that use. To tell the truth, the greatest profit that is
derived from this is to see the ladies at the windows, and notably the
courtesans, who show themselves at their Venetian blinds with such
treacherous artfulness that I have often marveled how they tantalize
our eyes as they do; and often, having got off my horse immediately
and obtained admission, I wondered at how much more beautiful
they appeared to be than they really were. They know how to
present themselves by their most agreeable feature; they will show
you only the upper part of the face, or the lower, or the side, and
cover themselves or show themselves in such a way that not one
single ugly one is seen at the window. All the men are there taking
off their hats and making deep bows, and receiving an ogling glance
or two as they pass. The gain from having spent the night there for
a crown, or for four, is to pay court to them the next day in public.
Some ladies of quality are also seen at the windows, but of a different
style, and with a bearing very easy to discern. On horseback you see
better; but that is a matter either for unimportant folk like me or for
the young men mounted on hired horses, which they show off. The
people of rank go only in coaches; and the more licentious, in order
to have more of a view upward, have the top of the coach open with
skylights . That is what the preacher meant about astrolabes.
On Maundy Thursday in the morning, the Pope, in full ponti­
ficals, takes his stand on the first portico of Saint Peter's, on the
second story, attended by the cardinals, himself holding a torch in
his hand. There, on one side, a canon of S aint Peter's reads aloud
a Latin bull by which are excommunicated an infinite variety of
people, among others the Huguenots, under that very name, and all
the princes who have appropriated some part of the territories of the
Church; at which articles the cardinals de' Medici and Caraffa, who
were next to the Pope, laughed very hard. This reading lasts a good
hour and a half; for at each article that this canon reads in Latin,
Cardinal Gonzaga on the other side, also uncovered, reads as much
in Italian. After that the Pope threw this lighted torch down to the
people, and, for sport or otherwise, Cardinal Gonzaga threw
another; for there were three of them lighted. This falls on the
people; down below the greatest scramble in the world ensues to see
 I TA LY : RO M E
.

who will get a bit of this torch, and they fight very roughly with fists
and sticks. While this condemnation is being read, there is also a big
piece of black taffeta which hangs over the parapet of the said
balcony in front of the Pope. The excommunication done, they
turn up this black drape, disclosing another of a different color;
the Pope then gives public blessings.
On these days they show the Veronica, which is a disfigured face,
of a dark and somber color, in a square frame like a big mirror. 25 It is
shown with great ceremony from the height of a pulpit five or six
paces wide. The hands of the priest who holds it are clad in red
gloves, and there are two or three other priests who support him.
There is nothing viewed with such great reverence as this, the
people prostrate on the ground, most of them with tears in their
eyes, with cries of commiseration. A woman who they said was
possessed of a spirit became frantic on seeing this face, screamed,
stretched out and twisted her arms. These priests, walking around
this pulpit, display the image to the people, now this way, now that;
and at every movement the people to whom it is presented cry out.
They also show at the same time and with the same ceremony the
lance-head in a crystal bottle. Several times on this day this exhibi­
tion takes place, with an assemblage of people so huge that even very
far outside the church, as far as this pulpit can be seen, there is
a tremendous crush of men and women.
It is a true papal court: the pomp of Rome, and its principal
grandeur, lies in displays of devotion. It is fine to see the ardor for
religion of so innumerable a people on these days.
They have a hundred brotherhoods and more, and there is hardly
a man of quality who is not attached to some one of these; there are
some for foreigners. Our kings belong to that of the Gonfalon.
These private societies perform many acts of religious fellowship,
which are principally practiced in Lent; but on this day they walk in
companies, dressed in linen; each company has its fashion, white,
red, blue, green, or black; most of them have their faces covered.
The noblest and most magnificent thing I have seen here or
elsewhere is the incredible number of people scattered throughout
the city on this day at their devotions, and especially in these
companies. For besides a large number of others that we had seen
by day and who had come to Saint Peter's, as night began this city

25 This is the cloth with which it is said Saint Veronica wiped the face ofJesus
on the cross, and which retained his image in his blood.
 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
seemed to be aU on fire:.. these companies marching in order toward
S aint Peter's, each man carrying a torch, and almost all these of
white wax. I think there passed before me twelve thousand torches
at the least; for fr.q m eight fn the evening until midnight the street
was always full· of -this procession, conducted in such good and
measured order that although there were various companies
and parties, starting from various places, there was never a breach
or interruption to be seen; each body having a large choir of music,
always singing as they went, and in the center of the ranks a file of
Penitents, who scourge themselves with ropes; there were five
hundred of them at least, their backs all flayed and bleeding in
a piteous fashion.
This is an enigma that I do not yet well understand. They are
all torn and cruelly wounded, and torment and beat themselves
without stopping. Yet to see their bearing, the steadiness of
their steps, the firmness of their speech (for I heard several speak),
and their faces (for many were uncovered in the street) , it did
not appear that they were even in the midst of a painful or indeed
a serious action, and yet there were some as young as twelve or
thirteen. Right in front of me there was a very young one who
had a pleasant face; a young woman lamented to see him wound
himself so. He turned toward us and said to her, laughing: "That's
enough. Tell her that I'm doing this for her sins, not for mine."
Not only do they show no distress or constraint in this action,
but they do it cheerfully, or at least with such nonchalance that
you see them talk with one another about other matters, laugh, yell
in the street, run, and jump, as people do in a crowd so great that the
ranks are broken.
There are men among them who carry wine, which they offer
the Penitents to drink; some of them take a swallow. They also
give them sugar candy; and very often those who carry this
wine put some in their mouth and then blow it out and with it
wet the end of the scourges, which are made of cord and become so
clotted and glued together with blood that they have to be wet
to separate the thongs; for some they blow this same wine on
their wounds.
To see their shoes and hose, it is quite apparent that they are
people of very little means who sell themselves for this service, at
least most of them. I was told indeed that they greased their
shoulders with something; but I have seen their wounds so raw
and the beating so lengthy that there is no medicament that could
 I TA LY : R O M E
.

take away the feeling ofit; and then.what do those who hire them do
it for, if it is only a counterfeit?2 6
This ceremony has many other particularities. When they
arrived at Saint Peter's they did nothing, except that they were
shown the Holy Face, and then they went out again and made
room for others.
On that day the ladies have great freedom; for all night the streets
are full of them, and they almost all go on foot. However, in truth,
the city seems to be very well-behaved, especially in this sort
of debauchery. All oglings and amorous manifestations cease.
The handsomest sepulcher is that of the Santa Rotonda, because
ofthe illuminations. Among other things, there are a great number of
lights, from top to bottom, incessantly rolling and turning.
On the eve of Easter I saw at Saint John Lateran the heads
of Saint Paul and Saint Peter that are shown there, which still have
their flesh, color, and beard, as if they were alive: Saint Peter, a white
and slightly longish face, his color ruddy and inclined to the san­
guine, a forked gray beard, his head covered with a papal miter;
Saint Paul, dark, his face broad and stouter, the head bigger,
the beard gray, thick. They are up high in a special place. The way
of showing them is that they call the people by the sound of bells,
and by fits and starts lower a curtain behind which are these heads,
side by side. They let them be seen for the time it takes to say an
Ave Maria, and immediately raise the curtain again; after that they
lower it again in the same way, and this up to three times. They
repeat this exhibition four or five times during the day. The place is
about as high as a pike, and then there is a heavy iron grill through
which you look. They light several tapers around it on the outside;
but it is hard to discern very clearly all the details. I saw them two
or three times . The polish of these faces had some resemblance to
our masks.
On the Wednesday after Easter, when Monsieur Maldonado,
who was then in Rome, asked me what opinion I had of the mores
of this city, and especially in the matter of religion, he found his
judgment entirely in conformity with mine: that the common
people were incomparably more devout in France than here;
but the rich, and especially the courtiers, a little less. He told me
further that to those who alleged that France was totally lost in
heresy, and especially to Spaniards, of whom there are a great

26 Montaigne sp eaks of this scene also in the Essays (I : 14, p. 49) .

II72 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
number in his College, rhe maintained that there were more men
who were truly religious in tfi e city of Paris alone than in all Spain
put together. ··,�:-
�
They have t�6ir bo�ts t wed upstream on the river Tiber with
ropes by three· or four pairs of buffaloes.
I do not know how others feel about the air of Rome; for myself,
I found it very pleasant and healthy. The sieur de Vialard said that
he had lost his subjection to migraines here; which went to support
the opinion of the people, that it is very bad for the feet and good
for the head. There is nothing so hostile to my health as boredom
and idleness; here I had always some occupation, if not as pleasant as
I could have desired, at least sufficient to overcome boredom: like
visiting the antiquities and the vineyards, which are gardens and
pleasure spots of singular beauty, and where I learned how aptly art
can make use of a rugged, hilly, and uneven spot; for here they derive
from them charms that cannot be duplicated in our level places, and
very artfully take advantage of this diversity. Among the most
beautiful vineyards are those of the cardinals d'Este at Monte
Cavallo, Farnese on the Palatine, Orsini, Sforza, Medici; that
of Pope Julius, that of Madama;27 the gardens of Farnese and of
Cardinal Riario at Trastevere, and of Cesio outside the Porta del
Popolo. These are beauties open to anyone who wants to enjoy
them, and for whatever purpose, even to sleep there, even in com­
pany if the masters are not there, and they do not like to go there
much. Or I could go to hear sermons, which they have at all times,
or theological disputations; or else sometimes visit some woman
of the public sort, in which I found this disadvantage: that they
sell their mere conversation as dear (which was what I was looking
for, to hear them talk and be in on their subtleties) , and are as
sparing of it, as the whole business.
All these amusements kept me busy enough; for melancholy,
which is the death of me, and irritability, I had no occasion, either
inside or outside my house. Thus Rome is a pleasant place to live in;
and I can argue from that how much I would have enjoyed it if
I could have tasted it more privately; for in truth, despite my craft
and the trouble I have taken, I have known it only by its public
visage, which it offers to the meanest stranger.
On the last of March I had an attack of colic which lasted me all
night but was bearable enough; it disturbed my belly with gripings

27 The duchess of Parma, daughter of Charles V.

 I TA LY : R O M E
and gave a sting to my urine beyond the usual. I passed some large
gravel and two stones.
On Low Sunday I saw the ceremony of alms for maidens. The
Pope has, besides his ordinary equipage, twenty-five horses that are
led ahead of him with caparisons and saddlecloths of cloth of gold,
very richly decked out, and ten or twelve mules with saddlecloths
of crimson velvet, all this led by his armed lackeys on foot; his litter
covered with crimson velvet. In front of him four men on horseback
carried, on the end of certain staffs covered with red velvet and
gilded at the handle and the ends, four red hats. He himself was on
his mule. The cardinals who followed him were also on their mules,
decked in their pontifical vestments; the tails of their gowns were
attached with a cord to their mules' headstalls . The maidens were
a hundred and seven in number, each accompanied by an old female
relative. After Mass they came out of the church and formed a long
procession. On their return from there, one after the other, passing
through the choir of the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva,
where this ceremony is performed, they kissed the Pope's feet; and
he, after giving them the benediction, gave each one with his own
hand a white damask purse containing a promissory note. It is
understood that when they have found a husband they collect
their alms, which is thirty-five crowns a head, besides a white
dress which they each get for the wedding and which is worth
five crowns. Their faces are covered with a linen veil, with only
a place open for seeing.
I used to say about the advantages of Rome, among other things,
that it is the most universal city in the world, a place where strange­
ness and differences of nationality are considered least; for by its
nature it is a city pieced together out of foreigners; everyone is as if at
home. Its ruler embraces all Christendom with his authority; his
princely jurisdiction is binding on foreigners in their own homes
just as here. At his own election and that of all the princes and
grandees of his court the consideration of their origin has no weight.
The freedom of the government of Venice, and the advantages of its
trade, people it with foreigners; but they are nevertheless as if at
someone else's house. Here they hold their own offices, property,
and responsibilities; for it is the seat of ecclesiastics. You see as many
or more foreigners in Venice (for the influx of foreigners you see in
France, in Germany, or elsewhere, does not come into comparison
with the number here) , but of resident, domiciled foreigners, far
fewer. The common people are no more dismayed at our fashion in
r r 74 . T RAVEL J O U R N A L
dress, or the Spanish or 6-e ntjan fashion, than at their own; and you
hardly see a beggar who does not ask alms of us in our own language.
I therefore sought, and �ployed all my five natural senses, to
obtain the title of Rom�n citizen, were it only for the ancient honor
and the religious memory of its authority. I found some difficulty in
this; however, I surmounted it without any Frenchman's favor or
even knowledge. The authority of the Pof e was employed in it
through the medium of Filippo Musotti, 2 his majordomo, who
had taken a singular liking to me and went to great pains for this.
And letters-patent were dispatched to me on "the 3rd day before the
Ides of March, 1581," which were delivered to me on the 5th of April,
very authentic, in the same form and favorable terms as were used
for the lord Giacomo Buoncompagno, duke of Sora, son of the
Pope. It is a vain title; but at all events I received much pleasure in
having obtained it. 29
On April 3rd I left Rome early in the morning by the Porta San
Lorenzo Tiburtina. I went along a rather level road, through
a country for the most part fertile in wheat, and, like all the
approaches to Rome, little inhabited. I crossed the river Teverone,
which is the ancient Anio, first by the bridge of Mammolo,
and second by the Lucano bridge, which still retains its ancient
name. On this bridge there are some ancient inscriptions, and the
principal one is very legible. There are also two or three Roman
tombs along this road; there are no other traces of antiquity and very
little of that big ancient paving, and yet this is the Via Tiburtina.
I came to dine at
T1vou, fifteen miles. This is the ancient Tiburtum, lying at the
roots of the mountains, the town extending along the first rather
steep slope, which makes its situation and view very rich, for it
commands an immense plain in all directions, and great Rome itself.
Its view is toward the sea, and it has the mountains behind it. This
river Teverone bathes it, and near there takes a marvelous leap,
coming down from the mountains and disappearing through a hole
in the rock five or six hundred paces below, and then coming into the
plain, where it meanders along playfully and joins the Tiber a little
above the city.

28 Alessandro (not Filippo) Musotti, prefect of the apostolic palace, later to be

papal nuncio at Venice.
29 Near the end of the chapter "Of Vanity" (Essays II: 9, p. 930), Montaigne
quotes this document in full.
 I T A LY: RO M E
.

Here are to be seen that famous palace and garden of the cardinal
of Ferrara:30 it is a very beautiful thing, but incomplete in many
parts, and the work is not being continued by the present cardinal.
Here I examined everything most particularly. I would try to
describe it here, but there are published books and pictures on the
subject. The gushing of an infinity of jets of water checked and
launched by a single spring that can be worked from far off, I had
seen elsewhere on my trip, both at Florence and at Augsburg, as has
been stated above. The music of the organ, which is real music and
a natural organ, though always playing the same thing, is effected by
means of the water, which falls with great violence into a round
arched cave and agitates the air that is in there and forces it, in order
to get out, to go through the pipes of the organ and supply it with
wind. Another stream of water, driving a wheel with certain teeth
on it, causes the organ keyboard to be struck in a certain order; so
you hear an imitation of the sound of trumpets. In another place you
hear the song of birds, which are little bronze flutes that you see at
regals; they give a sound like those little earthenware pots full of
water that little children blow into by the spout, this by an artifice
like that of the organ; and then by other springs they set in motion
an owl, which, appearing at the top of the rock, makes this harmony
cease instantly, for the birds are frightened by his presence; and then
he leaves the place to them again. This goes on alternately as long
as you want.
Elsewhere there issues a noise as of cannon shots; else­
where a more frequent smaller noise, as of harquebus shots. This
is done by a sudden fall of water into channels; and the air, laboring
at the same time to get out, engenders this noise. All these inven­
tions, or similar ones, produced by these same natural causes, I have
seen elsewhere.
There are ponds or reservoirs, with a stone margin all around and
many tall freestone pillars above this parapet, about four paces apart
from each other. From the head of these pillars water comes out
with great force, not upward, but toward the pond. The mouths,
being thus turned inward and facing one another, cast and scatter
the water into this pond with such force that these shafts of water
come to meet and clash in the air, and produce a thick and continual
rain falling into the pond. The sun, falling upon it, engenders, both
at the bottom of this pond and in the air and all around this place,

30 Cardinal d'Este. The palace is the Villa d'Este.

 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
a rainbow so natliral and·vivid that it lacks nothing of the one we see
1
in the sky. This I had not seen elsewhere.
Under the palace there�·.are great hollows, artificially made,
and air holes which g�ve out a cold vapor and cool off all the
lower part of this house enormously; this part, however, is
·

not completed.
I also saw many excellent statues there, and notably one sleeping
nymph, one dead one, a celestial Pallas, the Adonis31 in the home of
the bishop of Aquino; the bronze she-wolf and the boy taking out
a thorn, in the Capitol; the Laocoon and the Antinous of the
Belvedere; the Comedy in the Capitol, the Satyr in the vineyard
of Cardinal Sforza; and of modern workmanship, the Moses32 in the
sepulcher of San Pietro in Vinculis, the beautiful woman at the feet
of Pope Paul III in the new Church of Saint Peter - these are the
statues I have liked best in Rome .
It was to rival this place that Pratolino was built. As to the
richness and beauty of the grottoes, Florence is infinitely superior;
as to abundance of water, Ferrara;33 in variety of sports and amusing
mechanisms derived from water, they are equal, unless the Floren­
tine has a little more elegance in the arrangement and order of the
whole body of the place; Ferrara excels in ancient statues, and in
the palace, Florence.34 In situation and beauty of prospect Ferrara is
infinitely superior; and I should say the same in all nature's favors, if
it did not have this extreme misfortune, that all its waters, except the
fountain that is in the little garden all the way at the top, and which
is seen in one of the palace rooms, is only water from the Teverone,
a branch of which the cardinal has taken over and diverted to
a separate channel for his service. If this water were as clear and
good to drink as on the contrary it is muddy and ugly, this place

31 The passage that follows, from "the Adonis" to "in Rome," at the end of the
paragraph, seems to be a later addition referring to original statues in Rome, not,
as one might suppose, to copies at Tivoli.
32 By Michelangelo.
33 Throughout this paragraph Montaigne uses "Ferrara" to refer to the
Villa d'Este at Tivoli, "Florence" to refer to Pratolino (see pp. n32-3).
34 The punctuation of the text of this passage is confusing and contradictory.
Some editors take it to mean this: "Ferrara excels in ancient statues and in the
palace. Florence infinitely surpasses Ferrara in situation of place and beauty of
prospect; and I should say in all nature's favors . . . " The part about the Teverone
that follows, however, seems to me compatible only with the reading given in
our text above, and thus decisive.
 I T A LY : R O M E u 77
.

would be incomparable, especially its great fountain, which is of

the finest workmanship, and more beautiful to see with its adjuncts
than anything else either in this garden or elsewhere. At Pratolino,
on the contrary, what water there is is spring water and drawn from
far away. Because the Teverone comes down from much higher
mountains, the inhabitants of this place use it as they will, and the
example of several private individuals makes this work of the cardi­
nal's less marvelous.
I left here the next day after dinner, and passed by a great ruin on
the right-hand side of the road as we came back, which they say
comprises six miles and is a villa. They say it is the Praedium of the
Emperor Hadrian.
On this road from Tivoli to Rome there is a stream of sulphurous
water that cuts across the road. The edges of the channel are
all whitened with sulphur, and it gives off a smell for more than
half a league away. They do not use it for medicine. In this stream
there are small bodies formed of the scum of the water, so closely
resembling our sugar-coated candies that there are few people that
would not be fooled; and the inhabitants of Tivoli make all sorts
of things of this same material, of which I bought two boxes for
7 sous 6 deniers.
There are some antiquities in the town of Tivoli, such as two
baths of a very ancient shape, and the remains of a temple in which
there are still several pillars entire; which temple they say was that
of their ancient Sibyl. However, on the cornices of this church
you still see five or six large letters which were not continued; for
the following part of the wall is still entire. I do not know if there
were any letters before these, for that part is broken; but in what can
be seen, there is only CE ELLIUS L. F.35 I do not know what that
• • •

can be. We returned in the evening to

RoM E , fifteen miles; and I made all this trip back by coach
without any discomfort, contrary to my wont. They have an obser­
vance here much more careful than elsewhere, for they make
a distinction between the streets, the quarters of the town, even
the apartments of their houses, in respect to health, and set so much
store by this that they change their habitation with the seasons; and
even of those who rent them, some keep two or three rented palaces

35 The inscription may have read C U RA N T E L . C E L L I O . L. F . , "Supervised by

L. Cellius, son of Lucius." This Cellius was at one time in charge of many public
works in Rome.
 • T RA V E L J O U R N A L
at very great expense, so �s to move with the seasons in accordance
•

with their doctors' orders.

On April 15th I went to 8:_aY good-by to the Master of the Sacred
Palace3 6 and hi� colle�gue, who urged me not to make use of
·

the censorship of my book, in which censorship some other French­

men had informed them there were many stupid things; saying that
they honored both my intention and affection for the Church
and my ability, and thought so well of my frankness and conscience
that they left it to myself to cut out of my book, when I wanted
to republish it, whatever I found too licentious in it, and among
other things the uses of the word "fortune." It seemed to me that
I left them well pleased with me; and to excuse themselves for
having scrutinized my book so attentively and condemned it
in certain details, they cited me many books of our time by cardinals
and churchmen of very good reputation, censured for a few
such imperfections which did not affect in the least the reputation
of the author or of the work as a whole. They urged me to help
the Church by my eloquence (those are their courteous formulas)
and to make my abode in this city, at peace and without interference
from them. These are persons of great authority and potential
cardinals.
We were eating artichokes, beans, and peas around mid-March.
In April it is daylight at their ten o'clock, and I think on the longest
days at nine.37
At this time I made the acquaintance, among others, of a Pole,
the most intimate friend of the late Cardinal Hosyusz, who pre­
sented me with two copies of the booklet he had written on the
cardinal's death and corrected with his own hand.
The pleasures of residence in this city increased by more than
half with acquaintance. I never tasted air more temperate for me or
more suited to my constitution.
On April r8th I went to see the inside of the palace of Signor
Giovanni Giorgio Cesarini, where there are numberless rare anti­
quities, and notably the authentic busts of Zeno, Posidonius, Eur­
ipides, and Carneades, as their very ancient Greek inscriptions tell.
He has also the portraits of the most beautiful living Roman ladies
and of the Signora Clelia-Fascia Farnese, his wife, who is, if not the

36 See above, p. n66.

37 Around 5 A . M . and 4 A.M. respectively, counting from sundown the day
before.
 I T A LY : F R O M R O M E T O L O R E T O A N D LA V I L LA 1179
.

most comely, beyond comparison the most lovable woman then in

Rome, or, as far as I know, anywhere else. This man says he is of the
race of the Caesars, and as such bears by his own right the banner of
the Roman nobility; he is rich, and has on his coat of arms the
column with the bear fastened to it, and above the column an eagle
with wings spread.
A great beauty of Rome is the vineyards and gardens, and the
season for them is well on in the summer.

Italy: From Rome to Loreto and La Villa

(April 1 9 -May 7, 1581)

On Wednesday, the l 9 th of April, I left Rome after dinner, and we

were escorted as far as the Ponte Molle by Messieurs de Noirmou­
tier, de la Tremouille, and du Bellai, and other gentlemen. Having
crossed this bridge, we turned to the right, leaving on our left hand
the main road to Viterbo, by which we had come to Rome, and on
our right hand the Tiber and the hills. We followed an open and
uneven road, through country not very fertile and uninhabited,
and passed the place they call Prima Porta, which is the first gate,
seven miles from Rome; and some say that the ancient walls of
Rome went as far as this, which I do not consider at all likely. Along
this road, which is the ancient Via Flaminia, there are some
unknown and rare antiquities. We came to sleep at
CASTELNuovo, sixteen miles, a little walled village belonging to
the house of Colonna, buried among hills in a site that strongly
reminded me of the fertile approaches to our Pyrenees on the
Aigues-Caudes road. The next day, April 2oth, we continued
through the same country, hilly but very pleasant, fertile and thickly
inhabited, and arrived, in a low valley along the Tiber, at
BORGH ETTO, a little walled village belonging to Duke Ottavio
Farnese. We left here after dinner, and after following a very plea­
sant valley between these hills, we crossed the Tiber at Orte, where
big piles of stone are still to be seen, relics of the bridge that
Augustus had built there to connect the country of the Sabines,
the one toward which we were heading, with that of the Falisci,
which is on the other side. Afterward we came upon Otricoli, a tiny
little town belonging to the cardinal of Perugia. In front of this town
you see, in a beautiful site, some great and important ruins; the hilly
II80 • T RAVEL JOU RNAL
and extremely pleasant country offers a very humpy aspect, but very
fertile all over and thickly p � pulated.
On this road one -C:ornps across an inscription in which the
Pope says that: he m�de and leveled this road, which he calls
Via Buonconipagna, after his name. This custom of thus putting
in writing and leaving a testimony of such works, which is seen in
Italy and Germany, is a very good spur; and a man who does not care
about the public will be motivated to do something good by this
hope of reputation. In truth, most of this road used to be difficult
going, but it has now been made passable even for coaches for as far
as Loreto. We came to sleep at
NARN I , ten miles, Narnia in Latin, a little town belonging to the
Church, situated on the top of a rock, at the foot of which rolls
the river Nera, Nar in Latin. On one side the said town looks out
over a very pleasant plain in which the said river plays and winds
around itself curiously. In the square there is a very beautiful foun­
tain. I saw the cathedral and noticed this, that the tapestry in it has
French inscriptions and rhymes in our ancient language. I was
unable to learn how that came about; but I did learn from the people
that from time immemorial they have had a great inclination in our
favor. The said tapestry bears a picture of the Passion and occupies
one whole side of the nave.
Because Pliny says that in this place is found a certain kind of
earth that is softened by heat and dried by rains, I asked the
inhabitants about it; they knew nothing about it. A mile from
there they have some cold springs which have the same effect as
our hot ones; sick people use them, but they are not well known.
The inn, according to Italian standards, is one of the good ones; yet
we had no candle, but oil light everywhere.
On the 2rst, early in the morning, we descended into a very
pleasant valley in which the said river N era runs, which river we
crossed over a bridge at the gates ofTerni, which we passed through;
and in the square we saw a very ancient column that is still standing.
I perceived no inscription on it, but it has beside it the statue of a lion
in relief, beneath which in old letters there is a dedication to
Neptune, and also the said N eptunus carved in relief in marble
with his train. In this same square there is an inscription that they
have set up in a prominent place: to one ''A. Pompeius A. F. , the
inhabitants of this town, which is called lnteramna, because of
the river Nera that hems it in on one side, and another stream
on the other, have erected a statue for the services he has rendered
 I T A LY : F R O M R O M E T O L O R E T O A N D LA VI L L A II8I
to this people." The statue is not there, but I could judge the age of
this inscription by the form of writing with a diphthong periculeil
and similar words.
This is a beautiful town in a singularly pleasant site. To the rear,
from where we came, it has the very fertile plain of this valley, and
beyond, the most highly cultivated inhabited hillsides; and among
other things, so many olive trees that there is nothing more beauti­
ful to see, since among these hillsides there are sometimes very high
mountains which are seen to be cultivated and bearing all sorts of
fruits even to the summit. I had my colic very badly, and it had
gripped me for twenty-four hours and was then in its last effort;
however, I did not fail for all that to enjoy the beauty of that place.
Beyond there we penetrated a little further into the Apennines,
and found that this new road that the Pope has constructed there is
in truth a beautiful, great, and noble work of improvement, great in
expense and convenience. The people of the neighborhood were
constrained to build it; but they do not complain so much about this
as that without any compensation, even where there happened to be
tillable fields, orchards, and the like, nothing was spared for this
highway. We saw on our right hand a pleasant hilltop occupied by
a tiny little town. The people call it Colle Scipoli: they say that in
ancient times it was Castrum Scipionis. The other mountains are
higher, arid, and stony. Between these and the bed of a winter
torrent, we came to
SPOLETO, eighteen miles, a famous and commodious town, situ­
ated among these mountains and at their foot. Here we were
compelled to show our health certificate, not because of the plague,
which was not then in any part of Italy, but for the fear they are in of
one Petrino, their fellow townsman, who is the most notorious
robber outlaw in Italy and the most famous for his exploits, by
whom they and the towns round about are afraid of being surprised.
This region is dotted with many taverns; and where there are no
buildings, they have arbors, where there are tables spread with
boiled eggs and cheese and wine. They have no butter here, and
serve everything fricasseed in oil.
On leaving there, this same day after dinner, we found ourselves
in the valley of Spoleto, which is the most beautiful plain between
the mountains that it is possible to see, two big Gascon leagues
wide. We descried many houses on the nearby crests. The road in

I Instead of the classical form periculis.

rr82 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
this plain is a continuation of that road of the Pope's that I have just
spoken of, in a deliberate straight line like a racecourse. We left
many towns on either side, among others, on the right hand, the
town ofTrevi. Servi us says, speaking of Virgil, that this is the "olive­
bearing Mutusca''. that he. speaks of in Book Seven.2 Others deny it
and argue to the contrary. At all events, it is a town perched on a high
mountain, and in one place extending halfway down all along its
slope. This mountain, covered all over with olive trees, is a very
pleasant location. By this new road, restored three years ago, which
is the finest that can be seen, we came in the evening to
FOLIGNO, twelve miles, a handsome town situated on this plain,
which on arrival reminded me of the plan of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande,
although it is much richer, and the town beyond comparison much
more beautiful and populous. There is a little river or stream that is
called Topino. In ancient times this town was called Fulignium,
others say Fulcinia; it was built on the site of the Forum Flaminium.
The hostelries on this route, or most of them, are comparable to
the French, except that the horses get hardly anything but hay to eat.
They serve fish marinated, and have little of it fresh. Throughout
Italy they serve beans raw, and also peas and green almonds, and
they seldom cook the artichokes. Their floors are paved with tiles.
They attach their oxen by the muzzle with a piece of iron that
pierces the part between the nostrils, like buffaloes. The baggage
mules, of which they have plenty, and very handsome ones, have
their forefeet shod not in our way but with a round shoe going all
around the hoof and bigger than the hoof. In various places here you
come upon monks who give holy water to passers-by and expect
alms from them, and many children asking for alms, promising to
say their full ten paternosters, which they show in their hands, for
whoever gives them money. The wines here are not much good.
The next morning, after leaving this beautiful plain, we again
headed along the mountain road, where we again came across many
beautiful level spots, sometimes high up, sometimes at the foot of
the mountains. But toward the beginning of this morning we had
for some time a very handsome view of a thousand varied hills, clad
on all sides with all kinds of beautifully shady fruit trees and the
finest wheat fields possible, often in a place so steep and precipitous
that it was a miracle that even horses could get to them; the most
beautiful valleys, an infinite number of streams, so many houses and

2 Aeneid VI I . rr: "oliviferaeque Mutuscae."

 JTALY: F RO M ROM E TO LO R ETO A N D LA VI LLA II8J
villages here and there, that I was reminded of the approaches to
Florence, except that there is no palace or house of any distinction
here; and there the terrain is dry and barren for the most part,
whereas in these hills there is not an inch of useless ground. It is
true that the spring season brought out the best in them. Often, very
far above our heads, we would see a beautiful village, and below our
feet, as if at the Antipodes, another, each one having many and
various attractions. This fact itself gives them no mean luster, that
among such fertile mountains as these the Apennines show their
frowning and inaccessible peaks, from which you see many torrents
rolling down, which, having lost their first fury, soon after, in these
valleys, turn into very pleasant and very gentle streams. Among
these summits you discover, both on the heights and down below,
many fertile plateaus, sometimes so large as to extend out of sight
when looked at from a certain angle. It does not seem to me that any
painting can represent so rich a landscape.
From here on the appearance of our road varied, now one way,
now another; but the going was always very easy; and we came for
dinner to
LA MUCCIA, twenty miles, a tiny little town situated on the river
Chienti.
From here we followed a low and easy road through these
mountains, and because I had given a box on the ear to our driver,
which is a great outrage according to the usage of the country -
witness the driver who killed the prince of Tresignano - seeing
myself no longer followed by the said driver, and being privately
a little concerned that he might lodge a complaint against me or
cause some other trouble, I stopped, contrary to my plan (which was
to go to Tolentino), for supper at
VALCHIMARA, eight miles, a little village and relay station, on the
said river Chienti.
The next day, Sunday, we still followed this valley between
cultivated and fertile mountains as far as Tolentino, a tiny little
town through which we passed, and afterward found the country
getting flatter, and we now had on our flanks only very accessible
low hills; this country reminding me very much of the Agenais
where it is prettiest, along the Garonne, except that here, as in
Switzerland, you see no castles or gentlemen's houses, but there
are many villages or towns on the hillsides. This was all a very pretty
road, following the Chienti, and paved with bricks toward the end,
by which we came to dine at
 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
MACERATA, eighteen miles, a beautiful town of the size of
Libourne, situated on a peight approximately round in shape, and
rising equally on all sides toward its center. There are not many
handsome buildings. I noticed here a freestone palace, all cut on the
outside into square diamon�-P oints, like the palace of the Cardinal
d'Este in Ferrara;' this form of structure is pleasing to the sight.
The entry to this town is a new gate, on which is inscribed
"Porta Buoncompagna," in letters of gold; it is part of the series of
roads that this Pope has rebuilt. Here is the seat of the legate for the
country of the Marches.
On these roads they give you the boilings of the local wine, when
it is their own wines that they offer: for they boil and cook it until
half of it is gone, to make it better.
We could tell indeed that we were on the highway to Loreto, so
full were the roads of people going and coming: many not only
private individuals but companies of rich people making the journey
on foot, dressed as pilgrims; and some with a banner and then
a crucifix going on ahead - and these dressed in livery.
After dinner we went through ordinary country, now cutting
across plains and a few rivers, and then a few easy hills; but the whole
very fertile, and the road for the most part paved with bricks laid
edgewise. We passed the town of Recanati, a long town situated on
a height and stretched out following the folds and contours of its
hill, and came in the evening to
LORETO, fifteen miles. This is a little village enclosed in
walls and fortified against the incursion of the Turks, standing
on a slightly raised site, looking over a very beautiful plain and,
from very near, the Adriatic Sea or Gulf of Venice; so that they
say that when the weather is good, they can make out beyond
the gulf the mountains of Sclavonia. In short, it is a very beautiful
site.
There are hardly any other inhabitants than those in the service
of this cult, such as many landlords - and yet the inns are rather dirty
- and many tradesmen, to wit, sellers of wax, of images, beads,
Agnus Dei, Salvators,3 and such wares, for which there are a large
number of handsome and richly furnished shops. I left nearly fifty
good crowns there, for my part.
The priests, churchmen, and College of Jesuits are all gathered
in one big palace which is not old, where there also resides

3 Medals or images of the Lamb of God and of the Savior.

 I T A LY : F R O M R O M E T O L O R E T O A N D L A V I L L A II85
a governor - a churchman, to whom one applies for all things -
under the authority of the legate and the Pope.
The place of devotion is a very small house, very old and mean­
looking, built of brick, longer than it is wide. Across the head they
have built a partition, which has an iron door on each side; in
between the two doors an iron grating; all this crude, old, and
without any show of richness. This grill occupies the width between
one door and the other; through it you can see right to the end of
this little building; and this end, which is about the fifth part of the
size of the building, is the location of the principal shrine. Here you
see high up on the wall the image of Our Lady, made, they say, of
wood; all the rest is so heavily adorned with rich votive tablets from
so many places and princes, that all the way to the ground there is
not an inch of space empty and not covered with some plate of silver
or gold.
I was able to find room there only with the greatest difficulty,
and as a great favor, to place a tablet on which there are four silver
figures attached: that of Our Lady, my own, that of my wife, that of
my daughter. At the foot of mine there is engraved on the silver:
"Michel de Montaigne, Gascon Frenchman, Knight of the Order of
the King, 1581"; at that of my wife's, "Frans:oise de La Chassaigne, his
wife"; at that of my daughter's, "Leonor de Montaigne, his only
daughter."4 All are in a row on their knees on the tablet, and Our
Lady above them in the foreground.
There is an entry into this chapel other than by the two doors
I have spoken of, which entry leads to the outside. So as you enter
the chapel by that door, my tablet is located on the left hand,
opposite the door that is in this corner; and I left it very carefully
fixed and nailed there. I had had a little silver chain and ring made
with which to hang it on some nail; but they preferred to attach it
completely. In this little place is the fireplace of the building, which
you see by turning up some old curtains that cover it. Few are
permitted to enter; indeed, by the sign on the front of the door,
which is of very richly worked metal (and furthermore, there is an
iron grill in front of this door) , the restriction is that without the
governor's permission no one shall enter.
Among other things, for its rarity, they had left with the other,
rich presents the candle that a Turk had recently sent here after
making a vow to Our Lady of Loreto when he was in some extreme

4 These inscriptions are all in Latin.

n86 T RAVEL J OU RN A L
necessity and wanting to catch hold of any sort of rope to
help himself. .
The other and larger pant of this little hut serves as a chapel. It
has no daylight, and its.,altar is beneath the grill against this partition
that I have spoken of. Jn this chapel there is not an ornament, no
bench, no railitig; qo painting or tapestry on the wall: for of itself it
serves as a reliquary. One may not wear any sword or weapon here,
and there is neither precedence nor regard to high rank.
We received our Easter Sacrament in this chapel, which not all
are permitted to do, since there is another place reserved for this
purpose because of the great crowd of people who ordinarily come
to receive Communion. There are so many people who come to this
chapel at all hours that you have to see to it early to get a place there.
A German Jesuit said Mass for me and administered the Commu­
nion to me.
People are forbidden to scratch anything from this wall; and if it
were permitted to take anything away, there would not be enough to
last three days. This place is full of innumerable miracles, for which
I refer to the books; but there are several, and very recent ones,
involving mishaps that have befallen those who out of devotion have
carried away something from this building, even with the Pope's
permission; and a small fragment of brick which had been removed
at the time of the Council of Trent has been brought back.
The four walls of this hut are covered and reinforced on the
outside by an extremely rich and elaborately carved screen, made of
the finest marble that can be had anywhere; few pieces of work­
manship are to be seen more exquisite and excellent than this. All
around and above this square structure is a beautiful big church;
many handsome chapels all around; tombs, and among others that
of Cardinal d'Amboise, which Cardinal d'Armagnac has had
erected there. This little square structure is like the choir of other
churches; there is a choir, but it is in a corner. All this great church is
covered with tablets, paintings, and stories. We saw there many rich
ornaments, and I was astonished that there were not even more to be
seen, in view of the renown of this church, which has been famous
for so long. I believe they melt down the old things and use them for
other purposes. They estimate the alms in coined money at ten
thousand crowns.
There is more show of religion here than in any place I have seen.
What is lost - I mean of money or anything else not merely
worth picking up, but worth stealing for people of that profession -
 ITA LY: F R O M RO M E T O LO R ETO A N D LA VI L LA II87
the person who finds it puts into a certain public p� ace set aside for
this purpose; and whoever want_s to get it back gets it back there
with no questions asked. When I was there, there were many such
things - beads, handkerchiefs, unclaimed purses - that were there
for the first comer to take.
In what you buy for the service of the church and to leave there,
no artisan wants anything for his labor, in order, they say, to have
a share in the grace. You pay only for the silver or the wood. Alms or
liberality are permitted, but in fact they refuse it. The church people
are as obliging as possible in everything: for confession, for Com­
munion, or for anything else, they take nothing. It is usual to give
money to some priest of your choice to distribute to the poor in your
name when you have left.
As I was in that sanctuary, along comes a man who offers the first
priest he meets a silver cup, saying that he had made a vow to do so;
and because he had vowed to spend twelve crowns, which the cup
did not amount to, he promptly paid the surplus to the said priest,
who argued for the payment of the money as for a thing very exactly
due, in order to help in the complete and conscientious execution of
his promise; that done, he had this man enter this sanctuary, offer
this chalice himself to Our Lady, and say a short prayer there;
and the money he threw into the common alms box. These examples
they see every day, and they are pretty nonchalant about them. Not
everyone who wants to is readily allowed to give; at least it is a favor
to be accepted.
I stayed here Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning; after
Mass we left. But, to say a word about my experience of this place,
which I liked very much: there at the same time was Michel
Marteau, seigneur de la Chapelle, a Parisian, a very rich young
man with a big retinue. I had him and some of his attendants give
me a very particular and careful account of the facts of the cure,
which he said he had derived from this place, of one leg of his; it is
not possible to represent better or more exactly the effect of
a miracle. All the surgeons of Paris and Italy had failed at it. He
had spent more than three thousand crowns on it: his knee, swollen,
useless, and very painful for more than three years, by this time
worse, more red and inflamed, and swollen to the point of giving
him a fever; at that point, after abandoning all other medicaments
and aids for several days, while sleeping, suddenly he dreams that he
is cured and he seems to see a flash of lightning; he wakes up, cries
out that he is cured, calls his men, gets up, walks around, which he
n88 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
had never done since his malady; the swelling in his knee goes down,
the withered and.virtually dead skin all around his knee continues to
mend ever since, without an}" other sort of aid. Now completely
cured, he has returned tG Lor�to; for it was on another trip a month
or two before that he had been cured, and he had meanwhile been in
Rome with us. -Fr�in-his own mouth and from all his men that is all
you can get for certain.
The miracle of the transporting of that little house, which they
hold to be the very one in which Jesus Christ was born in Nazareth ­
its removal first to Sclavonia, and then near here, and finally here -
is represented on large marble tablets in the church, attached all
along the pillars, in Italian, Sclavonian, French, German, and
Spanish. In the choir there hangs an ensign of our kings, and no
arms of any other king.
They say that they often see the Sclavonians come to this
devotion in large groups, with shouts as soon as they discover the
church from the sea, and then on the spot so many protestations and
promises to Our Lady to have her return to them, and so many
regrets for having given her occasion to abandon them, that it is
a wonder.
I found out that from Loreto it is possible to go along the
seashore to Naples in eight days, by easy stages, a trip I would like
to make. You have to pass by way of Pescara and the city of Chieti,
where there is a mail carrier that leaves every Sunday for Naples.
I offered money to a number of priests; most of them were
obstinate in refusing it, and those that did accept some did so with
all the difficulties in the world.
They store and keep their grain here in cellars underneath
the street.
It was on April 25th that I offered my ex-voto.
The trip from Rome to Loreto, which took us four days and
a half, cost me six crowns in coin, which are fifty sous apiece, per
horse, and the man who rented us the horses fed them and us. The
bargain is disadvantageous, inasmuch as they hurry your daily
j ourneys because of the expense they have, and then have you treated
as stingily as they can.
On the 26th I went to see the port three miles beyond, which is
handsome; and there is a fort that belongs to the community of
Recanati.
Don Luca Giovanni, the beneficiary, and Giovanni Gregorio
da Cagli, custodian of the sacristy, gave me their names, so that if
 I T A LY : F R O M R O M E T O L O R E T O A N D L A V I L L A n89
I had business with them either for myself or for 9thers, I might
write to them; these men did m3;ny courteous things for me. The
former is in charge of this little chapel, and would not take anything
from me. I am obliged to them for what they did for me and for their
courteous words.
On the said Wednesday after dinner I followed along a road
through fertile, open, and varied countryside, and came for
supper to
ANCONA, fifteen miles. This is the chief town of the Marches; to
the Latins the Marches were Picoenum. It is thickly populated,
especially with Greeks, Turks, and Sclavonians; very mercantile,
well built, flanked by two big headlands that run down into the
sea, on one of which there is a large fort, by way of which we arrived.
On the other, which is very near, there is a church. Between these
two headlands and on their slopes, on either side, this city is set; but
the main part is situated at the bottom of the valley and along the
sea, where there is a very fine port in which there is still to be seen
a great arch in honor of the Emperor Trajan, his wife, and his sister.
They say that one may often cross to Sclavonia in eight, ten, or
twelve hours. I believe that for six crowns or a little more I could
have found a bark that would have taken me to Venice. I gave thirty­
three demi-pistoles for the hire of eight horses as far as Lucca,
which is about eight days' journey. The driver has to feed the horses,
and in case I am on the road four or five days more than the eight,
I have the horses free for that time, and need only pay the expenses
of the horses and the boys.
This country is full of excellent setters, and for six crowns there
would be found some for sale. There were never so many quails to
eat, but very lean.
I stayed on the 2 7th until after dinner, to see the beauty and the
configuration of this town. At San Ciriaco, which is the church on
one of the two headlands, there are more famous relics than in any
other church in the world, and they were shown to us.
We verified the fact that the quails come over here from
Sclavonia in great abundance, and that every night people stretch
the nets on the shore on this side, and call them with a counterfeit
call of theirs; and they call them back down from way up in the air,
where they are in passage; and they say that around the month of
September they go back across the sea to Sclavonia.
In the night I heard a cannon shot. From the Abruzzi on, in the
kingdom of Naples and beyond the city, at every league there is
n90 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
a tower; the first one that discovers a corsair galley makes a signal
with fire to the second watchtower, the second to the third, with
such rapidity that they haveYound that in an hour the warning runs
from the end of Italy as far.. a s Venice.
Ancona was .�o called fn ancient times from the Greek word,
because of the::-angle that the sea forms in this place;5 for its two
horns advance and make a deep cove, where the town is protected
in front by these two headlands and the sea, and also behind by
a high rise, where formerly there used to be a fortress. There is also
a Greek church, and over the door, on an old stone, some letters that
I think are Sclavonian. The women here are generally beautiful, and
there are many fine men and good artisans.
After dinner we followed the seacoast, which is gentler and more
accessible than our ocean coast, and cultivated all the way to the
water, and came to sleep at
SI NI GAGLIA, twenty miles, a beautiful little town situated in a very
beautiful plain right next to the sea, and it makes a fine port; for
a river coming down from the mountains washes it on one side.
They are making it into a channel studded and lined with large
wooden piles on either side, where boats take shelter; and the entry
to it is closed. I saw no antiquities here; besides, we stayed outside of
town in a handsome hostelry which is the only one in this place.
They formerly called it Senogallia, from our ancestors who settled
here after Camillus had beaten them; it is in the jurisdiction of the
duke of Urhino.
I did not feel very well. The day I left Rome, as Monsieur d'Ossat
was walking with me, I tried to salute another gentleman, with such
heedlessness that with my right thumb I wounded the corner of my
right eye so that the blood immediately came out, and it has been
very red for a long time. Then it got better; and "then there was pain
in that sinister thumbnail." 6
I was forgetting to say that at Ancona, in the Church of S an
Ciriaco, there is a low tombstone of one ''.Antonia, a Rocamora on
her father's side, a Valletta on her mother's, a Frenchwoman from
Guienne, married to Paciotto of Urhino, a Portuguese,''7 who has
been buried ten or twelve years.

5 'Ayxrov, elbow, or bend. It was founded by Doric Greeks from Syracuse.

6 This remark in Latin, seemingly a quotation, plays on the two meanings of
sinistrum: left (hand) , and sinister. Thus his right nail became left (sinister) .
7 Montaigne 1uotes the inscription in Latin.
 I TA LY: F RO M RO M E T O LO R ETO AN D LA VI L LA II91
We left here early in the morning and followed ,the seashore by
a very pleasant road. Near our .dinnertime we crossed the river
Metro, Metaurus, over a large wooden bridge, and dined at
FANO, fifteen miles, a little town in a beautiful and very fertile
plain next to the sea, rather badly built, heavily wall e d. We were very
well treated here as for bread, wine, and fish; the lodging is not
worth much. It has this advantage over the other towns on this
coast, like Sinigaglia, Pesaro, and others, that it has an abundance
of fresh water, many public fountains and private wells, whereas
the others have to go as far as the mountains to fetch their water.
Here we saw a big ancient arch on which there is an inscription
under the name of Augustus, "who had given walls to the city." The
town used to be calle d Fanum, and was Fanum Fortunae. 8
Almost everywhere in Italy they sift their flour with wheels,
whereby a baker does more work in an hour than we do in four.
You find rhymers at almost all the hostelries who make rhymes
on the spot, suitable for the persons present. There are instruments
in all the shops, even those of the clothes menders at the street
corners.
This town is famous above all those in Italy for beautiful women;
we saw none but very ugly ones; and when I inquired of a good man
of the town, he told me that that time had passed.
On this route you pay about ten sous per meal, twenty sous a day
per man; the horse, for hire and expenses, about thirty sous; which
makes fifty sous.
This town belongs to the Church.
We abandoned the idea of going a little farther on this same road
to see Pesaro, a beautiful town and worth seeing, and then Rimini,
and then ancient Ravenna; and especially, at Pesaro, a handsome
building, strangely situated, which the duke of Urbino is having
built, so I was told. That is the road down to Venice.
We left the coast and took our left, following a broad plain
through which the Metaurus passes. You discover everywhere, on
either hand, very beautiful hillsides, and the aspect of this country­
side is not unlike the plain of Blaignac at Castillon. In this plain, on
the other side of this river, the battle took place which Salinator and
Claudius Nero fought against Hasdrubal, in which Hasdrubal was
killed. At the entrance to the mountains which you encounter at the
end of this plain, right at the entrance, is

8 The Temple of Fortune.

 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
FOS SOMB RONE, fifteen miles, belonging to the duke of Urbino,
a town lying against the . sloge of a mountain, having at the base
one or two beautiful streets, very straight, level, and well located;
however, they say that ··t he people of Fano are much richer than
themselves. He�- in the square is a large marble pedestal with
a very long ins.cripti6n, which is of the time of Trajan, in honor of
a private inhabitant of this place, and another inscription against
the wall which bears no indication of the time. This was in ancient
times the Forum Sempronii; but they hold that their first town
was farther over toward the plain and that the ruins are still there
in a much more beautiful site. This town has a stone bridge to cross
the Metaurus, toward Rome, by the Via Flaminia.
Because I arrived here early (for the miles are short and our
days' journeys were of only seven or eight hours' riding) , I talked
to several worthy men who told me what they knew about their
town and the environs. Here we saw a garden of the cardinal of
Urbino, and lots of vines grafted onto other stocks. I talked with
a good man who makes books, named Vincentius Castellani, who
is from here.
I left here the next morning, and after riding three miles I turned
off to the left and crossed a bridge over the Candigliano, the river
that flows into the Metaurus, and went three miles along some wild
mountains and rocks, by a narrow and rather difficult road, at the
end of which we saw a passage a good fifty paces long which has
been cut through one of these high rocks. And because this is a big
j ob, to which Augustus first set his hand, there was an inscription in
his name, which time has effaced; and another is to be seen at the
other end in honor of Vespasian. 9
Around here you see plenty ofbig walls rising from the bed of the
river, which is extremely deep; below the road, cut and leveled rocks
of tremendous thickness; and all along this road, which is the
Via Flaminia, by which you go to Rome, traces of their big paving
blocks, which are for the most part buried; and their road, which was
forty feet wide, is now not even four.
I had turned out of my way to see this, and I retraced my steps to
my road, which I followed along the base of some accessible and
fertile mountains. Toward the end of our stage, we began to go up
and down hill, and came to

9 The Furlo Pass, where the Via Flaminia passes through a tunnel about forty
yards long.
 I T A LY : F R O M R O M E T O L O R E T O A N D LA V I L LA Il93
URBINO, sixteen miles, a town of little distinction., on the top of
a mountain of medium height, bul lying in all directions according
to the slopes of the place, so that there is nothing level about it, and
everywhere you have to go up and down. The market was being
held, for it was Saturday.
Here we saw the palace, which is very famous for its beauty. It
is a great mass, for it stretches right to the foot of the mountain.
The view extends to a thousand other neighboring mountains
and has not much charm, nor is there anything very attractive
about this whole building either inside or around it, and it has
only a tiny little garden of twenty-five paces or thereabouts. They
boast that it has as many bedrooms as there are days in the year.
In truth, there are a very great number of them, and, in the manner
of Tivoli and other palaces of Italy, through one door you often
see twenty other doors in succession in one direction and as many
or more in the other direction. There is something ancient about
it, but the main part of it was built in 1476 by Federigo
Maria della Rovere,10 who inscribed inside many of his titles
and his great offices and exploits in war, with which his walls
are thickly covered, as well as an inscription saying that this is the
most beautiful house in the world. It is of brick, and all built
with arches, without any wooden flooring, like most of the build­
ings in Italy.
The present duke is his grandnephew. He descends from a line of
good princes, who are loved by their subjects. They are all men of
letters, from father to son, and have a fine library in this palace, but
the key was not to be found. They incline to Spain. The arms of the
king of Spain are seen in rank and favor, and the Order of England
and that of the Golden Fleece, and nothing of ours.
They themselves show a painting of the first duke of Urbino,
a young man who was killed by his subjects for his injustice; he was
not of this line. The present one married the sister of the duke of
Ferrara, ten years older than he. They are on bad terms, and
separated, purely because of her jealousy, so they say. What with
this and her age, which is forty-five, they have little hope of chil­
dren, the lack of which they say will cause this duchy to revert to the
Church, and they are unhappy about it.
I saw here a portrait from life of Pico della Mirando la: a pale, very
handsome face, beardless, seeming about seventeen or eighteen,

10 This should be Federigo da Montefeltro.

n94 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
.

a longish nose, gentle eyes, rather thin face, blond hair falling down
to his shoulders, and a sttangt;, costume.
In many places in I t3:1y they have a fashion of making winding
staircases, even very steep an�arrow ones, so that you can mount to
the top of them on horseback; this is also the fashion here, with tiles
set on a slant. It. is a cold place, they say, and the duke makes it a habit
to be here only in summer. To provide against this cold, in two of
their bedrooms there are to be seen other square rooms in a corner,
closed in on all sides except for a window or so which lets in light
from the room; within these shelters is the master's bed.
After dinner I turned out of my way another five miles to see
a place that the people from time immemorial have called Hasdru­
bal's Tomb, on a very high and steep hill which they call Monte
d'Elce. Here there are four or five wretched little houses and a little
church, and you see also a building of large bricks or tiles, twenty­
five paces round or thereabouts, and twenty-five feet high. All
around it there are supports of the same brick at every three paces.
I do not know what the masons call these pieces, which they make
n
for support like beaks. We climbed up it, for there is no entry from
below. We found a vault there, nothing inside, no cut stone, nothing
inscribed. The inhabitants say that there used to be a piece of marble
on which there were a few marks, but that it has been taken away in
our time. Why this name was given it I do not know, and I scarcely
believe that it is really what they say. To be sure, it is certain that he
was defeated and killed rather near here.
Afterward we followed a very mountainous road, which became
muddy merely because it had rained for an hour, and we crossed the
Metaurus again - by a ford, since it is nothing but a torrent that will
not bear a boat - which we had crossed another time since dinner;
and toward the end of the day we came by a low and easy road to
CASTEL-DURANTE, 1 2 fifteen miles, a little town situated in the
plain along the Metaurus, belonging to the duke of Urbino. The
people here were making a bonfire and celebrating the birth of
a male child to the princess of Bisignano, sister of their duke.
Our drivers unsaddle their horses whenever they unbridle them,
whatever state they are in, and have them drink anyway. Here and
at Urbino we drank wines that had been sophisticated to make
them milder.

n Presumably flying buttresses.

12 Modern Urbania.
 I TA LY : F R O M RO M E T O LO R E T O AND LA VI L LA II95
On Sunday morning we came along a rather fertile plain sur­
rounded by hills, and passed first through a beautiful little town,
Sant' Angelo, belonging to the said duke, along the Metaurus, with
very beautiful approaches. We found in the town some little girls
dressed up for May Day like queens of mid-Lent, for it was the eve
of the first of May. From here, following this plain, we went through
still another little town in the same jurisdiction, named Marcatello,
and, by a road that already was beginning to smack of the Apennine
mountains, we came to dine at
BORGO-PACE, ten miles, a little village and a wretched inn for
a meager meal, in a corner of the mountains.
After dinner, we followed first a narrow, wild, and stony road,
and then had to climb a high mountain, two miles up and four miles
downward slope; the road shaly and annoying, but not frightening
or dangerous, the precipices not being so steeply cut that the eye
does not have something to rest on. We followed the Metaurus right
to its lair, which is in this mountain; thus we have seen its birth and
its end, having seen it fall into the sea at Sinigaglia. On descending
this mountain we perceived a very beautiful and large plain, in
which runs the Tiber, only eight miles or so from its source, and
other mountains beyond: a prospect rather resembling that which is
offered in the Limagne of Auvergne to those who descend the Puy
de Dome to Clermont-Ferrand. On the top of our mountain ends
the jurisdiction of the duke of Urbino, and that of the duke of
Florence begins, with that of the Pope on the left hand. We came
to sup at
BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO, thirteen miles, a little town in this plain,
belonging to the said duke of Florence, having nothing singular
about it; we left it on the first day of May.
A mile from this town we crossed a stone bridge over the river
Tiber, which still has its clear, beautiful waters - a sign that that
dirty reddish color, jlavum Tiberim, 13 which you see in it at Rome,
comes from the admixture of some other river. We crossed this four­
mile plain, and at the first hill found a little town on top. Several
girls, both here and elsewhere on the road, came to meet us and
seized our horses' bridles, and there asked for some liberality for the
day's festival, singing a certain song to that effect.
From this hill we went back down into a very stony bottom,
which we followed a long time along the bed of a torrent, and then

13 "The yellow Tiber." An expression used by Horace in his Odes.

 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
.
we had a barren and very stony mountain to climb, three miles for
the ascent and descent, from 'Yhich we descried another large plain,
in which we crossed the river Chiassa over a stone bridge, and
afterward the river Arn«> ov�r a very big, handsome stone bridge,
on the hither sid� -of which we lodged at
PONTE BORIANo; a tiny little house, eighteen miles. A bad
inn, like the three preceding ones and most of those on this route.
It would be great folly to bring good horses this way, for there is
no hay.
After dinner we followed a long plain all split by horrible crevices
which the waters make in a strange fashion, and I believe it must be
very ugly in winter; but then, they are repairing the road. On our
left, very soon after dinner, we passed the town of Arezzo in this
same plain, two miles or so away. Its site, however, seems to be a little
raised. We crossed the river Ambra on a handsome stone bridge of
great height, and came for supper to
LEVAN ELLA, ten miles. The hostelry is a mile or so short of the
said village, and is famous; indeed it is held to be the best in Tuscany,
and with reason; for by the standard of the hostelries of Italy it is
one of the best. It is so highly thought of that they say the nobility of
the region often gather there, as at Le Mare's in Paris or Guillot's
in Amiens. They serve on pewter plates there, which is a great rarity.
It is a house by itself, very beautifully situated in a plain, and has
a spring at its service.
We left there in the morning and followed a very fine straight
road across this plain, and on it passed through four little towns or
walled villages, Montevarchi, S an Giovanni, Figline, and Ancisa,
and came to dine at
PIAN DELLA FONTE , twelve miles, a pretty poor inn, where
there is also a spring, a little above the said village of Ancisa,
which is situated in the valley of the Arno. They maintain that
Petrarch, who speaks of it, was born at the said Ancisa, at least
in a nearby house a mile from there, of which you no longer
find anything but very unimpressive ruins; however, they do point
out the place. They were then sowing melons there among the
others that were already sown, and they expected to gather them
in August.
This morning I had a heaviness in the head and trouble with my
vision, as from my old migraines, which I had not felt for ten years.
This valley through which we passed was once all marshes, and
Livy maintains that Hannibal was forced to cross them on an
 I T A L Y : F R O M R O M E T O L O R E T O AN D L A V I L L A 1197

elephant, and lost an eye there because of the bad weather. It is in

truth a very flat, low area, and subject to floods from the Arno.
I would not eat any dinner there, and was sorry for it, for that
would have helped me to vomit, which is my promptest cure;
otherwise I carry about this heavy-headedness for a day or two, as
happened to me then. We found this road full of people of the
region, bringing various kinds of foods to Florence. We arrived at
FLORENCE , twelve miles, by one of the four stone bridges which
are there over the Arno.
The next day, after having heard Mass, we left there, and turning
a bit off the straight road, went to see Castello, of which I have
spoken elsewhere;14 but because the duke's daughters were there, and
at this very hour were going through the garden to hear Mass, we
were asked to be good enough to wait, which I did not wish to do.
On the road we met many processions. The banner goes ahead,
the women after, most of them very beautiful, with straw hats,
which they make better in this region than anywhere else in
the world, and well dressed for village women, their slippers and
pumps white. After the women walks the curate, and after him
come the men. The day before, we had seen a procession of monks,
almost all wearing these straw hats.
We followed a very beautiful, very wide plain, and to tell the truth
I was virtually forced to confess that neither Orleans, nor Tours,
nor Paris itself, is surrounded by so great a number of houses and
villages, and so far out, as Florence; as for beautiful houses
and palaces, that is beyond doubt. Along this route we came to
dine at
PRATO , ten miles, a little town belonging to the said duke,
situated on the river Bisenzio, which we crossed by a stone bridge
at the gate of the said town.
There is no other region so well supplied, among other things,
with bridges, and such solid ones; and indeed along the roads
everywhere you come across big cut stones on which is written
what piece of road each district has to keep up and be responsible
for. In the palace of the said place we saw the arms and name of the
legate da Prato, who they say was a native of here. Over the door of
this palace is a large crowned statue, holding the world in its hand,
and at its feet, Rex Robertus.15 Here they say that this town was

r4 Traveljournal, p. n35.
15 Robert of Anjou, king of Naples, to whom the town surrendered in r3r3.
 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
formerly ours; the fleurs-de-lys are everywhere; but the town's own
arms bear gules powdered wi�h fleurs-de-lys or. The cathedral here
is beautiful and enriched with much black and white marble.
On leaving here we -took:another side road, a detour of a good
four miles, to go 'to the·- Poggio, a house about which they make
much ado, belonging to the duke, situated on the river Ombrone;
the form of this building is the model of Pratolino. It is a marvel that
in such a small mass there can be contained a hundred very beautiful
rooms. Here I saw among other things a great number of beds of
very beautiful stuff that is not expensive: they are some of those light
varicolored materials which are nothing but very fine wool, and they
line it with four-thread taffeta of the same color as the material.
Here we saw the duke's distillery and his workroom fitted with
a lathe and other instruments; for he is a great mechanic.
From here, by a very straight road through extremely fertile
country, the road enclosed by trees with vines attached which
form a hedge, a thing of great beauty, we came for supper to
PI STOIA , fourteen miles, a big town on the river Ombrone; the
streets very wide, paved, like Florence, Prato, Lucca, and others,
with big and very wide stone slabs. I was forgetting to say that from
the table in the rooms at Poggio you see Florence, Prato, and
Pistoia. In the said Pistoia there are very few people; the churches
are beautiful, and there are many beautiful houses. I inquired about
the sale of straw hats, which they made for fifteen sous. It seems to
me that they would be worth quite as many francs1 6 in France. Near
this town and in its territory Catiline was defeated long ago.
At Poggio there are some tapestries representing every kind
of hunting; among others, I noticed one hanging that showed
the hunting of ostriches, which they show being pursued by men
on horseback, and speared with javelins.
The Latins called Pistoia Pistorium; it belongs to the duke of
Florence. The say that the ancient feuds of the houses of the
Cancellieri and the Panciatici, which existed formerly, made it as
it is now, as it were uninhabited, so that it numbers only eight
thousand souls in all; and Lucca, which is no bigger, has twenty­
five thousand inhabitants and more.
Messer Taddeo Rospigliosi, who had had a letter of recommen­
dation from Rome on my behalf from Giovanni Franchini, invited
me to dinner the next day, with all the others who were in our

r6 The franc was worth one livre, or twenty sous.

 I T A L Y : F R 0 M R 0 M E T 0 L 0 R E T 0 AN D L A V I L L A II99

company. The palace is very ornate, the service a litde strange in the
order of dishes; little meat, few servants; the wine served again after
the meal, as in Germany.
We saw the churches: at the elevation in the principal church
they blew trumpets. Among the choirboys there were some priests
in their vestments who played on sackbuts.
This poor town compensates for its lost liberty by a vain image of
its ancient constitution. They have nine Priors and a Gonfalonier,
whom they elect every two months. These have charge of keeping
order, and are maintained by the duke, as they formerly were by the
public; they are lodged in the palace, and hardly ever leave it except
all together, being perpetually confined there. The Gonfalonier
marches in front of the podesta whom the duke sends there,
which podesta has in fact all the power; and the said Gonfalonier
salutes no one, imitating the petty royalty they imagine themselves
to be. I felt pity to see them feed on this monkey business; and
meanwhile the grand duke has increased the taxes by ten times over
what they formerly were.
In most of the big gardens in Italy they grow grass in the
principal walks, and mow it.
About this time the cherries were beginning to ripen; and on the
road from Pistoia to Lucca we found village people who offered us
bunches of strawberries for sale.
We left here on Thursday, Ascension Day, after dinner, and first
followed that plain for a while, and then a slightly hilly road, and
afterward a very beautiful wide plain. In the wheat fields they
have many trees, well arranged, and covered and linked to one
another by vines: these fields seem like gardens. The mountains
that are seen on this route are heavily covered with trees, chiefly
olive and chestnut trees and mulberry trees for their silkworms. In
this plain you come upon
LUCCA, twenty miles, a city one-third smaller than Bordeaux,
free, except that because of its weakness it has cast itself under the
protection of the Emperor and the house of Austria. It is well
enclosed and flanked; the moats not deep, with a little channel of
water flowing in them, and full of green plants; flat and broad at the
bottom. All around the wall, on the raised walk on the inside, two or
three rows of trees are planted which serve for shade, and, they say,
for faggots in case of need. From the outside you see only a wood
that hides the houses. They always have a guard of three hundred
foreign soldiers.
1200 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
The city is thickly populated, notably with silk workers; the
streets narrow but handsome� and almost everywhere beautiful big
houses. They are running a little channel through it from the river
Serchio; they are building a .p alace at an expense of a hundred and
thirty thousand �rowns1 -and it is well advanced.
They say ·they bave six-score thousand souls as subjects,
not counting the city. They have a few small fortified places,
but no town under their subjection. Their gentlemen and men­
at-arms all make a profession of trade. The Buonvisi are the
richest here. Strangers enter only by one gate, where there is
a heavy guard.
It is one of the most pleasant sites for a town that I ever saw,
surrounded by two full leagues of plain, of superlative beauty at the
narrowest point, and then beautiful mountains and hills, where
most of them have country lodgings.
The wines here are moderately good; the cost of living twenty
sous a day; the hostelries in the manner of this country, pretty
unimpressive. I received many courtesies from several private per­
sons, and wines and fruits and offers of money.
I was here Friday and Saturday, and left on Sunday after dinner ­
dinner for the others, not for me, since I was fasting. The hills
nearest the city are studded with plenty of pleasant houses very
close together. Most of the trip was by a low road, rather easy,
between the mountains, almost all very shady and inhabitable, all
the way along the river Serchio. We passed several ordinary villages
and two very large walled villages, Decimo and Borgo, on this
side of the said river, which we had on our right hand, and then
crossed over a bridge of unusual height, with one arch embracing
a great width of the said river; and we saw three or four bridges
of this kind.

Italy: First Stay at La Villa

(May 7-June 21, 1581)

We came about two o'clock in the afternoon to the

BATH OF LA VI LLA, sixteen miles. It is a thoroughly hilly country.
In front of the bath, along the river, there is a plain of three or four
hundred paces, above which the bath is on the side of a medium­
sized mountain, part way up, about as high up as the spring of
Bagneres, whtre they drink near the town.
 I T A LY : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I L L A I20I
The site of the bath is fairly level, and there are thirty or forty
houses very well fitted for this purpose; the rooms pretty, quite
private, and as free as you like, each with a toilet, and each with
a door to an adjacent room and another for private use. I inspected
almost all the houses before making a bargain, and settled on the
finest, especially for the view, which overlooks (at least the room
I chose) all this little valley, and the river Lima, and the mountains
that shelter the said valley, all well cultivated and green all the way to
the summit, full of chestnut and olive trees, and elsewhere of vines,
which they plant around the mountains, girding the mountains with
terraces. The edge of the terrace toward the outside, a little raised, is
vine; the hollow of the terrace is wheat. All night from my room
I heard, very soft, the sound of the river.
Between these houses is a place to walk, open on one side in the
form of a terrace, from which you look down on that small plain
below the walk through a public trellis, and you see along the river in
that small plain, two hundred paces below you, a handsome little
village which also serves for these baths when there is a crowd. Most
of the houses new; a fine road to go there; and a handsome square in
the said village. Most of the inhabitants of this place stay here in the
winter and have their shops here, especially apothecaries' shops; for
almost all are apothecaries.
My landlord is named Captain Paulino, and he is an apothecary.
He gave me a dining room, three bedrooms, a kitchen, and also
a garret for our men, and in them eight beds, for two of which there
was a canopy; furnished salt, a napkin every day, a tablecloth every
third day, all the iron utensils for the kitchen, and candlesticks, for
eleven crowns, a few sous more than ten pistolets, for a fortnight.
The pots, dishes, and plates, which are of earthenware, we bought,
as well as the glasses and knives; the�' have meat, as much as you
want, veal and kid; not much else. At each inn they offer to do your
marketing for you, and I think you could have it done for twenty
sous a man per day; and if you want to do it yourself, you find in
every inn some man or woman capable of doing your cooking. The
wine is not very good; but anyone who wants can have it brought
from either Pescia or Lucca.
I was the first to arrive here, except for two Bolognese gentle­
men who did not have any big retinue. Thus I had a choice and,
from what they say, a better bargain than I would have had in the
crowd, which they say is very great here. But their practice is not to
begin to come until June, and to stay here until September; for by
1202 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
.

October they are gone; and they very often have gatherings here
solely for recreation. Any visiting that they do earlier - as we found
some who were returning ho :n e after being here a month already -
or in October, is extraofdinanr.
In this place �here is _ a house belonging to the lords of Buonvisi,
much more magnificent than the others, and assuredly very hand­
some; they call it the Palace. It has a beautiful live spring in the
dining room, and many other conveniences. It was offered to me, at
least a four-room apartment that I wanted, and the whole thing if
I needed it. The four rooms, furnished as above, they would have let
me have for twenty crowns of the country1 for a fortnight; I was
willing to give a crown a day. In consideration of the season and
the price, which changes, my landlord is bound to our bargain
only for the month of May; we will have to make a new one if
I want to stay longer.
There is water to drink here and also to bathe in; a covered bath,
vaulted and rather dark, half as wide as my dining room at Mon­
taigne. There is also a certain dripping apparatus that they call
la doccia:2 this consists of pipes by which you receive hot water on
various parts of the body, and especially on the head, the water
coming down on you in steady streams and warming the part of your
body that they are beating down on; and then the water is received
in a wooden trough, like that of washerwomen, along which it flows
away. There is another bath, vaulted in the same way, and dark,
for the women; the whole thing coming from a spring from which
one drinks, rather unattractively situated, in a hollow to which one
has to go down several steps.
On Monday morning, May 8th, with great difficulty, I took
some cassia which my landlord offered me, not with the grace of
the man in Rome, and I took it with my own hands. I dined two
hours later and could not finish my dinner; the operation of the
cassia made me throw up what I had taken, and vomit again later.
I had three or four stools from it, with great pain in the belly because
of the flatulence, which tormented me for almost twenty-four
hours, and I have promised myself not to take any more of it.
I would rather have a fit of colic than have my belly thus upset,
my taste altered, and my health disturbed by this cassia; for I had
come here in good condition; so that on Sunday after supper, which

r Italian scudi, not French ecus. One ecu was worth about r.2 scudi.
2 The shower.
 I T A LY : F I R S T S TAY AT LA VI L LA 1 203
was the only meal I had that day, I went very blirhely to see the
bath of Corsena, which is a good �half mile from here, on the other
side of this same mountain; you have to go up and then come
down again to about the same height as the baths on this side.
This other bath is more famous for the bathing and la doccia; for
ours has no generally accepted use, either according to the doctors
or by usage, except for drinking; and they say that the other has
a more ancient reputation. However, for all this age, which goes
back to the times of the Romans, there is no trace of antiquity
at either bath.
There are three or four large baths there, vaulted except for
a hole in the middle of the vault like a vent hole; they are dark
and unattractive. There is another hot spring two or three hundred
paces from there, a little higher up on this same mountain, called
Monte San Giovanni; and there they have made a hut with three
baths, also covered; no house nearby, but room to place a mattress to
rest on for an hour or so in the day. At Corsena they do not drink at
all . Moreover, they diversify the operation of its waters: one cools,
one warms, one for this malady, one for another; and on this subject
a thousand miracles; but in short, there is no sort of malady that
does not find its cure there.
There is one handsome inn with many rooms, and about a score
of others not very handsome. In the matter of convenience they
cannot compare with ours, nor in the beauty of the view, although
they have our river at their feet and their view extends farther into
a valley; and yet they are much more expensive. Many drink
here, and then go to bathe there. For the moment Corsena has
the reputation.
On Tuesday, May 9 th, 1581, early in the morning before sunrise,
I went to drink right from the spout of our hot spring, and drank
seven glasses right in a row, which hold three pounds and a half: that
is the way they measure.3 I think that would be about twelve glasses,
or our quart. It is a very moderately hot water, like that of Aigues­
Caudes or Barbotan, having less taste and savor than any other
I have ever drunk. I could perceive nothing of it but its tepidness
and a little sweetness . For that day it had no effect on me, and yet
I was five hours from drinking it until dinner, and I did not pass
a single drop of it. Some said I had taken too little, for here they
order a flask, that is, two jars, which is eight pounds, or sixteen or

3 The Italian pound was only twelve ounces; see below, p. r2rn.
1204 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
seventeen of my glasses. I myself think that it found me so empty
because of my medicine that it found room to serve me for food.
This same day I had a visit from a Bolognese gentleman, a colonel
of twelve hundred foot, in the pay of the signory of Lucca, who is
staying four mile� from the Baths; and he came and did me many
civilities, and was with rrie about two hours; he ordered my landlord
and others in the place to favor me to the extent of their power.
This signory has a rule to use foreign officers, and distributes its
men in the villages by number and according to the country, and
gives them a colonel to command them: one has a larger, another
a smaller command. The colonels are paid; the captains, who are
inhabitants of the country, are paid only in wartime, and command
the individual companies when there is need. My colonel had
sixteen crowns a month in wages, and has no responsibility but to
keep himself ready.
They live more by rule in these baths than in ours, and especially
keep strict fast as regards drinking. I found myself better lodged
here than at any other baths, even at Bagneres. The situation of the
country is quite as beautiful at Bagneres, but not at any other bath;
the places for bathing at Baden surpass all others by far in magnifi­
cence and convenience; the inn at Baden bears comparison with any
other, except for the view from here.
Wednesday morning early I again drank of this water; and being
pretty disturbed over the little effect I had felt from it the day before
(for I had indeed had a stool immediately after taking it, but
I attributed that to the medicine of the preceding day, not having
passed one drop of water that resembled that of the bath) , I took on
Wednesday seven glasses measured by the pound, which was at least
double what I had taken the other day, and I believe I have never
taken so much at one time. I felt from it a great desire to sweat,
which I would not indulge at all, having often heard that this was
not the effect I needed; and, as on the first day, I kept to my room,
now walking around, now at rest. The water proceeded mostly
through the rear, and made me have several loose, light stools,
without any effort.
I hold that it did me harm to take this purge of cassia, for the
water, finding nature moving to the rear and provoked, followed
that course; whereas, because of my kidneys, I would have liked it
better to the front; and I am thinking, at the first baths I take, of
preparing only by some fasting the day before. Also I believe this
water is very weak and of little effect, and consequently safe and
 I T A L Y : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I L.L A � I205
without risk: apprentices and delicate people would be well off
with it. They take it to cool the liver and get rid of re'd pimples on
the face, a fact I carefully note as a service I owe to a very virtuous
lady in France.4
The water of San Giovanni they use a lot for cosmetics, for it is
extremely oily. I saw that they exported it in barrelfuls to foreign
countries, and still more of that which I was drinking, on many
donkeys and mules, to Reggio, Modena, Lombardy, to drink. Some
take it here in bed, and their principal instructions are to keep their
stomach and feet warm, and not to move around much. The people
in the neighborhood have it brought three or four miles to their
houses. To show that it is not very aperient, they have the custom of
having water brought here from a bath near Pistoia, which has an
acrid taste and is very hot at its source; and the apothecaries here
keep it to drink before the water from here, one glassful, and hold
that it helps it along, being active and aperient.
The second day I passed some water that was clear, but not
without some alteration of color, as elsewhere, and voided a lot of
gravel; but it was helped along by the cassia, for I passed a lot ofit on
the day I took the cassia.
Here I learned of a memorable incident. An inhabitant of this
place, a soldier named Giuseppe, who is still alive and commands
[the oarsmen on] one of the galleys of the Genoese as a convict, and
several of whose near relations I saw, was captured by the Turks in
a battle at sea. To regain his liberty he became a Turk (and there are
many of this condition, and especially in the mountains near this
place, still alive) , was circumcised, and married in their territory.
Coming to pillage this coast, he went so far from his base that there
he was, with a few other Turks, caught by the people, who had risen
up. He had the presence of mind to say that he had come to
surrender deliberately, that he was a Christian. He was set at liberty
a few days later, came to this place, and to the house opposite the one
I am lodging in; he entered and encountered his mother. She asked
him roughly who he was and what he wanted; for he still had on his
sailor's clothes, and it was strange to see him there. Finally he made
himself known, for he had been lost for ten or twelve years, and
embraced his mother. She uttered one cry and fell quite distracted;
until the next day they did not see much sign of life in her, and the
doctors were entirely without hope. She finally came back to herself

4 Qyite possibly Montaigne's wife.

1206 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
but she did not live long afterward, and everyone judged that this
shock shortened her life. Our Giuseppe was feted by one and
all , was received into the Chhrch to abjure his error, and received
the Sacrament from the bishop of Lucca, with several other cere­
monies. It was ju�� pumbug: he was a Turk at heart. To return to the
Turks he steals ·away from here, goes to Venice, and mixes with them
again. Resuming his travels, here he falls into our hands again; and
because he is a man of unusual strength and a soldier well versed in
naval matters, the Genoese still keep him and use him, well bound
and fettered.
This nation has many soldiers, inhabitants of the country, who
are all registered for the service of the signory. The colonels have no
other responsibility than to drill them often in marksmanship,
skirmishing, and such things. The men receive no pay, but they
may bear arms, chain mail, harquebuses, and whatever they please;
and then they cannot be seized in person for any debt, and in war
they receive pay. Among them are the captains, ensigns, sergeants.
Only the colonel must necessarily be a foreigner and be paid. The
colonel from the Borgo, the one who had come to visit me the day
before, sent me from the said place (which is four miles from the
bath) a man with sixteen lemons and sixteen artichokes.
The mildness and weakness of this water is further argued by the
fact that it turns so easily into food; for it is immediately colored and
digested, and does not stimulate the desire to urinate the way the
others do, as I observed by my own experience and that of others at
the same time.
Although I was pleasantly and very comfortably lodged, in such
a way as to rival my lodging in Rome, still I had neither window
frame nor fireplace, and still less windowpanes, in my room. This
shows that in Italy they do not have as frequent storms as we do; for
if they did, it would be an intolerable discomfort to have no other
than wooden windows in nearly all the houses. Except for that, I was
very well bedded.
Their beds are wretched little trestles on which they throw
planks, according to the length and width of the bed; on top of
these a straw mattress and a regular mattress, and there you are very
well lodged, if you have a canopy. And to keep your trestles and
planks from showing, three remedies: one, to have strips of the same
stuff as the canopy, as I had in Rome; another, to have your canopy
long enough to hang down to the ground and cover everything,
which is the best way; the third, for the covering, which is fastened
 I T A L Y : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I L L A- 1207
.

at the corners with buttons, to hang down to the ground; it should

be of some light stuff, such as white fustian, with another covering
underneath for warmth. At least I am learning this economy for
my retinue, and for general use at home, and I have no need
for bedsteads. One is very comfortable, and then it is a recipe
against bedbugs.
The same day after dinner I bathed, contrary to the rules of this
region, where they say that one operation impedes the other, and
want to keep them distinct: drink for one spell, and then bathe for
another. They drink eight days and bathe thirty: drink in this bath,
and bathe in the other. The bath is very mild and pleasant. I was in it
for half an hour, and it made me sweat only a little; it was about
suppertime. I went to bed on leaving there, and supped on a salad of
sugared lemon, without anything to drink; for that day I did not
drink a pound, and I think that if the whole count had been kept
until the next day, it would be clear that I had voided by this means
almost all the water I had taken.
It is a stupid habit to keep count of what you piss.
I did not feel bad, but lively, as at the other baths; and yet I was
greatly concerned to see that my water did not pass. Perhaps the
same had happened to me elsewhere; but here they make a tragedy
of this, and from the first day, if you fail to void at least two-thirds,
they advise you to give up drinking or to take medicine.
For my part, if I judge rightly about these waters, they are not
such as to do either much harm or much good; there is nothing but
mildness and weakness in them, and it is to be feared that they warm
up the kidneys more than they purge them; and I think I need hotter
and more aperient waters.
On Thursday morning I again drank five pounds, fearing to be ill
served by them and not to void them. They made me have one stool
and urinate very little.
This same morning, writing to Monsieur d'Ossat, I was over­
come by such painful thoughts about Monsieur de La Boetie,5
and I was in this mood so long, without recovering, that it did me
much harm.
The bottom of this bath is all red and rusty, as is the channel
through which it passes: this, added to its insipidity, makes
me believe that it contains much iron, and that it is binding. On

5 Montaigne's dear friend, who died eighteen years earlier. See, for example,
Essays I : 28; Letters, No. 2.
1208 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
Thursday, in five hours, that I waited to dine, I voided only the fifth
part of what I had drunk.
What a vain thing medicine is! I chanced to say that I repented of
having purged myself so ml,lch, and that this made the water,
finding me empty, serve· _as food and stay in me. I have just seen
_ _

a doctor named Donati in print speaking of these waters, who says

he advises dining little and supping better. I think my conjecture
backs him up. His colleague Franciotti is of the contrary view, as in
many other things.
That day I had some feelings of heaviness in the kidneys which
I feared that the waters themselves caused me, and I was afraid that
they were stagnating there; yet on counting up everything I passed
in twenty-four hours, I came about up to my point, seeing how little
I drank at meals.
Friday I did not drink, and instead of drinking went to bathe in
the morning and wash my head, contrary to the common practice of
the place.
It is a custom of the country to help along one's water by some
drug mixed in, such as sugar candy, or manna, or still stronger
medicine, which they mix with the first glass of their water; and
most ordinarily they use the water of the Tettuccio, which I tasted; it
is salty. I have some suspicion that the apothecaries, instead of
sending to get it near Pistoia, where they say it is, sophisticate some
natural water; for I found its taste extraordinary, besides the saltiness.
They have it heated up and start by drinking one, two, or three glasses.
I have seen it drunk in my presence without any effect. Some put salt
in the water for the first and second glasses or more. They consider
sweating virtually fatal, and also sleeping after drinking. I felt that
the operation of this water strongly inclined me to sweat.
( THE JOU RNAL BY MONTAIGNE IN ITALIAN ]
Let us try to speak this other language 6 a little, especially since I am
in this region where I seem to hear the most perfect Tuscan speech,
particularly among those natives who have not corrupted and
altered it with that of their neighbors.
On S aturday morning early I went to take the water of Bernabo.
This is one spring among all the others on this mountain; and it is
a marvel how many there are, both hot and cold. The mountain is
not very high. It is perhaps three miles around. People drink only

6 Tuscan. For M'mtaigne's comment on this experience, see Essays III: 5, p. 807.
 I T A LY : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I L L A - 1209
from this one principal spring, and from one other that has been
used for a few years. One Bernabo, a leper, had tried both waters and
baths from all the other springs, and; giving up, resolved on this one;
here he was cured. Thereby it came into repute.
There are no houses around, and only a small covered shed and
stone seats around the duct, which, although it is ofiron and has not
been there long, is mostly eaten away underneath. They say it is the
strength of the water that consumes it, and this is very likely. This
water is a little hotter than the other, and in the general opinion
heavier and more violent. It has a little more odor of sulphur, but
only a little; and where it falls, it whitens the spot with an ashen
color, like ours, but less. It is a little less than a mile from my lodging
around the foot of the mountain; its site is a good deal lower than all
the other hot springs. It is about a pike's length or two from the river.
I took five pounds of this water, with some discomfort, because
I was none too well that morning. The day before, I had taken a long
walk of three miles after dinner in the heat; and after supper I felt
the effect of this water somewhat more; I began to get rid ofit in half
an hour. I took a big detour of about two miles to return to my
house. I do not know whether this unusual exercise did me good,
because on the other days I returned immediately to my room so as
not to be chilled by the morning air; and the houses are not thirty
paces from the spring. The first water that I voided was natural and
pretty gravelly, the rest white and undigested. Broke wind endlessly.
About the third pound that I got rid of began to recover a sort of
reddish color. I had discharged more than half of it before dinner.
Going around this mountain in all directions I found many hot
springs. And furthermore, the peasants say that in certain places in
winter the mountain smokes: a proof that there are still others. They
seem to me of about the same heat, without smell, without taste,
without fumes, compared with ours.
I saw another place at Corsena much lower than the baths, where
there are a large number of shower baths, more comfortable than the
others. They say there are still more springs that feed these pipes,
some eight or ten; and they have different names inscribed over each
tap, indicating their effects: the Savory, the Gentle, the Enamored,
the Crown, the Desperate, etc. In truth, some of the channels are
hotter than others.
The mountains around are almost all fertile in wheat and grapes,
whereas fifty years ago they were covered with woods and chestnuts.
You see a few bare mountains with snow on top, but very distant.
I2IO T RA V E L J O U R N A L
The people eat "wooden bread": so they proverbially call the bread
made of chestnuts, whid;i is their principal crop; and it is prepared
like what they call pain d'epicei in France. I never saw so many toads
and snakes. And for feai:.of t�e snakes the boys often do not dare to
pick the strawbe�r�es, of whrch there is a very great abundance on
the mountains .and -in the hedges.
Some people take three or four grains of candied coriander with
each glass of water to get rid of the wind.
On Whitsunday, May r 4th, I took five pounds and more of the
water of Bernabo, because my glass held more than one pound. The
four principal holidays of the year they call Pasqua. 8 I voided a lot of
gravel the first time, and in less than two hours I had got rid of more
than two-thirds of the water, having taken it with a desire to urinate
and with my usual appetite as at the other baths. It made my bowels
loose and purged me thoroughly in that respect. The Italian pound
is only twelve ounces.
You live here very cheaply. A pound of meat, veal, very good and
very tender, is about three French sous. Plenty of trout, but small.
There are good workmen at making parasols, which in these parts
they carry everywhere. The country is hilly, and there are few level
roads. However, there are some very pleasant ones, and even the
approaches to the mountains are mostly paved.
After dinner I gave a dance for the peasant girls, and danced in it
myself so as not to appear too reserved. In certain parts of Italy,
including all ofTuscany and Urbino, the women curtsy French style,
at the knees.
Near the channel of the spring at La Villa there is a square
marble that was put there just no years ago, on these Calends
of May, on which are inscribed the virtues of this spring. I omit
it, because it is found in many printed books which deal with
the baths of Lucca. At all the baths you find a good many small
clocks9 for public use. I always had two on my table, which were lent
to me.
This evening I ate nothing but three slices ofbread, toasted, with
butter and sugar, without drinking.

7 Gingerbread.
8 In this neighborhood these would seem to be Easter (Pasqua d'uove, of eggs),
Whitsunday (Pasqua di rose, of roses), Christmas (Pasqua di ceppo, of the log) ,
and Ascension Day (with no special name).
9 Presumably hourglasses.
 I T A L Y : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I I,. L A- 1211
On Monday, judging that this water had sufficiently opened the
way, I went back to drinking that of the ordinary spring, and took
five pounds of it. It did not induce me to sweat, as it used to do. The
first time I passed some of the water I discharged some gravel, which
seemed in fact to be broken up stones. This water seemed to me
almost cold in comparison with that of Bernabo, although that of
Bernabo had a very moderate warmth; it is very far from coming up
to that of Plombieres and the ordinary water of Bagneres. It had
a good effect in both directions; and so it was lucky that I did not
believe those doctors who ordered me to give up drinking if it did
not succeed on the first day.
On Tuesday, May 16th, as is the custom in these parts (and I like
it), I discontinued drinking, and stayed in the bath an hour and
more, under the spout, because the water everywhere else seems
cold to me. Since I still felt that wind remaining in the lower bowels
and intestines, without pain, and a little in the stomach, I was afraid
that the water was the particular cause of this; wherefore
I discontinued it. I enjoyed the bath so much that I would gladly
have gone to sleep in it. It did not make me sweat, but it moved my
bowels. I dried myself well and stayed in bed for a while.
Every month they hold a review of the soldiers of each vicariate.
The colonel, our man, from whom I had received a world of
courtesies, held his. There were two hundred soldiers, pikesmen
and musketeers. He had them fight. They are extremely well trained
for peasants. But this is his principal responsibility, to keep them in
order and teach them military discipline.
The people are all divided among themselves into the French
faction and the Spanish faction; and in this strife serious quarrels are
always arising. They make public demonstrations of their feelings.
The women and men of our side wear over their right ear bunches of
flowers, a biretta, locks of hair, and all that kind of thing; the
Spaniards wear them on the other side.
These peasants and their wives are dressed like gentlefolk. You
never see a peasant woman who does not wear white shoes, fine
thread stockings, a colored apron of light silk taffeta; and they
dance, capriole, and pirouette very well.
When they speak of the "Prince" in this signory, they mean the
Council of One Hundred and Twenty. The colonel cannot take
a wife without the permission of the "Prince," and he has great
difficulty in obtaining it, because they do not want him to acquire
friends and family relationships in the region; and moreover he
I2I2 T RAVEL JOU R N A L
.

cannot buy any property. No soldier leaves the country without

permission; and there are many who through poverty go begging
through these mountains, an d buy their arms with what they gain.
On Wednesday I was at tp e bath and stayed there more than an
hour, sweated a l�ttle, and bathed my head.
We see here that�the German custom of warming clothes and
everything else in winter by their stoves is convenient; for our bath
attendant, by holding a little charcoal under a facone, and raising
the mouth of it with a brick, so that it gets air to feed the fire,
warms the clothes very well and quickly, and indeed more con­
veniently than do our fires. A facone is one of our warming pans.
Here they call unmarried girls and girls of marriageable age
bambe; and boys, until they have a beard, putti.
On Thursday I was a little more prompt and took my
bath earlier. I sweated a little in the bath and bathed my head
under the spout. I felt my strength a little weakened by the bath,
and a little heaviness in the kidneys; I was still discharging gravel
as I did from drinking, and a lot of phlegm. Indeed it seemed to
me that this had the same effect on me as drinking. I continued
on Friday.
Every day they sold unlimited quantities of water from this
spring and from the other at Corsena, for various parts of Italy. It
seemed to me that these baths cleared up my complexion. I was still
bothered by that wind around the groin, without pain, which made
me discharge in my urine a lot of foam, and bubbles that did
not burst for some time. Sometimes there were also black hairs,
but not many. I had noticed at other times that I discharged many of
them. My urine was usually cloudy and charged with matter. The
urine had something greasy on its surface.
This nation is not in the habit of eating as much meat as we do.
Only ordinary meat is sold. They hardly know the price of it. A very
fine young hare was sold me in this season at the very first word, so
to speak, for six of our 'sous. They do not hunt them, they do not
breed them, because no one buys them.
On Saturday, because the weather was cloudy and there was such
a wind as made you feel the lack of shutters and windows, I stayed
quiet without bathing or drinking. I perceived one great effect of
these waters: that my brother,10 who had never noticed voiding any

roPresumably Bertrand de Mattecoulon, whom the party had left in Rome but
who had rejoined them here.
 I T A LY : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I L L A 1 2 13
gravel by himself or at the other baths where he had dn� nk with me,
yet discharged an infinite amount o( it here.
On the Sunday morning I bathed, but not my head; and after
dinner I gave a dance with public prizes, as is the custom at these
baths; and I wanted to give the first one of this year. First, five or six
days beforehand, I had the party announced in all the neighboring
places. The day before, I sent special invitations to all the gentlemen
and ladies who were staying at the two baths. I invited them to the
ball and to supper afterward.
I sent to Lucca for the prizes. The custom is to give several of
these, so as not to appear to select just one woman out of them all,
and so as to avoid jealousy and suspicion. There are always eight or
ten for the women; for the men, two or three. I was asked by many
women not to forget themselves, or a niece, or a daughter. On the
day before, Messer Giovanni da Vincenzo Saminiati, a great friend
of mine, sent me from Lucca a leather belt and a biretta of black
cloth for the men, as I had written asking him to do. For the women,
two taffeta aprons, one green, the other violet (for it must be noted
that there is always some more honorable prize for the one or two
you want to favor) , two aprons of coarse muslin, four papers of pins,
four pairs of pumps (but I gave one of these to a pretty girl, not at the
dance); a pair of slippers (to which I added a pair of pumps, and
made a single prize of the two); three crystal nets and three tresses of
hair, which made three prizes; four little necklaces. There were
nineteen prizes for the women. It all came to six crowns, little
more. I had five fife players. I gave them food for the whole
day and a crown for the lot; which was my good luck, for they do
not normally do it for that price. These prizes are hung from
a sort of hoop, heavily decorated all over, and are displayed for
everyone to see.
We began the dance in the square with the women of the
neighborhood, and at first I was afraid that we would be left
alone. Soon there came much company from all directions,
and particularly a good many gentlemen and ladies of this signory,
whom I received and entertained to the best of my ability. At
all events, it seemed to me that they were satisfied. Since it was
a bit warm, we went to the hall of the Buonvisi palace, which
was very suitable.
As day was beginning to fall, a little after five in the afternoon,
I addressed myself to the most important ladies, saying that since
I lacked sufficient skill and boldness to judge such beauties and
1214 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
graces and nice manners as I saw in these girls, I begged them to
assume this charge of judgin$ and to distribute the prizes to the
company according to their merits. We were held up on ceremony
for a bit because they refusedJo assume this charge, which they took
to be too much courtesy t-0 them. Finally I added this condition, that
if they would be good enough to take me into their counsel, I would
give my opinion. And this was the result, that I picked out with my
eyes now this one, now that; wherein I did not fail to have some
regard for beauty and grace, pointing out that the charm of the
dance depended not only on the movement of the feet, but also on
the carriage and grace and charm and elegance of the whole person.
Thus the presents were distributed, more to one, less to another,
according to their merit, this lady offering them to the dancers on
my behalf, and I on the contrary referring all the obligation to her.
The thing went off in a very orderly and regular manner, except that
one of the girls refused the prize. She sent to beg me that for her
sake I should give it to another girl; which I did not consent to do.
The other was not one of the most attractive.
They were called up one by one from their places, and came
before that lady and me, who were seated side by side. I would
give the present that seemed right to me to the lady, kissing it, and
she, taking it, would give it to the girl, saying graciously: "Here is
this lord knight who is giving you this fine present: thank him."
"On the contrary, you are obliged to her ladyship, who out of so
many others has judged you worthy to receive a prize. I am very
sorry that the present is not more worthy of such-and-such a quality
of yours" - and I named these according to what they were. The
same thing was promptly done with the men. The gentlemen and
ladies are not included in this competition, although they take part
in the dancing.
In truth it is a beautiful thing, and a rare one to us French, to see
these peasant girls, so elegant, and dressed like ladies, dance so well:
they are a match for the rarest of our ladies in that ability, but they
dance differently.
I invited them all to supper, for the banquets in Italy are nothing
but a very light meal by French standards - a few cuts of veal and one
or two brace of chicken is all. There stayed to supper Signor
Francesco Gambarini, the colonel of this vicariate, a gentleman of
Bologna who is like a brother to me; one French gentleman; and no
others; except that I had Divizia sit at the table. She is a poor peasant
woman of tht neighborhood, living about two miles from the baths,
 I T A L Y : F I R S T S T A Y A T L A V I LLA 1 2 15
who, like her husband, has no other way of earning a living except
by the work of her own hands; . ugly, thirty-seven years old,
with a swollen neck. She can neither write nor read. But in her
tender youth there was an uncle in her father 's house who was
always reading Ariosto and other poets in her presence, and
her mind was found to be so born to poetry that she not only
composes verses with the most wonderful readiness possible,
but also brings into them ancient fables, names of the gods,
countries, sciences, famous men, as if she had been brought up to
study. She delivered a number of verses in my honor. To tell the
truth, they are nothing but verses and rhymes. Her delivery is
elegant and very rapid.
The company at the ball amounted to a hundred visitors and
more, although the season was unfavorable; for at that time the
great and most important harvest of the whole year takes place, that
of silk; and these days they tire themselves out with work, without
regard for any holiday, morning and evening, collecting the mul­
berry leaves for their silkworms; and all these girls are employed in
this labor.
On Monday morning I went to the bath a little later, because
I got a shave and a haircut. I bathed my head and gave it a shower for
more than a quarter of an hour under the main tap.
Among others at my dance was the Lord Vicar, who administers
justice. Thus they call a magistrate appointed for six months, whom
the signory sends to each vicariate to judge civil cases in the
first instance, and he decides them up to a certain small sum.
There is another officer for criminal cases. I gave him to understand
that it seemed reasonable to me that the signory should make
some rule (which would be very easy; and I suggested to him the
ways that seemed most appropriate to me) obliging the innumerable
dealers who come here to take these waters and carry them all
over Italy to show a certificate of the amount of water they carry,
so as to deprive them of the opportunity of perpetrating a fraud.
Whereof I gave him an experience of my own, which was this: One
of these muleteers came to my landlord, a private person, and
begged him to give him a statement in writing that he was taking
away twenty-four loads of this water; and he had only four.
The landlord at first refused, for that reason; but the other added
that in four to six days he would be returning to get the twenty loads.
I said that this muleteer had not returned. The Lord Vicar received
this advice of mine very well; but he did all he could to find out
1216 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
who that witness w�s and who was that muleteer, what he
looked like, what hors€s he had. I never would tell him either
'
one, never.
I also told him that f wanted to initiate the custom observed in
all the famous baths ofEu !ope, that persons above a certain rank
leave their coat -.of -arms there as a token of the obligation they
have to those waters; for which he thanked me very much on behalf
of the signory.
In these days they were beginning to mow the hay in some
places.
On Tuesday I stayed two hours in the bath and gave my head
a shower for a little more than a quarter of an hour.
There came to the baths in these days a merchant from Cre­
mona, living in Rome. He was suffering from many extraordinary
infirmities. Nevertheless he talked and walked, and led quite a jolly
life, as far as I could see. His principal failing, he said, was a weak
head: he had lost his memory so completely that when eating he
never remembered what had been put before him at table. If he
left the house to go on some business of his, he had to go back to
the house ten times to ask where he was to go. He could hardly
finish the paternoster: from the end he went a hundred times to
the beginning, never noticing at the end that he had begun, or, on
beginning again, that he had ended. He had been deaf and blind,
and had suffered from toothache. He felt so much heat in the
kidneys that he always had to have a strip of lead around them.
He had been living under doctors' orders for many years, and
observing them most religiously.
It was an amusing thing to see the various prescriptions of
the doctors from various parts of Italy, so contradictory, and parti­
cularly on the matter of these baths and showers, that out of
twenty consulted there were not two in agreement; on the contrary,
they almost all condemned one another and accused one another
of homicide.
This man was subject to an amazing accident because of the
flatulence: the wind rushed out of his ears with such fury that many
times it would not let him sleep. Instead, whenever he yawned he
immediately felt great winds coming out of his ears. He said that for
getting the bowels moving the best remedy he had was to put four
big candied coriander seeds in his mouth for a bit, and after moist­
ening and smoothing them a little, to put them up the anus; which
had a very apparent and prompt effect.
 I TA LY : F I R S T S TAY AT LA VI LLA 1217
On him I first saw one of those big hats made of peacock
feathers, covered with light taffe�a, the crown a good hand's­
breadth high, and big; and inside it a coarse muslin cap of the size
of the head to keep out the sun; and around it wings a foot and a half
wide, in place of our parasols, which in truth are a nuisance to carry
on horseback.
Since at other times I have repented of not having written more
in detail on the subject of the other baths, so that I could derive rules
and examples for those I used later, this time I want to expatiate.
On Wednesday I went to the bath. I felt a heat in my body, more
sweat than usual, a little weakness, dryness and bitterness in my
mouth, and an indescribable dizziness on getting out of the bath, as
happened to me on account of the heat of the waters at all the other
baths: Plombieres, Bagneres, Prechacq. At that of Barbotan and at
this one never, except this Wednesday; whether because I had gone
there much earlier than on the other days, and before discharging
my bowels, or because I found the water much hotter than usual.
I was there for an hour and a half, and showered my head for about
a quarter of an hour.
I did many things contrary to the common rule: taking a shower
in the bath, for the custom is to do one separately, and then the
other; taking a shower with this water, whereas there are few who do
not go to the other bath for a shower, and take it from this tap or
that, some at the first, some at the second, some at the third,
according to the doctor's prescription; drinking and then bathing
and then drinking, thus mixing up the days for one or the other,
whereas the others drink for certain days and then use the baths for
a stretch; not observing the appropriate periods, for the others drink
for ten days at the most, and bathe at least twenty-five days in
succession; bathing only once a day, whereas they always bathe
twice; taking such a short shower, whereas they always stay in it at
least an hour in the morning and the same in the evening. As for
getting tonsured, as they all do, and then putting on the bald place
a little piece of satin with a sort of net to keep it on the head, my
polished head had no need of it.
This same day, in the morning, the Lord Vicar came to visit me ­
one of the principal gentlemen of this signory, coming specially
from the other baths, where he was staying. Among other things he
told me an amazing story about himself, that the bite of a beetle on
the fleshy tip of his thumb a few years ago had brought him to such
an extremity that he nearly died of exceeding faintness; and from
1218 T RAVE L JOU R N A L
.

that he fell into such misery that he was five months in bed without
moving, lying constantlr- on- his loins, thus heating them so im­
moderately that they engende red the renal calculus, from which he
suffered a great deal for-over,,.a year, as well as from colic. Finally his
father, governor : o f Ve�€.tri; sent him a certain green stone which
_
had come into "his hands through a monk who had been in India. As
long as he had this stone against his back he never felt either pain or
flow of gravel. And he had been in this state for two years. As for the
sting, his thumb and almost his whole hand had remained useless,
and even his arm so weakened that every year he comes to the baths
of Corsena to shower that arm and hand, as he was doing then.
The common people here are very poor. At this time they were
eating green mulberries, which they picked from the trees as they
stripped them of their leaves for the silkworms.
Since our terms for renting the house for the month of June had
been left undecided, I wanted to clear this up with my landlord,
who, realizing how much I was in demand with all his neighbors,
and particularly with the steward of the Buonvisi palace, who had
offered it to me for a gold crown a day, made up his mind to let me
have my rooms for as long as I liked at the rate of twenty-five gold
crowns a month; this agreement beginning on the first ofJune, and
the first bargain being in force until then.
The inhabitants of this place are very full of envy and of secret
deadly enmities, although they are all related.
A woman here told me this proverb:
To make your wife conceive , the surest way
Is: send her to the bath, and stay away.
Among other very pleasant things in my house was this, that
I could go from the bath to bed by a level path only thirty paces long.
I did not like to see these mulberry trees stripped of their leaves,
looking like winter in the middle of summer.
The gravel I was continually voiding seemed to me much
rougher than usual, and left me with an indescribable stinging in
my prick.
Every day you could see being brought to this place from all sides
samples of various wines in tiny little bottles, so that the visitors
there who liked them might order some; and there were very few
good wines. There were light, rather bitter, and raw whites, or really
coarse, rough reds, unless you sent to Lucca or Pescia for the white
Trebbiano, very mature, though not too delicate for all that.
 I T A L Y : F I R S T S TA Y A T L A V I_I; L A 1219

On Thursday, the feast of Corpus Christi, I too a temperate �

bath for an hour or more; I sweated verv little, and came out of it
..

without any alteration. I showered my head for half of a quarter

hour, and on going back to bed went to sleep for a while. I found this
bathing and showering pleasurable rather than otherwise. I felt on
my hands and other parts of the body a rash, and moreover I noticed
that many of the peasants around here had the itch, and many
children suffered from milk crust.
It happens here as elsewhere, that what we seek with so much
difficulty is held in contempt by the people of the country: and I saw
many of them who had never tasted these waters and had a low
opinion of them. Withal there are few old people.
With the phlegm that I voided in my urine (which happens to
me continually) there was gravel enveloped and suspended. I seemed
to feel this effect from the bath when I put my groin under the
spout, that it drove the winds out of me. And certainly
I have felt my
right testicle suddenly and clearly be reduced in size at times, if it
had chanced to swell up, as happens to me fairly often. From this
I almost conclude that this swelling is caused by the effect of the
wind enclosed inside it.
On Friday I bathed as usual and showered my head a bit more.
The extraordinary quantity of gravel that I continually voided made
me suppose that it had not been enclosed in the kidneys, because you
y
could have made a big ball of it b squeezing it; and that what the
water did was rather to make it conceive and gradually give birth.
On Saturday I bathed for two hours and took a shower for more
than a quarter of an hour. On Sunday I kept quiet. On this day
a gentleman from Bologna treated us to another ball.
The lack of clocks in this place and in most of Italy seemed to me
very mconveruent.
In the bathhouse there is a Madonna, and these verses:

Pray grant to all who enter, Goddess kind,

To leave here sound in body and in mind.

One cannot praise too highly,

both for beauty and for utility,
this way of cultivating the mountains right up to the summit,
forming terraces in a circle around them, and supporting the tops
of these terraces now with stones, now with other ramparts, if the
ground does not hold them of itself; filling with wheat the flat part
of the terrace, wider or narrower as it happens to be; bordering with
vines the outside of the flat part toward the valley, that is to say the
1220 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
circumference and edg� ; and where they cannot find or form a flat
surface, as for example n@ar the summit, putting vines all over.
At this balln a woman bega'n to dance with a pitcher full of water
on her head, keeping it ste�dy and firm, with no lack of lively
movements.
·
·

The doctor� were/stupefied to see most of our Frenchmen drink

in the morning and then bathe on the same day.
Monday morning I stayed in the bath two hours. I did not give
myself a shower because I took three pounds of water on a whim,
which made my bowels move. I used to bathe my eyes every morn­
ing, holding them open in the water. I felt no effect from it, either
good or bad. I believe that I got rid of those three pounds of water in
the bath - where I urinated a good many times and then sweated
a little more than usual - and in my stool. Having felt more con­
stipated than usual for the last few days, I used the aforementioned
three grains of candied coriander, which drove out a lot of wind, of
which I was very full, but little matter. Although I purged my
kidneys wonderfully, I did not stop feeling some pricking there;
and I judged that it was due rather to wind than to anything else.
Tuesday I stayed two hours in the bath, showered myself for half
an hour, and did not drink. Wednesday I stayed in the bath an hour
and a half and showered myself about half an hour.
Up to now, to tell the truth, from the little dealing and familiarity
I have had with the people of this country, I have not noted those
miracles of wit and reason with which rumor credits them. I have
seen no extraordinary ability: indeed they have marveled at and
made too much of that little power of ours.12 Thus today certain
doctors who had to hold an important consultation for a young lord,
Signor Paolo Cesi (nephew of Cardinal Cesi), who was at these
baths, came to ask me, at his behest, to be good enough to hear their
opinions and arguments, because he was resolved to rely wholly on
my judgment. I laughed about this to myself. Many other similar
things have happened to me, both here and in Rome.
My eyes still sometimes felt dazzled when I had grown tired
either from reading or from fixing them steadily on some bright
and brilliant object; and I have been very worried to feel this
weakness continuing ever since the day I had a migraine recently

rr The one referred to four paragraphs earlier, given by the gentleman from
Bologna.
12 Presumably i:1 the sense of mine.
 I TA L Y : F I R S T S TAY A T LA V I LLA 1221

near Florence: that is to say, a heaviness in the head around the

forehead, without pain, a certain cl9uding of the eyes' that did not
shorten my sight but somehow troubled it at times. After this the
migraine came upon me again two or three times; and on those
occasions it lasted longer, without, however, interfering with my
activities. But since this showering of my head it has attacked me
again every day, and my eyes have begun to run, as before, without
pain or redness; and it has been more than ten years from the time
I last had this headache until I got this migraine .
Fearing also that this water might weaken my head, on Thursday
I would not take a shower, but bathed for an hour. During Friday,
Saturday, and S unday I discontinued the cure in every form, for that
reason and because I felt a good deal less cheerful, since I was still
discharging gravel furiously; but my head, still the same, was not
restored to its former good condition. At certain times I felt this
alteration, which was increased by the working of the imagination.
On Monday morning I drank, in thirteen glasses , six pounds and
a half ofwater from the ordinary spring. I passed about three pounds
of this, white and undigested, before dinner; the rest little by little .
This headache , although it was not continuous or very troublesome,
made my complexion much worse . I did not feel any failing or
weakness in my head, as sometimes formerly, but only a weight on
the eyes accompanied by rather cloudy vision.
On this day they began to cut the rye on our plain.
On Tuesday at daybreak I went to the Bernabo spring and there
drank six pounds, one at a time. It was raining a bit. I sweated a little .
It gave me a movement and washed out my bowels lustily. For that
reason I could not judge how much I had given out. I did not urinate
much, but in two hours my urine had taken on some color.
They take boarders here for six gold crowns a month, or a little
more, for lodging in a private room, as comfortable as you please;
with a valet, as much again. If you have no valet, you will still be
furnished by the landlord with many provisions for eating suitably.
Before the natural day was over I had passed all the water, and
more than I had drunk of all kinds of drink. I had only one little
drink at dinner, half a pound. I ate little supper.
On Wednesday, a rainy day, I took seven pounds, one at a time,
from the ordinary spring, and passed them, as well as what I had
drunk besides.
On Thursday I took nine pounds: seven in a row at first, and
then, when I had begun to discharge it, I sent for two more pounds.
1222 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
I discharged it in both �ays. I drank very little at dinner. On Friday
and Saturday I drd the same. On Sunday I stayed quiet.
On Monday I took sevet\ glasses, seven pounds. I was still
voiding gravel, but a little le� than after a bath; I saw examples of
this effect of the b.aths in a_ good many other people at the same time.
On this day I felt' a pain-in my groin as from the descent of stones,
and I passed a small one.
On Tuesday, another. And I can say, and almost affirm, that
I have observed that this water has the power to break them up,
because I could feel the large size of some of them as they were
coming down, and then I discharged them in smaller pieces. This
Tuesday I drank eight pounds in eight times.
If Calvin had known that the Preaching Friars hereabouts call
themselves Ministers, he would no doubt have given another name
to his.
Wednesday I took eight pounds, eight glasses. I almost always
passed the first half of it, undigested and natural, in three hours;
then about a half a pound, reddish and colored; the rest after dinner
and at night.
In this season people were gathering at the bath. And from
those examples that I saw, and from the opinion of the doctors,
especially of Donati, who has written about these waters,
I had made no great mistake in bathing my head in this bath;
for they too have the custom, when they are in the bath, of giving
their stomach a shower with a long pipe, attaching one end to the tap
and the other to their body in the bath; and since ordinarily
they took their head shower with this same water, they bathed
on the same day that they took the shower. So I cannot have
made a great mistake in mixing the two together, or in having
taken the water from the channel of the spring itself instead
of the pipe. And perhaps I was wrong not to continue. And
the feeling I have about it up to now seems to be that I have
stirred up the humors which in time would have been driven out
and purged.
This Donati permitted drinking and bathing on the same day.
And I am sorry I did not have the boldness, as I had the desire, and
with some reason, to drink in the bath in the morning. He greatly
praised Bernabo, but with those reasons and arguments that the
medicos use.
The effect of these waters on the gravel, which continued in
me all the time, was not to be seen in a number of others who
 I T A LY : F I R S T S TAY AT LA V I LLA 1 2 23
were free from this infirmity. Which I say because I cannot make
up my mind to believe that th�y produced the ' gravel that
I discharged.
Thursday morning I was in the bath for an hour without bathing
my head, and before daybreak, in order to have the first place. For
that reason, I believe, and because I slept afterward in bed, I felt bad:
my mouth, dry and thirsty, and so hot that in the evening, on going
to bed, I drank two big glasses of that water, cooled; from which I felt
no other change.
On Friday I stayed quiet. The Minister Friar of Saint Francis (so
they call the provincials) , 13 a worthy man and courteous and learned,
who was at the bath with many other friars of various orders, sent
me a handsome present of very good wine, marzipan, and other
things to eat.
On Saturday I did not take the cure, and went to dine at
Menabbio, a handsome large village at the top of one of these
mountains. I took some fish along, and was received into the
house of a rich soldier who has traveled much in Franee and other
places, and took a wife and got rich in Flanders. He is called Signor
Santo. There are vast numbers of peasant soldiers here, a beautiful
church, and few who have not traveled much; everyone is strongly
divided into these Spanish and French factions. Without thinking
about it I put a flower at my left ear. The French faction took it as
an insult.
After dinner I climbed up to the fort, which is a place protected
by high walls right at the top of the hill, very steep, but thoroughly
cultivated everywhere. And here among the ever-present crags,
among the rocky precipices and steep places and rugged hills, you
find not only vines and wheat, but also meadows; and in the plain
they have no grass. I then came straight down by another side of
the mountain.
On Sunday morning I went to the bath with several other
gentlemen. I stayed there half an hour. There came to me from
Signor Ludovico Pinitesi a beautiful present of a horse laden with
very beautiful fruit, and among other things some early figs, of
which none had yet been seen at the bath, and twelve bottles
of very sweet wine. And at the same time the aforesaid friar sent

13 A provincial 1s the superior of all the Franciscan monasteries m one

provmce.
1 2 24 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
me other kinds of fruit in great quantity; so that I too was able to
exercise liberality to the country people.
After dinner was the ball, where a number of gentlewomen
gathered, well dressed, but of ordinary beauty, although they were
among the most b�_autifol ofLucca.
In the evening Signor Ludovico di Ferrari, of Cremona, whom
I knew very well, sent me a present of some boxes of very good
quince jelly, scented, and some lemons, and some oranges of extra­
ordinary size.
At night, a little before daybreak, I was seized by a cramp in the
calf of the right leg, with very great pain, not continuous but
intermittent. I remained in that discomfort for half an hour. I had
felt one not long before, but it passed in a flash.
On Monday I went to the bath and was there for an hour with
my stomach under the tap. That vein in my leg still pricked me
a little.
Just at this time we began to feel the heat and to hear the
grasshoppers, though no more than in France; until then the seasons
had seemed cooler to me than at home.
Free nations do not have the same distinction between people's
ranks as do the others; and even those of the lowest class have
something lordly in their manner. When they ask for alms they
always mix in some authoritative word: "Give me alms, will you?" or
"Give me alms, understand!" As they say in Rome: "Do good for
your own sake. "14
On Tuesday I stayed in the bath for an hour.

Italy: Florence - Pisa - Lucca

(June 21-August lJ , 1581)

On Wednesday, June 21st, early, I left La Villa, after receiving, when

I took leave of the company of men and women who were there, all
the indications of friendliness that I could desire. I came through
steep, but pleasant and wooded mountains, to
P ESCIA, twelve miles, a little walled village on the river Pescia, in
Florentine territory. Handsome houses, open streets, the famous
wines of Trebbiano; situated among very thick olive trees; the

14 Montaigne q·..1 otes this again in the Essays (III : 5, p. 829).

 ITALY: FLO RENCE - PI SA - LUCCA 1 2 25
people most affectionate toward France: and for this reason, they
say, the city bears a dolphin as its anp.s. 1 '
After dinner we came upon a beautiful plain, heavily populated
with chateaux and houses. And through absent-mindedness,
despite my intention and settled plans, I forgot to see Montecatini,
wher,e they have the hot salt water of the Tettuccio, which I left
a mile off my road on the right, about seven miles from Pescia; and
I did not realize this until I had nearly reached
PI STOIA, eleven miles. I was lodged outside the city, where the
son of Rospigliosi2 came to see me.
Anyone who goes through Italy with other than hired horses
does not know what he is doing. And it seems to me more con­
venient to change them from place to place than to put yourself in
the hands of the drivers for a long trip. From Pistoia to Florence,
which is twenty miles, the horses cost only four giulii.
From here, passing through the town of Prato, I came to dine at
CASTELLO, in a hostelry opposite the grand duke's palace, where
we went after dinner to examine the garden more minutely. And it
happened to me here as in many other things: imagination trans­
cended the reality. I had seen it in the winter bare and stripped. I had
thought more of its future beauty in the milder season than
appeared to me in actuality. Castello, seventeen miles. After dinner
I came to
FLORENCE , three miles.
On Friday I saw the public procession, and the grand duke in his
coach. Among other displays one saw a car in the form of a theater,
gilt on top, in which there were four little boys and a friar dressed
up to represent Saint Francis, standing up, holding his hands as
you see them in the pictures, with a crown on his cowl - either a friar
or a man dressed as a friar, with a false beard. There were some
armed boys of the city, and among them one as Saint George.
There came to meet him in the square a big dragon, supported
pretty clumsily and carried by men, spouting fire noisily from his
mouth. The boy gave him one with the lance and the sword, and
cut his throat.

r The French for dolphin, dauphin, also means the eldest son of the king. The
Pescian dolphin appears to owe its place on their coat of arms to another pun, on
pesce (fish) .
2 Taddeo Rospigliosi had entertained Montaigne at Pistoia before. See Travel
journal, p. n98.
1226 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
I was warmly entert.ained by a Gondi who lives at Lyons and who
sent me some excellent wines, that is to say, Trebbiano.
It was so hot as to astonisl\ even the natives.
This morning at daybreak I had the colic in my right side. It
afflicted me for . al;>out three hours. Then I ate my first melon.
Cucumbers and. almemds are eaten in Florence from the beginning
of June.
About the 23rd they had the chariot race in a beautiful large
square,3 rectangular, longer than it is wide, surrounded on all sides
by beautiful houses. At each end was placed a square wooden
obelisk, and a long rope was attached from one to the other, so
that people could not cross the square; and some men placed
themselves across to reinforce the said rope. All the balconies
crowded with ladies, and in one palace the grand duke, his wife,
and his court. The populace along the square, and on a kind of
grandstand, as I was too.
Five empty coaches raced. They were assigned their places by lot
at one side of one pyramid. And some said that the outside one had
the advantage, because it could make the turns more easily. They
started at the sound of trumpets. The third turn around the pyramid
they started from is the one that gives the victory. The grand duke's
coach was ahead all the way until the third lap. Here Strozzi's coach,
which had been second all the way, with the horses given free rein,
putting on greater speed than before and closing in, placed the
victory in doubt. I noticed that the silence of the people was broken
when they saw Strozzi coming close, and with shouts and applause
they gave him all the encouragement possible under the eyes of
the prince. And then, when this dispute and altercation came to be
judged by certain gentlemen, and those favoring Strozzi referred it
to the opinion of the populace present, there immediately arose
from the people a universal shout and a public consensus in favor
of Strozzi, who finally had it - contrary to justice, in my opinion.
The prize would be worth a hundred crowns. I enjoyed this spec­
tacle more than any other I had seen in Italy for its resemblance to
the ancient type of race.
Because today was Saint John's Eve, certain little fires were
placed at the top of the cathedral in a circle in two or three rows,
from which rockets were launched into the air. They say that it is not
the custom in Italy, as in France, to make Saint John's fires.

3 The Piazza di Santa Maria Novella.

 I TA LY : F L O R E N C E - P I S A - L U C C A 1227
Saturday, Saint John's Day, which is the principal holiday in
Florence, and the one they celebrat� most; so that at di.is feast even
the young girls are seen in public; however, I saw no great beauty. In
the morning, in the palace square, the grand duke appeared on
a stand (under a canopy, along the walls of his palace) decked with
very rich tapestry, having on his left side the Pope's nuncio, and
much further away the ambassador of Ferrara. There passed before
him all his villages and fortified places, as they were called by a herald.
So, for Siena, a young man came forward dressed in black and white
velvet, carrying in his hand a kind oflarge silver vessel and the figure
of the she-wolf of Siena. Thus dressed and laden, this man made an
offering to the grand duke and a little speech. When he had finished,
there came forward as they were called some badly dressed boys on
very wretched horses and mules, carrying one a silver cup, another
a torn and dilapidated banner. These in great numbers passed along
their way without saying a word, without respect and without
ceremony, more as if for a joke than otherwise; and they were the
fortified places depending on the State of Siena. Every year this is
repeated as a matter of form.
There also passed by there a car carrying a large square wooden
pyramid, and on certain steps around it some little boys dressed
some in one way, some in another, as angels or saints; and at the top,
at the height of the tallest houses, a Saint John, a man dressed up in
his guise, bound to an iron bar. The officials, and particularly those
of the mint, followed this car.
At the end came another car, on which were certain young men
bearing three prizes for the different races, having at their side the
Barbary horses that were to race that day, and the boys who were to
ride them, with the colors of their masters, who are among the
highest lords. The horses are small and handsome.
The heat did not seem to me more violent than in France.
However, to escape it in these hotel rooms, I was forced to sleep at
night on the dining room table, putting mattresses and sheets on it;
not having found here any comfortable lodging to rent, for this city
is not a good one for strangers; also to escape the bugs, with which
the beds are most thickly infested.
There is not much fish, and no trout or other fish is eaten except
what comes from elsewhere and is marinated. I saw that the grand
duke sent to Giovanni Marliani, a Milanese lodging in the same
hotel where I was, a present of wine, bread, fruit, and fish; but the
fish alive, small, in earthenware coolers.
1228 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
I had a dry and aria mouth all day and felt parched not from
thirst, but from an internal heat which I have experienced at other
times in our hot spells. I ate nbthing but fruit and salad with sugar.
In short, I was not well.-· .
Those open-C'!.ir. recreatiohs that are practiced in France after
supper here come before it. And on the longest days they often
sup at night. Day breaks in the morning between seven and eight.
After dinner the Barbary horses ran for the prize. The Cardinal
de' Medici's horse won it. This prize was worth two hundred
crowns. It is not a very entertaining sight, because, being in the
street, you see nothing but these horses going furiously past.
On Sunday I saw the Pitti Palace, and among other things
a marble mule representing an actual mule that is still alive, because
of its long service carrying materials for building this palace. So the
Latin verses say. 4
At this palace we saw the chimaera, which has between the
shoulders a nascent head with horns and ears, and a body in
the form of a little lion.
On the Saturday the grand duke's palace was open and full of
country people, to whom everything was open, and the great hall
was full of groups of dancers, some here, some there. To these
people I believe this is a kind of symbol of their lost liberty, which
is refreshed at this main festival of the city.
On Monday I went to dine at the house of Signor Silvio Picco­
lomini, well known for his valor and in particular for his mastery in
fencing. Many topics were brought up, for there was a good com­
pany of other gentlemen. He utterly despises the fencing technique
of the Italian masters, the Venetian, the Bolognese, that of Patinos­
trato, and others. And in this respect he praises only a pupil of his
own who is at Brescia, where he teaches this art to certain gentle­
men. He says that there is no rule or art in the usual teaching; and he
particularly condemns the practice of thrusting the sword forward
and putting it at the power of the enemy, and then the botta passada5
to make another assault and stop; for he says that this is completely
different from what is actually seen among combatants. He was
about to publish a book on this subject. As for matters of war, he
has great contempt for artillery; and I was very pleased with him on

4 The bedding, stones, wood, columns, all that store

It carried hither, brought, conveyed, and bore.
5 Thrust in whir:h one foot crosses over the other.
 I T A L Y : F L O R E N C E - P I S A - L U C C A: 1229
this account. 6 He praises Machiavelli's book On the Art of War and
follows his opinions. He says that of the sort of men who plan
fortifications the most outstanding i's now in Florence in the service
of the most serene grand duke.7
It is customary here to put snow into the wine glasses. I put only
a little in, not being too well in body, having pain in the sides many
times, and all the time ejecting an incredible amount of gravel;
besides this, I could not restore my head to its original condition.
Dizziness and a kind of heaviness on the eyes, the forehead, the
cheeks, teeth, nose, and face. It came into my mind that it was the
sweet, heady white wines, because at the time the migraine first
seized me again I had drunk a great quantity of Trebbiano, when
heated by traveling and by the season, and when its sweetness did
not quench my thirst.
I finally confessed that Florence is rightly called "the beautiful."
On this day I went alone for fun to see the women who
let themselves be seen by anyone who wants. I saw the most
famous: nothing exceptional. The lodgings are gathered in one
particular part of town, and are therefore contemptible, and
wretched besides, and they do not approach in any way those of
the Roman or Venetian prostitutes; nor do they themselves in
beauty or grace or dignity. If one of them wants to live outside
these limits, she must be of little account and must perform some
other trade for concealment.
I saw the shops of the silk spinners; they have certain machines,
by turning which one single woman can twist and turn five hundred
spindles at once.
Tuesday morning I ejected a little red stone.
Wednesday I saw the grand duke's casino. What seemed most
important to me was a rocky structure in the form of a pyramid,
composed and fabricated of all kinds of natural minerals, one piece
of each, joined together. This structure later spouted water, by
which many objects inside it were seen to be set in motion, water
mills and windmills, little church bells, soldiers of the guard,
animals, hunts, and a thousand such things.
Thursday I would not wait to see another horse race. I went
after dinner to Pratolino, which I studied again very minutely.
And being asked by the caretaker of the palace to give my opinion

6 For Montaigne's similar views see Essays I: 48, p. 256 .

7 Francesco Pacciotto o f Urbino.
1 23 0 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
of these beauties and of those of Tivoli, I talked about this, not
comparing these places in.general, but part by part, with the various
advantages of the one and tl:fe other, each one alternately being
the victor. .
Friday at the Giunti's shbp I bought a number of comedies,
eleven of them·, and-- cei"tain other little books. And here I saw
Boccaccio's will printed together with certain treatises on the Dec­
ameron. This will shows an amazing poverty and lowliness of for­
tune in that great man. He leaves some sheets and then certain parts
of beds to his female relatives and his sisters; the books to a certain
friar, whom he orders to communicate them to anyone who asks
for them. He takes account even of vessels and the meanest pieces
of furniture. He gives orders for Masses and for his burial. It is
printed as it was recovered, on a very tattered and ruined sheet
of parchment.
As the Roman and Venetian prostitutes come to the windows for
their lovers, so these come to the doors of their houses, where they
stand in the public view at the convenient hours; and there you see
them in groups, some with more company, some with less, chatting
and singing in the street.
On Sunday, July 2nd, I left Florence after dinner, and after
crossing the Arno on the bridge, we left it on our right hand but
followed its course. We passed some beautiful fertile plains in which
are the most famous melon beds in Tuscany. The good melons are
not ripe until the r5th ofJuly. The place in particular where the most
excellent ones are grown is called Legnaia, three miles this side
of Florence.
We went along a road through country mostly level and fertile,
and very thickly built up throughout - almost without a break - with
houses, small walled towns, and villages. We passed through, among
others, one pretty town named Empoli. The sound of this name has
something ancient about it. A most pleasant site . I did not discover
here any vestige of antiquity except a ruined bridge on the road
nearby, which has something old about the look of it.
I noted three things worth considering: to see the people of these
parts working, some in threshing wheat or stacking it, some at
sewing or spinning, on the Sunday holiday. The second, to see
these country people lute in hand, and even the shepherd girls
with Ariosto in their mouth; this is to be seen throughout Italy.
The third is to see how they leave the reaped wheat on the fields for
ten or fifteen d ays or more, without fear of their neighbor.
 I T A L Y : F L O R E N C E - P I S A - L U.C C A 1 2J I

Toward dark we arrived at

LA SCALA, twenty miles: one single lodging house; pretty good.
I did not eat supper, and slept little, troubled by a toothache on the
right side, which I felt many times with my headache. It bothered
me most when eating, and I was not able to touch a thing without
very great pain.
On Monday morning, July 3rd, we followed the level road along
the Arno, and, toward the end, a plain abounding with wheat. We
arrived about noon at
PISA , twenty miles, a city belonging to the duke of Florence,
situated in this plain on the Arno, which passes through the middle
ofit and six miles from here pours into the sea, and brings to this city
a good many kinds of craft.
At this time the school 8 was closing, as is the custom, for three
months of the great heat.
Here we came across the excellent company of the Desiosi,
actors.
Because I was not satisfied with the hostelry, I rented a house
with four bedrooms and a dining room. The landlord was to do the
cooking and supply the furniture. A fine house. The whole thing for
eight crowns a month. Because what he had promised by way of
tablecloths and napkins was too skimpy (seeing that in Italy the
custom is to change the napkins very little except when they change
the tablecloths, and the tablecloths twice a week) , we left the
servants to board themselves, and we ate at the hostelry at four
giulii a day.
The house was in a most beautiful location, with a pleasant view,
overlooking the channel through which the Arno passes and crosses
the city. This bed is very wide and more than five hundred paces
long, bending and curving a bit, making a pleasant sight, revealing
more easily by its curve both ends of this channel, with three bridges
which there cross the Arno, full of vessels and merchandise. Both
banks of this channel are built up with handsome walls with para­
pets at the top, like the Qyai des Augustins in Paris. And then broad
streets on both sides, and on the edge of the streets a row of houses.
Ours was located there.
On Wednesday, July 5th, I saw the cathedral, where the palace of
the Emperor Hadrian used to be. There are countless numbers
of marble columns, varied in workmanship and form; very

8 The University.
I 2J 2 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
.

handsome metal doors. It is decorated with various spoils from

Greece and Egyp t, and built� of ancient ruins, so that you see
inscriptions upside down, others half cut off, and in certain places
unknown characters, whi�h they say are ancient Etruscan.
I saw the bell .:tower, _ of extraordinary appearance, leaning by
seven arm's-lengths, fike that other one at Bologna, and others;
surrounded on all sides by pilasters and open galleries.
I saw the neighboring Church of Saint John,9 itself also very rich
in famous works of sculpture and painting - among others, a marble
pulpit with thickly crowded figures, so rare that the Lorenzo who
killed Duke Alessandro is said to have taken off the heads of some of
10
these statuettes and made a present of them to the queen. The
shape of the church resembles that of the Rotunda in Rome.
The natural son of the duke lives here, and I saw him, an old
man. He lives comfortably on the liberality of the duke, and nothing
else matters to him. There is wonderful hunting and fishing here.
He makes this his business.
Of holy relics, rare works, and marbles and stones wonderful for
their rarity, size, and workmanship, you find as many here as in any
other city of Italy.
I took inordinate pleasure in the cemetery building that is called
the Campo Santo, of unusual size, rectangular, three hundred paces
long and one hundred wide. An inner corridor goes all around, forty
paces wide, roofed with lead, paved with marble. The walls are
covered with ancient paintings.
The nobles of this city have their tombs indoors under this
corridor. There are the names and arms of the families to the
number of four hundred - among others that of Gondi of Florence,
founder of that house - of whom there are now barely four that have
survived the wars and the ruin of this most ancient city; of the
people just as few: it is inhabited and possessed by foreigners. Of
these noble families there are several marquises, counts, and grand­
ees in other parts of Christendom to which they have moved.
In the middle of this building there is an uncovered place where
they are continually performing burials. It is stated positively by all
that the bodies which are put here swell in eight hours so much that
you can see the ground rise; in the following eight it goes down and
subsides; in the final eight the flesh is so utterly consumed that

9 The Battisterio or Baptistry.

rn Catherine de' A1edici.
 I T A L Y : F L O R E N C E - P I S A -· L U C C A I :4

before twenty-four hours are up there is nothing l'eft but the bare
bones. This miracle is similar to that other at the cemetery in Rome,
where if you put in the body of a Roman, the earth promptly ejects
it. This place is paved beneath with marble like the corridor, and
earth is laid over it to the height of one or two yards. They say that
this earth was brought from Jerusalem, because the Pisans took part
in that enterprise with a large army.u With the bishop's permission,
a little of this earth is taken away and sprinkled on other graves, with
the idea that the bodies will be promptly consumed. This seems
likely, because for a cemetery of a city of this size you see very few
bones, almost none, and no place where they are gathered together
and enclosed, as in other cities.
The neighboring mountains produce very beautiful marble,
for which this city has many renowned workmen. At this time
they were working on a very richly worked theater for the king
of Fez, in Barbary, which he plans to build with fifty very high
marble columns.
In this city our arms may be seen in countless places, and also
a column that King Charles VIII gave to the cathedral. And in one
house, on the wall toward the street, the said king is represented
life-size, on his knees before the Madonna, who appears to be giving
him counsel. The inscription says that when the said king was
supping in this house it came into his mind to give the Pisans
their ancient freedom, whereby he surpassed the greatness of Alex­
ander. The titles of the said king are there: king of Jerusalem, of
Sicily, etc. The words concerning that matter of the granting of
freedom have been purposely disfigured and half effaced. Other
private houses still have these arms as a decoration, to show the
nobility that this king gave them.
There are not many vestiges of ancient buildings here. There is
a handsome brick ruin where the palace of Nero was, and it retains
his name; and the Church of Saint Michael, which used to be
a temple of Mars.
Thursday, which was the feast of Saint Peter, I was told that
formerly it was the custom for the bishop to go in procession to the
Church of Saint Peter, four miles outside the city, and from there to
the sea, where he threw in a ring and "married" the sea; for this city

n On the order of Archbishop Ubaldo (n88-1200) , fifty-three Pisan ships in

Frederick Barbarossa's crusade brought back loads of earth for this cemetery
from the Mount of Calvary.
1 23 4 TRAVEL JOU RNAL
used to have a very powerful navy. Now only a schoolmaster goes
there. But the priests in processit>n go to the church, where there is
a great granting of indulgences . . The Pope's bull of a little less than
four hundred years. �go (if I take as authority a book that dates it
after 1200 ) 12 says that this church was built by S aint Peter, and that
as S aint Clement was performing the service at a marble table, three
little drops of blood fell on it from the nose of the said saint. These
three drops seem as though they had been imprinted there for
only three days. The Genoese broke this table and carried away
one of these drops. Therefore the Pisans removed the rest of the said
table from the said church and carried it into their city. But every
year they carry it back in procession to its place on the said Saint
Peter's Day. The people go there all night in boats.
On Friday, the ]th of July, I went early to see the dairy farms of
Don Pietro de' Medici, two miles distant from the town. He has
a world of possessions there which he holds in his own name; every
five years he rents to new tenants; and he takes half of the produce.
A soil most abundant with wheat; pastures where he keeps all sorts
of animals. I dismounted to see the particularities of the house.
There are a great number of people working at making curds, butter,
and cheeses, and divers implements for that work.
From there, following the plain, I arrived at the shore of the
Tyrrhenian Sea, where I saw Lerici on the right hand; on the other,
Leghorn; nearer, a fortified town standing in the sea. From there
when it is clear you can make out the island of Gorgona, and beyond
that Capraia, and beyond that Corsica. I turned to the left along the
shore until we reached the mouth of the Arno, which is difficult to
enter for ships, seeing that from various little streams which flow
together into the Arno come earth and mud, which accumulate
there and raise the bottom of the said mouth.
I bought some fish there, which I then sent to the actresses. 13
Along this river you see many tamarisk thickets.
On Saturday I bought a barrel for six giulii, which I have had
hooped with silver. It cost three crowns at the artificer's. I bought,
besides, a bamboo cane to lean on, six giulii; a little vase and a cup of
Indian nut, which has the same effect on the spleen and on the
gravel as the tamarisk, eight giulii. The artisan, an able man and
famous for making fine mathematical instruments, taught me that

12 The bull is acti 1ally of lnnocent VI and dated 1354 in Avignon.

13 Of the Desiosi troupe. See above, p. 1231.
 I T A LY: F L0 R E N C E - P I SA - I:U C C A 1 235
all trees bear as many circles and rings as they have lasted years; and
showed this to me in all the woods he had in his shop; for he is
a cabinet maker. And the part that faces north is narrower and has its
rings closer and denser than the other. Therefore he boasts that
whatever wood is brought him, he can judge how old the tree was,
and in what position it stood.
At this time the trouble in my head was still with me, always
remaining the same; together with such constipation that my
bowels would not move without artificial help in the form of sweet­
meats - a feeble help. The kidneys in good condition, considering.
This city was not long ago blamed for its bad air; but since Duke
Cosimo has drained the marshes that are all around, it is good. And
it was so bad that when people wanted to confine someone and get
him out of the way, they confined him in Pisa, where in a few
months it finished him.
This place produces no partridges, for all the trouble the princes
have gone to.
Girolamo Borro, 14 a physician, doctor of the University of Rorne,
came to see me several times at my house. And when I went to visit
him on the 1 4th ofJuly he made me a present of his book on the ebb
and flow of the sea, in the vulgar tongue; and he showed me another
book he had written, in Latin, on the diseases of the body.
This same day, near my house, twenty-one Turkish slaves
escaped from the arsenal, having found a frigate fully equipped,
which Signor Alessandro di Piombino had left while he went
fishing.
Except for the Arno and the beautiful way in which it flows
through the town, these churches and vestiges of antiquity, and its
private works, Pisa has little distinction and charm. It seems
deserted. And in this respect, in the shape of its buildings, its size,
and the width of its streets, it is a lot like Pistoia. It is extremely
short of water, and the water is bad, for it all has a marshy taste .
The men are very poor, and no less haughty, hostile, and dis­
courteous toward foreigners, especially toward the French since the
death of a bishop of theirs, Pietro Paolo Bourbon, 15 who said he was
of the house of our princes; and there is a family of that name here.

14 Borro is the man whom Montaigne describes (Essays I: 26, pp. 134-5) as
having got in trouble with the Inquisition in Rome for being too perfect an
Aristotelian.
15 Pietro Jacopo Bourbon del Monte, archbishop of Pisa from 1574 to 1575·
1 23 6 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
He was so affectionate toward our nation and so liberal that he had
given orders that every F;enchman arriving here should immedi­
ately be brought to his house. He has left to the Pisans a most
honored memory of his g0od tife and liberality. It is only five or six
years since he died.· · /
- ,_

On July 17th I joined twenty-five others in playing raffle at

a crown apiece, for some belongings of Fargnocolo, one of the
comedians. First they drew lots to see who should play first, second,
and so on to the last. They follow this order. Then, there being
various things to play for, they made two equal parts of them. The
man who made the most points won the one, he who made the least
the other. It fell to my lot to come out second.
On the 18th, at the Church of S aint Francis, there arose a great
squabble between the priests of the cathedral and the friars. A Pisan
gentleman had been buried at the aforementioned church the day
before, and the priests wanted to say Mass. They came there with
their equipment and paraphernalia. They alleged their ancient
custom and privilege. The friars, on the contrary, alleged that it
was their business and no one else's to say Mass in their own church.
One priest, approaching the high altar, tried to seize the marble
table. A friar attempted to drag him away. The vicar, patron of this
church of priests, slapped this friar. One thing leading to another,
gradually the matter came to fighting with fists, sticks, candlesticks,
torches, and the like; they used everything. The end of it was that
Mass was said by neither party. This angry combat caused a great
scandal. As soon as the news of it spread, I went there; and the
whole thing was related to me.
On the 22nd at dawn three galleys of Turkish corsairs landed on
the coast nearby and carried off fifteen or twenty fishermen and
poor shepherds as prisoners.
On the 25th I went to visit Cornacchini, a famous doctor and
lecturer of Pisa. He lives in his own way, which is very different from
the rules of his art. He sleeps immediately after dining, drinks
a hundred times a day, and so on. He recited to me some of his
verse, pleasant and in rustic patois. He does not set much store by
the baths in the near vicinity of Pisa, but thinks well of those at
Bagno-Acqua,1 6 sixteen miles from Pisa. He says they are wonderful
for getting rid of liver ailments (and he told me a great many
miracles about them) as well as for the stone and the colic; but his

r6 Now Casciana.
 I T A LY: F LO R E N C E - PI SA - L lJ C C A 1 23 7
advice is, before using them, to drink the waters of La· Villa. He has
become convinced that except for bloodletting, medicine is nothing
compared to the baths, for a man who knows how to use them and
avail himself of them well. He said further that at these baths of
Bagno-Acqua there are good lodgings, and that you are comfortable
and at your ease there.
On the 26th in the morning I passed some turbid and black
urine, more so than I had ever seen it before, with one small stone;
and this did not stop the pain which I had already suffered for about
twenty hours, below the navel and in the member; it was easy to
bear, however, and caused no alteration in the loins and the side.
A little later I passed another little stone, and my pain subsided.
On Thursday, July 271h, we left Pisa early, I feeling very satisfied
with the courtesy and kindness I had received from Signor Vinta­
vinti, from Lorenzo Conti, from San Miniato (in whose house lives
the knight Camillo Catani; he offered to have his brother come to
France with me), from Borro and other artisans and tradesmen with
whom I had dealt. And I hold for certain that I would not have
lacked even money if I had needed it, although this city is consid­
ered very uncivil and the inhabitants haughty. But at any rate a man
who is courteous makes others so.
Among other things, this town is most abundant in pigeons,
hazelnuts, and mushrooms.
For a while we crossed the plain, and at the foot of a hill we came
upon the so-called "Baths of Pisa." There are several of them, and an
inscription on marble which I could not quite decipher. It consists of
Latin verses in rhyme, which testify to the virtues of these waters;
and the inscription was dated 1300, as far as I could make out.
The largest and most respectable of these baths is square, and,
except for one side, very well arranged, with a marble staircase. Each
side is thirty paces long. In one corner you see the tap of the spring.
I drank some water to judge it. It seemed to me tasteless and without
any odor. I felt only a little sharpness on the tongue. Very moderate
heat; very easy to drink. I noticed at this tap that in this water there
were again those white corpuscles or atoms that I cursed in the baths
of Baden, and judged to be filth and dirt coming from outside. Now
I think rather that it comes from some quality of the mines; the
more so because these particles appear thicker at the tap and where
the water springs from, and where in reason it should be purer and
cleaner, as I experienced more clearly at Baden. A solitary place;
wretched lodgings. These waters are almost abandoned, and those
1 23 8 T RAVE L J O U R N A L
who use them go -there iq the - morning from Pisa, four miles, and
return home. This big bath is u\lcovered, and it alone bears any sign
of antiquity: they call it .Nero.'s Bath. Public rumor says that this
emperor conductep_ �his wateroy means of aqueducts into his palace
in Pisa.
There is another covered bath of common workmanship, which
the common people use, with clear and very pure water. They say it
is good for the liver and for the itch produced by the heat of the liver.
They take the same quantity of the drink as at the other baths, and
they walk around after drinking, and they follow Nature, whether
she makes you sweat or operates in other ways.
As soon as I had climbed this hill, 1 7 there appeared a most
beautiful view looking over that great plain, the sea, the islands,
Leghorn, Pisa. When I had come down, we entered the plain on this
side, in which stands
LuccA, ten miles. This morning I ejected another much bigger
stone, which clearly seemed to be detached from a larger body. God
knows! His will be done!
We were at the hostelry on the same terms as at Pisa, at four
giulii per master and three per servant, per day. On the 28th, being
almost forced to it by the most courteous offers of Signor Ludovico
Pinitesi, I took a ground-floor apartment in his house, very cool and
nobly furnished, with five bedrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen;
and I was provided with all sorts of furniture, most honorably and
delicately, according to Italian custom, which in many matters not
only compares with but surpasses the French.
A very great ornament indeed to the buildings in Italy is the very
high, beautiful, and broad vaults. They make the entrances to the
houses pleasant and dignified, because all the lower part is built with
that construction, with wide and high doors . In summer the gentle­
men of Lucca eat in public under these entryways, in sight of anyone
passing along the street.
To tell the truth, wherever I have stayed in Italy, except Florence
(because there I did not leave the hotel, in spite of the discomforts
you find in that sort of house, especially when it is hot) and Venice
(where we put up in a house too public, and in bad condition, since
we were to stay there only a short time), I have always had not only
good but even delightful lodgings. My room was secluded; I lacked

17 The Monte �an Giuliano, which keeps the Pisans from seeing Lucca, as
Dante noted (Inferno xxx m . 30).
 I T A L Y : F L O R E N C E - P I S A - LU C C A 1 23 9
nothing; there was no hindrance or disturbance at all . · Since courte­
sies are sometimes tiresome and annoying, it very seldom happened
that I was visited by the local people. I slept and studied as I pleased,
and when I wanted to go out I could talk anywhere with women or
men, with whom I could pleasantly pass an hour or two of the day;
and then shops, churches, squares. And, continually changing the
scene, I did not lack matter to feed my curiosity. In the meantime
I enjoyed a tranquil mind, as far as my infirmities and old age allow;
for very few occasions came along from outside to disturb it. I felt
only one lack, that of company that I liked, being forced to enjoy
these good things alone and without communication.
The Lucchesi play pallone1 8 very well, and you often see some
beautiful games. It is not their custom for the men to go along the
street on horseback, or very little; and still less in coaches. The
ladies, yes, but on mules; and they go with a servant on foot. Houses
to let are very hard to find for foreigners, for very few come here, and
this city in itself is well populated. For an ordinary house with four
furnished bedrooms and one dining room and kitchen, I was asked
seventy crowns a month rent.
You cannot enjoy the company of the Lucchesi because they are
all, even the children, continually occupied at their business and in
acquiring goods by means of trade. Therefore the city is somewhat
tiresome and disagreeable for strangers.
On the 1oth of August we went outside the town for a pleasure
trip with some other gentlemen of Lucca, from whom I had bor­
rowed horses. I saw some very pleasant villas around the town at
three or four miles' distance, with porticoes and loggias, which are
a great ornament to them. Among others, a big loggia, all vaulted
inside, covered with branches and tendrils of vines planted all
around it, and supported on some props: a living and natural arbor.
My headache at times left me for five or six days or more, but
I could not quite get rid of it.
I had an impulse to learn the Florentine language by methodical
study. I put a lot of time and concentration into it, but got very little
benefit out of it.
In this season we felt a much greater heat than is commonly felt.
On the 12th I also went outside of Lucca to visit the villa of
Signor Benedetto Buonvisi: moderately attractive. Among other

18 A game somewhat like court tennis, but played with a wooden armlet instead
of a racket.
1 240 T RAVEL JOURNAL
things I saw there forr,nations of certain little thickets that
they make in steep places. Id an area of about fifty paces they
plant various trees, of those �hat stay green all year round. This
place they encircl� �ith little�ditches, and inside it they construct
certain little cov�red alleys. In the middle is a place for the
fowler, who, with a silver whistle and a number of thrushes caught
for the purpose and tied down, having arranged on all sides
a number of birdlime snares, at a certain season of the year, say
about November, will in one morning make a catch of two hundred
thrushes; and this is done only in a certain area on a certain side
of the city.
On Sunday the 13th I left Lucca, having ordered that the said
Messer Ludovico Pinitesi be offered fifteen crowns for the use of his
house. This reckoning came to one crown a day, with which he was
very satisfied.
We went on this day to visit a great many of the villas of gentle­
men of Lucca, which are clean, nice, and handsome. They have lots
of water, but artificial - that is to say, not running, not natural or
continuous. It is a marvel to see so great a rarity of springs in so hilly
a place. They draw certain waters from streams, and for the sake of
beauty they arrange them in the manner of fountains with vases,
grottoes, and other works of similar service.
We came to supper this evening in a villa of the said Messer
Ludovico, having still in our company his son Messer Orazio, who
received us very comfortably in this villa and gave us a very good
supper, by night, under a large portico, very cool, and open on
all sides, and then had us sleep in good separate rooms, with very
white clean linen sheets, such as we had enjoyed in Lucca at the
father's house.

Italy: Second Stay at La Villa

(August 1 4-September 12, 1581)

Monday early we left there. And along the road, without dismount­
ing, after stopping a while to visit the villa of the bishop, who
was there (and we were made much of by his men, and invited
to stay there to dinner), we came to dine at
TH E BATHS OF LA VILLA, fifteen miles. I received a warm
welcome and greetings from all those people. In truth it seemed
that I had come back to my own home. I went back to the same
 I T A LY : S E C O N D S TAY AT LA V I L LA 1 241
room I had the first time, at the price of twenty crownS' a month, and
on the same conditions.
·

Tuesday August 15th I went to the bath early and stayed there
a little less than an hour. I again found it rather cold than otherwise.
It did not start me sweating at all. I arrived at these baths not only
healthy, but I may further say in all-round good spirits. After bath­
ing, I passed some cloudy urine; and in the evening, after walking
a good bit over alpine and not at all easy roads, I passed some that
was quite bloody; and in bed I felt something indefinably wrong
with the kidneys.
On the 16th I continued the bathing, and I went to the women's
bath, where I had not yet been, in order to be separate and alone.
I found it too hot, either because it was really so or indeed because
my pores, being opened from the bathing of the day before, had
made me get hot easily. At all events I stayed there an hour at most
and sweated moderately. My urine was natural; no gravel at all.
After dinner my urine again came turbid and red, and at sunset it
was bloody.
On the 1 7th I found this same bath more temperate. I sweated
very little. The urine rather turbid, with a little gravel; my color a sort
of yellow pallor.
On the 18th I stayed two hours in the aforesaid bath. I felt I know
not what heaviness in the kidneys. My bowels were reasonably
loose. From the very first day I felt full of wind, and my bowels
rumbling. I can easily believe that this effect is characteristic of these
waters, because the other time I bathed I clearly perceived that they
brought on the flatulence in this way.
On the 1 9 th I went to the bath a little later to give way to a lady of
Lucca who wanted to bathe, and did bathe, before me; for this rule is
observed, and reasonably so, that the ladies may enjoy their own
bath when they please. I again stayed there two hours. There came
over me a little heaviness in my head, which had been in the best of
condition for several days. My urine was still turbid, but in different
ways, and it carried off a lot of gravel. I also noticed some sort of
commotion in the kidneys. And if my feelings are correct, these
baths can do much in that particular; and not only do they dilate and
open up the passages and conduits, but furthermore they drive out
the matter, dissipate and scatter it. I voided gravel that seemed really
to be stones broken up into pieces.
In the night I felt in the left side the beginning of a very violent
and painful colic, which tore me for a good while and yet did not run
1 242 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
its ordinary course: it diq not reach the belly and the groin, and
ended in a way that made me believe it was wind.
On the 2oth I was two hou�s in the bath. The wind in my lower
intestines gave I?� much cfhnoyance and discomfort all day.
I continually v.oided very turbid, red, thick urine with some
little gravel. I felt bad in my head. My bowels were rather livelier
than usual.
Feast days are not observed here as religiously as we observe
them, especially Sunday. The women do most of their work
after dinner.
On the 21st I continued my bathing. After taking my bath I had
a lot of pain in my kidneys. My urine was very turbid. I voided
gravel, but not much. The pain I suffered then in the kidneys, as far
as I could judge, was caused by wind, which was stirring all over.
From the turbidity of the urine I guessed that some large stone was
about to descend. I guessed only too well.
After writing this up in the morning, I came to be greatly
afflicted with colicky pains immediately after dinner. And in order
not to leave me too relaxed, one of these spasms attacked me
together with a very acute toothache in the left jaw, which I had
not felt before. Not being able to endure this discomfort, after two
or three hours I went to bed, where in a short time this pain in the
jaw left me.
Since the colic still tormented me, and I finally sensed (from
feeling it move from place to place and occupy different parts of my
body) that it was rather wind than a stone, I was forced to ask for an
enema, which was administered to me at nightfall very comfortably,
made of oil, camomile, and anise, and nothing else, by the prescrip­
tion of the apothecary alone. Captain Paulino served me with it
with such skill that, feeling the wind rushing out against it, he
stopped and drew back; and then continued very gently, so that
I took in the whole thing without trouble. He did not need to
remind me to retain it as long as I could, for it did not give me any
desire to move my bowels. I stayed this way for as long as three
hours, and then I tried to void it by myself. Being out of bed, I took
a mouthful of marzipan with great difficulty, and four drops of wine.
After going back to bed and sleeping a bit, I felt an inclination to go
to the toilet; and by daybreak I had gone four times, though still
keeping some part of the said enema that was not voided.
In the morning I felt much relieved, having got rid of an infinite
amount of wind. I was left very tired, but with no pain. I ate a little
 I TA LY : S E C O N D S TAY AT LA VI L LA 1 2 43
dinner, without appetite; I drank without relish, althorigh I felt very
thirsty. After dinner that pain in my·left jaw attacked me once again,
from which I suffered very much from dinner to supper time.
Considering it certain that this flatulence was caused by the bath,
I let the bath alone. I got through the night with a good sleep.
In the morning on waking I found myself again weary and short
of breath, my mouth dry, with a sharp bad taste, and my breath as if
I had a fever. I did not feel any pain, but I continued passing this
extraordinary and very turbid urine, which all the time carried with
it sand and reddish gravel, but not in great quantity.
On the 24th, in the morning, I pushed down a stone that stopped
in the passage. I remained from that moment until dinnertime
without urinating, in order to increase my desire to do so. Then
I got my stone out, not without pain and bleeding, both before and
after: as big and long as a pine nut, but as thick as a bean at one end,
and having, to tell the truth, exactly the shape of a prick. It was a very
fortunate thing for me to be able to get it out. I have never ejected
one comparable in size to this one. I had guessed only too truly from
the quality of my urines that this would be the result. I shall see what
is to follow.
There would be too much weakness and cowardice on my part if,
finding myself every day in a position to die in this manner, and with
every hour bringing death nearer, I did not make every effort toward
being able to bear death lightly as soon as it surprises me. And in the
meantime it will be wise to accept joyously the good that it pleases
God to send us. There is no other medicine, no other rule or science,
for avoiding the ills, whatever they may be and however great, that
besiege men from all sides and at every hour, than to make up
our minds to suffer them humanly, or to end them courageously
and promptly.
On August 25th my urine regained its usual color, and I found my
body in the same condition as before; except that many times, both
day and night, I suffered in my left cheek; but it was a sort of pain
that did not last at all. I remember that this pain bothered me at
other times in my home.
On Saturday the 26th I was in the bath for an hour in the
morning.
On the 2 7th after dinner I was cruelly tormented by a very acute
toothache, so that I sent for the doctor, who, when he had come and
considered everything, and especially that my pain had left me in his
presence, judged that this defluxion had no body unless a very subtle
1 244 .'T R A V E L J O U R N A L
one, and that it was wind and flatulence that mounted from the
stomach to the head and, mingiing with a little humor, gave me that
discomfort. This indeed ·see � d to me very likely, considering that
I had suffered similar accidents in other parts of the body.
On Monday, August 28th, at dawn, I went to drink at Bernabo's
spring, and drank seven pounds four ounces of the water, at twelve
ounces to the pound. It made my bowels move once. I voided a little
less than half of it before dinner. I clearly felt that it sent vapors to
my head and made it heavy.
On Tuesday the 2 9 th I drank at the ordinary spring nine glasses,
which each contained one ounce less than a pound. Immediately my
head felt bad. To tell the truth, my head was of itself in bad
condition, and it had never fully recovered from the bad state it
had fallen into in my first season of bathing. I was troubled by it
more rarely and in a little different way than a month before,
because my eyes were not weakened or dazzled. I suffered more in
the back, and never in the head without the pain passing immedi­
ately to the left cheek, affecting the whole of it, the teeth, even the
lower ones, the ear, part of the nose. The pain was brief, but most of
the time very acute, and seized me very many times, day and night.
Such was the condition of my head this season.
I do believe that the fumes of this water, from drinking and also
from bathing (though more so in the former case than in the latter) ,
are very bad for the head, and, I can say with assurance, even worse
for the stomach. And therefore their custom is generally to take
medicine to provide against this.
During that whole day and night I passed all but a pound of the
water, counting what I drank at table, which was very little, and less
than a pound. After dinner, toward sunset, I went to the bath and
stayed there three-quarters of an hour. I sweated a little.
On Wednesday, August 3oth, I drank nine glasses, eighty-one
ounces. I passed half of it before dinner.
On Thursday I discontinued the drinking, and in the morning
went on horseback to see Controne, a very populous municipality
in these mountains. There are many beautiful fertile plains,
and pastures at the top of the mountains. This municipality has
many little villas, comfortable stone lodgings, their roofs covered
with stone. I made a long tour around these hills before returning
home.
I did not like the way I had got rid of the water I had taken lately.
Therefore I thought of giving up drinking it. I was displeased
 I T A LY : S E C O N D S T A Y A T L A V I L L A 1 245
•

because I did not pass it all, and the count of what I urinated did
not match with what I had drunk. More than three glasses of the
water of the bath must have remained inside me. Besides, I had an
attack of constipation, in contrast with my ordinary state.
Friday, September 1st, 1581, I bathed for an hour in the morning.
I sweated some in the bath, and voided with the urine a large
quantity of red gravel. When drinking, I had voided none, or little.
My head remained still in the same state, that is to say bad.
I began to find these baths unpleasant. And if news had come
from France, which I was expecting, having been four months
without receiving any, I would have been ready to leave at the first
opportunity, and do my autumn cure at any other baths whatever. If
I went toward Rome, I would come across at a short distance from
the main road the baths of Bagno-Acqua, and those of Siena and
Viterbo; if I went toward Venice, those of Bologna, and then those
of Padua.
I had my coat of arms made in Pisa, gilt, and in handsome vivid
colors, for a French crown and a half, and then pasted on a board (for
it was on canvas) at the bath, and this board I had very carefully
nailed up on the wall of the room I stayed in, with this condition:
that it was to be considered as given to the room, not to Captain
Paulino the landlord, and that on no account was it to be removed,
whatever might happen to the house in the future. And this he
promised and swore.
On Sunday, September 3rd, I went to bathe and stayed there an
hour and a little more. I felt a quantity of wind, but without pain.
That night and the morning of Monday the 4th, I was cruelly
tormented by a toothache, and I continued to suspect that it was
some decayed tooth. I chewed mastic in the morning without any
relief. From the change that this very acute pain brought me there
also followed constipation, because of which I did not dare to
resume drinking at the bath; and thus I did very little by way of
a cure. Toward dinnertime and for three or four hours after dinner it
gave me some peace. Toward two in the afternoon it attacked me
with such fury in the head and both jaws that I could not stay on my
feet. The sharpness of the pain made me want to vomit. Now I was
all in a sweat, now chilled. This pain that attacked me on every side
led me to believe that the trouble was not caused by a bad tooth. For
although the left side was in much greater torment, nevertheless in
both temples, and the chin, and even in the shoulders and the
throat, in every part, I felt at times the greatest pain; so that
 .

T RA V E L J O U R N A L
I passed the cruelest night tl\at I remember ever having passed.
It was really rage and fury.
In the night I sent for an a.pothecary, who gave me some brandy
to put on the side :of my mouth that tormented me most. I received
wonderful help °from it, for at the very instant that I put it into my
mouth, all my pain subsided. But as soon as I had spat it out, the
pain seized me again as before; so that I had the glass continually to
my mouth. I could not keep the brandy in my mouth, because
as soon as the pain left me, weariness sent me fast asleep, and as
soon as I was asleep a drop of this brandy would go down my throat,
and so I had to spray it again. At daybreak my pain passed.
I was visited Tuesday morning in bed by all the gentlemen who
were at the baths. I had a small mastic plaster applied to my left
temple over the pulse. On this day I felt little pain. At night they put
hot tow on my cheek and on the left side of my head. I slept without
pain, but a troubled sleep.
On Wednesday I still felt the pain in the teeth and the left eye.
I voided some gravel with my urine, but not in the great quantity
that I voided it the first time I was here. I passed certain solid grains
of it, like millet, and red.
On Thursday, September 7th, in the morning I was an hour in
the big bath.
This same morning they delivered into my hands, by way of
Rome, letters from Monsieur de Tausin, written in Bordeaux on
August 2nd, by which he advised me that the day before, by general
consent, I had been made mayor of that city; and he urged me to
accept this charge for the love of my country. 19
On Sunday, September roth, I bathed for an hour in the morning
in the women's bath; and since it was a bit warm, I sweated some.
After dinner I went alone on horseback to see some other places
in the neighborhood, and a little villa called Granajolo, which stands
on the top of one of the highest mountains in these parts. As I passed
over these heights, they seemed to me the most beautiful, fertile,
and pleasant inhabited slopes that could possibly be seen.
Talking with the natives, I asked one very elderly man whether
they used our baths, and he replied that it worked out with them as it
did with the people who live near Our Lady of Loreto: that those
people rarely go there on a pilgrimage, and that there is little use of

r9 For Montaigne's mayoralty, see especially Essays III : ro, "Of Husbanding
Your Will."
 I TA LY : R E T U R N T O RO M E 1 247
the baths except fo r the benefit o f foreigners and those who live
20
far away. He said he was very sorry about one thing, that for
a number of years he had observed that the baths did more harm
than good to those who used them. He said that the cause of it
was this: that whereas in times past there was not a single apothecary
in these parts, and you never saw a doctor except rarely, now you
see the contrary; for those people who consider their own profit
have spread the notion that the baths are of no value unless you
take medicine, not only after and before the bath, but even mixing
it with the operation of the waters; and they would not readily
consent to your taking the waters pure. From this, he said, there
followed this very evident result, that more people died from these
baths than were cured by them. And he held it for certain
that in a little while they would fall into universal disrepute and
be abandoned.
Monday, September nth, in the morning, I voided a good quan­
tity of gravel, most of it looking like millet, solid, red on the surface
and gray inside.

Italy: Return to Rome

(September 12-0ctober 15, 1581)

On September 12th, 1581, we left the baths of La Villa early in the

morning and came to dine at
LUCCA, fourteen miles. These days they were beginning to gather
the grapes .
The Feast of the Holy Cross is one of the principal ones in this
city; and for a week around it freedom is given to anyone who wants
it and who has been banished on account of a civil debt, to return in
security to his house, to give him opportunity to attend to his
devotions.
I have not found in Italy a single good barber to shave my beard
and cut my hair.

20 Compare Essays II: 15, p. 564: "The people of the March of Ancona prefer
to make their vows to Saint James [of Compostela in Galicia] , and those
of Galicia to Our Lady of Loreto [in the March of Ancona] . At Liege
they make much ado about the baths of Lucca, and in Tuscany about those
of Spa."
 'T R A V E L J O U R N A L
On Wednesday evening we· went to hear vespers in the cathedral,
where there was a gathering of the whole city, and processions. The
relic of the Holy Face1 W'as tq_.be seen uncovered; it is held in great
veneration by then:t, inas·m ucb as it is very ancient and famous for
several miracles·. For its service the cathedral was built; thus the little
chapel in which this relic is kept still stands in the middle of this
great church, in an undesirable place, and against every rule of
architecture. When vespers were over, the whole procession
moved to another church, which in times past was the cathedral.
Thursday I heard Mass in the choir of the said cathedral, along
with all the officials of the signory. In Lucca they take great delight
in music, and they all join in the singing. It is apparent, however,
that they have very few good voices. This Mass was sung with all
possible effort, and yet it was not much. They had built for the
occasion a big, very high altar of wood and cardboard, covered with
images and big silver candlesticks and many silver vessels placed in
this order, a basin in the middle and four plates around it; and,
adorned in this manner from top to bottom, it produced a notable
and beautiful effect.
Every time the bishop says Mass, as he said it today, at the point
where he says the Gloria in excelsis they set fire to a certain bundle of
tow fixed to an iron grating that hangs in the middle of the church
for this purpose.
In this region the weather was already much colder and humid.
On Friday the r5th of September I had almost a flux of urine -
that is to say, I passed nearly twice as much water as I had drunk. If
some part of the water from the bath had remained in my body,
I believe I voided it.
On Sunday morning I passed a rough little stone, without any
difficulty. I had felt it slightly during the night in the groin and the
base of the penis.
On Sunday, September 1 7 th, the ceremony of the changing of
the city's Gonfalonier took place. I went to see it at the palace.
They work here almost without regard to Sundays, and there are
many shops open.
On Wednesday, September 2oth, after dinner, I left Lucca,
having first had two bales of stuff made up to send to France. We
followed a fast and level road. The country is barren like the Landes

r A cedar crucifix supposedly carved by Saint Nicomedes and brought miracu­

lously from the Orient in 782. The chapel for it was built in 1484.
 I T A LY: RETU RN T O RO M E 1249
of Gascony. We crossed a big stream over a bridge built by Duke
Cosimo. In this place are mills for making iron, belonging to the
grand duke, and a handsome lodging. There are also three fish­
ponds, or places separated like enclosed ponds, and paved with
bricks on the bottom, in which are kept an infinite number of eels,
which are easy to see, there being little water. Then we crossed the
Arno at Fucecchio and arrived at dusk at
LA SCALA, twenty miles. I left La Scala at sunrise and passed
along a fine and almost level road. The country was hilly, with small
and very fertile hills like the hills of France. We passed through the
middle of Castel-Fiorentino, a little walled-in place, and then
passed by the foot of and near Certaldo, Boccaccio's native place,
a pretty country seat on a hill. We came to dine at
POGGIBON S I , eighteen miles, a little village. From there to
supper at
SI ENA, twelve miles. It seems to me that the weather was colder
at this season in Italy than in France.
The square in Siena is the most beautiful that is to be seen in any
city. Mass is said there every day in public, at an altar in view of all
the houses and shops round about, so that the artisans and all these
people can hear it without leaving their place and abandoning their
work. And when the elevation takes place a trumpet sounds to give
notice to all.
On Sunday, September 2 4th, after dinner, we left Siena, and
after following a fast though slightly uneven road (this country
being hilly with fertile hills and mountains unlike the Alps) ,
we reached
SAN CHI RICO, twenty miles, a little stronghold. We lodged
outside the walls. Since the pack horse had lain down in a little
stream that we crossed at a ford, all my things, and particularly
my books, were ruined, and it took time to dry them. On the
neighboring hills to the left stood Montepulciano, Montichiello,
and Castiglioncello.
Early on Monday I went to see a bath two miles away, which is
called Vignone, from the name of a little chateau that is near it. The
bath is situated in a rather high place, at the foot of which passes
the river Orcia. In this place there are a dozen little houses, or
thereabouts, uncomfortable and disgusting, located around it. It
looks verminous and wretched. A large pond surrounded by walls
and steps, in the middle of which you see bubbling up several springs
of that hot water, which, having no odor of sulphur, little vapor, and
1250 'I' R A V E L J O U R N A L
a reddish sediment, seems. to be rather ferruginous than anything
else. It is not drunk. The lengtS of this pond is sixty paces, the width
thirty-five. In certain pl�tes �ound this pond there are four or five
spots set apart and .covered, where it is usual to bathe . This bath is
rather well-known�· ; -

They do not drink this water, but they do drink that of

San Cassiano, which has a bigger reputation, near the said San
Chirico, eighteen miles toward Rome, on the left-hand side of the
main road.
Considering the cleanliness of these earthenware vessels, which
are so white and neat that they seem like porcelain, and are so cheap,
they really seemed to me more pleasant for eating than the pewter
of France, especially when it is dirty, as you find it in the hostel­
nes.
These days I felt a little headache, from which I had thought
I was fully freed. And, as before, there came around the eyes, the
forehead, and other parts of the front of the head, a heaviness,
weakness, and disturbance, which greatly troubled my mind. Tues­
day we came to dine at
LA PAGLIA, thirteen miles, and to sleep at
SAN LORENZO, sixteen miles: wretched inns. The vintage was
beginning in these parts.
On Wednesday morning there arose a dispute between our men
and the drivers from Siena: considering that we had been longer on
this journey than usual and that they had to meet the expenses for
the horses, they said they would not pay this expense for that
evening. The thing went so far that it was necessary to speak to
the mayor, who, after hearing me, ruled in my favor, and put one
of the drivers in prison. I stated that the horse's falling into the
water, which had ruined most of my things, had been the cause of
our delay.
Near the main road six miles from Montefiascone, or there­
abouts, a few paces away on the right, is a bath named [Naviso] ,2
situated in a very large plain, and three or four miles from the
nearest mountain. It consists of a little lake, at one end of which
you see a big spring bubbling lustily and spouting scalding water. It
stinks strongly of sulphur, and forms a white scum and sediment.
From this spring on one side a conduit branches off, which leads the
water to two baths that are in a nearby house; which house stands

2 Montaigne left the name blank.

 I T A LY : R ETU R N T O RO M E 1 25 1
alone, with a good many little roGms, but wretched ones. I do not
believe that much of a crowd comes here. They drink for seven days,
ten pounds each time; but they have to let the water cool a little first
to take away that great heat, as is done at the baths of Prechacq.
They take their baths the same number of days. This house and the
baths are in the domain of a certain church.3 It rents for fifty crowns.
But besides this profit from the sick people who go there in the
spring, the man who leases the house sells a certain mud which is
drawn from the said lake; and this mud is good for humans when
dissolved in warm oil to soothe the itch, or indeed for scabby sheep
and dogs, when dissolved in water. This mud sells in its crude form
for two giulii a load, in dried balls for seven quattrini apiece .
Here we came across a large number of Cardinal Farnese's dogs,
which were brought here to be bathed. About three miles from here
we reached
VITERBO, sixteen miles. It was so late that we had to make one
meal of dinner and supper. I was then very hoarse and chilled, and
had slept fully dressed on a table at San Lorenzo because of the bugs;
which I had not had to do except there and in Florence. At Viterbo
I ate some sort of acorn called gensole. These are found in many
places in Italy. They are tasty. There are still so many starlings here
that you can get one for one baiocco. 4
On Thursday, September 28th, in the morning, I went to see
some other baths near this town, situated in the plain a good way off,
and far from the mountain. First you see buildings in two different
places where not long ago there used to be baths, which have been
ruined by neglect. 5 The ground, however, gives off a great stench.
There is also a wretched little hovel in which a tiny little spring of
hot water makes a little lake to bathe in. 6 This water has no smell
and an insipid taste; it is moderately hot. I judged that it had a lot of
iron in it. This water is drunk. Farther on is the palace that is called
the Pope's, because it is believed that Pope Nicholas7 built it or
rebuilt it. At the foot of this palace and in the ground, in a very low
spot, there are three different springs of hot water. One of these
serves for drinking. It is of moderate and temperate heat; no stink,

3 The Church of Sant' Angelo in Spata, in Viterbo.

4 About a half a sou.
5 The baths of San Paolo and Almadiani.
6 The bath of the Madonna.
7 Nicholas V.
I252 "T RA V E L J O U R N A L
no odor. In taste, it has a little �ang and sharpness. I think it contains
much niter. I had gone with the intention of drinking for three days.
It is drunk as in other placesJn regard to quantity. You take a walk
afterward, and it js � gogd thing to sweat.
This water has a very great reputation, and is carried in loads all
over Italy. And this is the water which the doctor8 who has written
about baths in general says is the best for drinking of all the waters
of Italy. In particular they attribute to it great virtue for kidney
troubles. It is drunk most commonly in May. It was a bad omen for
me to read an inscription on the wall by one who cursed the doctors
for having sent him there, and who had got much worse; and
besides, the bathkeeper said the season was too far advanced, and
was cool in encouraging me to drink.
There is only one lodging, though it is large and respectably
comfortable, a mile and a half from Viterbo. I went there on foot.
There are three or four baths, varying in their effect, and also a place
for showers. These waters form a very white scum, which readily
hardens and becomes solid as ice, making a hard crust on the water.
The whole place appears whitened and encrusted in this way. Put
a piece of linen on it, and immediately you see it loaded with this
scum, and as solid as if it were frozen. This stuff9 is useful for
cleaning your teeth, and is exported and sold. When you chew it,
the only taste you get is of earth or sand. It is said to be the same
substance as marble. Who knows whether it might not also become
petrified in the kidneys? They say, however, that this water, which is
carried in bottles, forms no sediment and keeps clear and very pure.
I believe it may be drunk with pleasure, and that it gets some taste
from its sharpness that makes it easy to drink.
Returning from there, in this same plain, which is very long and
eight miles wide, I went to see the place where the inhabitants of
Viterbo (among whom there is not a single gentleman; they are all
laborers and merchants) collect the flax and hemp, which is a great
industry of theirs. The men do this work; there are no women
among them. There was a great quantity of it and many laborers
around a certain lake of water which is equally hot and boiling at
every season. 1 0 They say that this lake has no bottom. From it they

8 Andrea Bacci, author of De Thermis ( Venice, 1571).

9 C alcium carbonate.
ro The Bulicame, which Dante mentions in the Inferno (xiv. 79-80).
 ITALY: RETU RN TO RO M E 1 253
draw off water to form other little�tepid lakes, in which they put the
hemp and flax to steep.
Back at the house, having made this trip going on foot and
returning on horseback, I ejected a small, red, solid stone, as big as
a big grain of wheat. I had felt its descent a little around the groin
the day before. It stopped in the passage. In order to ease it out it is
good to hold the urine from passing and squeeze the prick a little, so
that it may come out more vigorously. The seigneur de Langon
showed me this remedy at Arsac.
On Saturday, the Feast of Saint Michael, after dinner, I went to
the Madonna della Qyercia, a mile out of the town. You go by a very
fine big road, level and straight, bordered with trees from one end to
the other, built with great care by Pope Farnese [Paul III] . The
church is beautiful, most religious, and full of innumerable votive
tablets. The Latin inscription states that a hundred years ago or
thereabouts a man, attacked by robbers and half dead, took refuge by
an oak on which was this image of the Madonna, and after praying
to her became miraculously invisible to the robbers and thus escaped
a most certain danger. This miracle gave rise to this local cult
of the Madonna. Around this oak was built this very beautiful
church. The trunk of the oak is now seen cut at the base, and the
part where the image is placed is attached to the wall, and
the branches around it are cut away.
On Saturday, the last day of September, in the morning, I left
Viterbo and took the road to Bagnaia, a place belonging to Cardinal
Gambara, very ornate, and provided among other things with
fountains. And in this respect it seems not only to equal but to
surpass both Pratolino and Tivoli. In the first place it has running
spring water, which Tivoli has not; and this is so abundant (as it is
not at Pratolino) that it suffices for an infinite number of purposes.
The same Messer Tomasa da Siena who directed the work at Tivoli,
or most ofit, is also in charge of this, which is not finished; and thus,
always adding new inventions to the old, he has put into this, his
latest work, much more art, beauty, and grace. Among a thousand
other members of this excellent body you see a high pyramid which
spouts water in many different ways: one jet rises, another falls.
Around this pyramid are four beautiful little lakes, clear, clean, full
of water. In the middle of each is a little stone ship with two
musketeers which draw water and shoot it against the pyramid,
and in each a trumpeter which also draws water. You go around
these lakes and the pyramid by very beautiful alleys with balustrades
1 254 T RAVEL J O U R N A L
of fine stone, most artfully carved. The others liked other parts
more. The palace is small but �lean and pretty. Certainly, if I know
anything about it, this p1ace �asily takes the prize for the use and
service of water. The cardinal was not there. But since he is French
'
at heart, his men showe d us all the courtesy and friendliness that
could be desired.
From here, following the straight road, we came upon Caprarola,
a palace of Cardinal Farnese, which is very greatly renowned in Italy.
I have seen none in Italy that may be compared with it. It has a great
moat around it, cut out of the tufa. The building is above, in the
manner of a terrace; you do not see the tiles. The form is pentagonal,
but to the eye it appears distinctly square. Inside, however, it is
perfectly round, with wide corridors going around it, all vaulted and
painted on all sides. The rooms are all square; the building, very
large; very beautiful public rooms. One of these is wonderful: on its
vaulted ceiling (for the building is vaulted throughout) you see the
celestial sphere, with all the constellations; around it on the walls,
the terrestrial globe, the regions and the whole world, everything
painted very richly directly on the wall itself.
In various other places you see depicted the noblest actions of
Pope Paul III and of the house of Farnese. The persons are por­
trayed so true to life that where you see portrayed our Constable, or
the Qyeen Mother, or her sons Charles, Henry, and the duke of
II
Alen�on, and the queen of Navarre, they are immediately recog­
nized by those who have seen them; likewise King Francis, Henry
II, Pietro Strozzi, and others. In one and the same room, you see the
effigy of King Henry II at one end and in the place of honor, under
which the inscription says "Preserver of the House of Farnese," and
at the other end King Philip, 12 whose inscription says "For the many
benefits received from him."
Outside there are also many noteworthy and beautiful things,
among others a grotto, which, spraying water artfully into a little
lake, gives the appearance to the eye and the ear of the most
natural rainfall. The location is barren and alpine. And the cardinal
has to draw the water for his fountain all the way from Viterbo,
eight miles away.

rr These personages are respectively the Constable Anne de Montmorency,

Catherine de' Medici, Charles IX, Henry III, Duke Francis of Alen�on, and
Margaret of Valois, queen of Navarre.
12 Philip II of Spain.
 I TA LY: R E T U R N T O RO M E 1255
•

From here, following a level road and a large plain, we came upon
some very big meadows, in the middle of which, in certain dry and
grassless spots, you see springs bubbling up of pure cold water, but
stinking so much of sulphur that the odor of it is perceived from
a great distance. 13 We came to sleep at
MONTEROSSI, twenty-three miles. On Sunday, October 1st, to
ROME, twenty-two miles. We felt at this season an extreme cold
and an icy north wind from the mountains.
On Monday and for some days after, I had indigestion in my
stomach. And for this reason I took some meals apart in order to
eat less; and my bowels were loose, so that I felt physically
pretty sprightly, except for my head, which has never completely
recovered.
On the day I arrived in Rome I received the letters from the
jurats of Bordeaux, 14 who wrote me very courteously about the fact
that they had elected me mayor of their city, and urgently requested
me to join them.
On Sunday, October 8th, 1581, I went to the Baths of Diocletian
on Monte Cavallo to see an Italian who had been for a long time
a slave of the Turks, and had learned a thousand rare tricks in
riding.15 For example, while riding at full speed he would stand up
straight on the saddle, hurl a javelin with all his might, and then
suddenly drop back into the saddle. Galloping furiously and hold­
ing the saddlebow with one hand, he would get off his horse and
touch the ground with his right foot while the left remained in the
stirrup; and many times in this way he dismounted and jumped into
the saddle again. He would turn his body around in the saddle
several times, galloping all the while. He shot a Turkish bow forward
and backward with great ease. Leaning his head and shoulders on
the horse's neck and holding his feet straight up in the air, he let the
horse go at full speed. He took a club and threw it in the air and
caught it again on the run. Standing up on the saddle, he aimed
a lance at a glove and pierced it, as people tilt at the ring. On foot he
made a pike revolve around his neck, in front and behind, having
first given it a hard push with his hand.
On October 1oth, after dinner, the French ambassador sent
a footman to tell me that if I wished, he was coming to pick me

13 La Solfatara, near Ronciglione.

14 The municipal council.
15 Compare Essays I: 48, p. 26r.
 IJ' R A V E L J O U R N A L
up in his coach to take me to see the furniture of Cardinal Orsini,
which was being sold, since he1 had died this summer in Naples and
had left as heir to all his vasJ_ property a niece of his, a little girl.
Among other rare .things. was a taffeta coverlet lined with swans'
feathers. In Siena. yon see a good many of these swans' skins com­
plete with feathers, and I was asked no more than a crown and a half
for one, all prepared. They are the size of a sheepskin, and a few of
them would be enough to make a coverlet of this sort. I also saw an
ostrich egg, decorated all over and painted with pretty pictures. Also
a square box to put jewels in, which contained a certain quantity of
them; but since the box was most artfully arranged with mirrors all
around, when it was opened it appeared much wider and deeper in
every direction, and seemed to hold ten times as many jewels as were
in it, since one and the same thing was seen many times by the
reflection of the mirrors, and the mirrors were not easy to detect.
On Thursday, October 12th, the cardinal of Sens took me alone
with him in his coach to see the Church of Saints John and Paul, of
which he is the patron, as he is of those friars who make the waters
and perfumes I spoke of above;1 6 it is situated on Mount Celia. And
this lofty site seems to be made artificially, since underneath it is
all vaulted, with great corridors and underground rooms. It is said
that the Forum Hostilium17 was there. The gardens and vineyards
of these friars are so placed as to give a beautiful view of Rome,
old and new, from a place set apart by its steep and precipitous
height, and almost inaccessible on every side.
This same day I gave a well-filled wooden case to a carrier to send
to Milan. The muleteers ordinarily take twenty days on the road
there. The whole thing weighed 150 pounds, and you pay four
baiocchi, which comes to two French sous, per pound. There were
many things of value in it, above all a very handsome Agnus Dei
necklace, which had not its like in Rome, having been made espe­
cially for the Empress's ambassador, who had it blessed by the Pope;
and also a cavalliere. 1 8

16 The Jesuates. See above, pp. n18-20.

i7 Morttaigne presumably has in mirtd the Cura Hostilia, where at one time the
Senate met. lt w as located on the Forum, some distance away.
t8 A kind of chaplet.
 I T A LY A N D F RA N C E : T H E R E T U R N H O M E 1 257
.

Italy and France: The Return Home

(October 15-November 3 0, 1581)

On Sunday morning, October 15th, I started out from Rome and

left my brother1 there with forty-three gold crowns, with which, he
had decided, he could stay there and learn fencing for five months.
Before I left he had rented a nice little room for twenty giulii
a month. Messieurs d'Estissac, de Monluc, de Chasai, Morens,
and several others accompanied me for the first stage. And if I had
not started early in order to save these gentlemen the trouble, there
would have been a good many others ready to come, who had
already hired horses, Messieurs du Bellai, d'Ambres, d'Alegre, and
others. I came to sleep at
RONCIGLIONE, thirty miles, having hired the horses for as far as
Lucca at twenty giulii each, the driver paying the expenses of the
said horses.
On Monday morning I was astonished to feel such a piercing
cold that it seemed to me I had never experienced such a cold winter,
and to see the vintage and vine harvest not yet finished in these
parts. I came to dine at
VITERBO, where I put on my furs and all my winter trappings; and
from there to sup at
SAN LORENZO, twenty-nine miles. From there I came to sleep at
SAN CHI RICO, thirty-two miles. All these roads have been
repaired this year by order of the duke of Tuscany; which work is
very fine and serves the public to great advantage. May God reward
him for it! For the most difficult roads have by this means become as
fast and comfortable as the streets of a city.
It was an astounding thing to see the great multitude of people
who were going to Rome. On this account it was to be observed that
horses for hire to go to Rome were beyond all price for their scarcity,
and to return from Rome they let you have them for nothing. Near
Siena, as in innumerable other places, there is a double bridge, that
is to say a bridge above which another stream crosses over an
aqueduct. We arrived in the evening at
SI ENA, twenty miles. Tonight I felt some colic for about two
hours, and it seemed to me I felt the stone descending.

r Bertrand de Mattecoulon, who was latet to be involved in a duel in Rorne (see

Essays II: 27, p. 639).
 'f R A V E L J O U R N A L
Early on Thursday Guglielmo Felice, a Hebrew doctor, came to
see me and gave me a long lecture on the regimen I should follow
for my kidneys and gravel. II}. this condition I left Siena; and the
colic seized me again, arid lasted three or four hours. At the end
of this time I clearly perceived, from an extreme pain in the groin,
the prick, and the ass, that the stone had descended. I came for
supper to
PONTE A ELSA, twenty-eight miles. Here I voided a stone bigger
than a grain of millet, with some red gravel, without pain or
difficulty in the passage. I left here Friday morning and stopped
on the road at
ALTO PASCIO, sixteen miles. I stayed here an hour to have the
animals fed. Here, without much pain, I passed with a good deal of
gravel a long stone, partly solid and partly soft, of the size of a big
grain, and bigger. On the road we came upon a number of country
people who were picking the vine leaves, which they keep as fodder
for the animals in the winter; others were gathering ferns to make
their litter. We came to sleep at
LUCCA, eight miles. Here a number of gentlemen and artisans
came to visit me.
On Saturday morning, October 21st, I ejected another stone,
which stopped a while in the passage but nevertheless came out
without pain or difficulty. This one was rather round than otherwise,
hard and massive, but harsh and rough, white inside and red outside,
much bigger than a grain. Meanwhile I voided gravel all the time.
From this we see that nature sometimes purges itself, and you feel
a sort of flux of this stuff. God be thanked that it comes out without
serious pain and does not disturb my actions!
As soon as I had eaten a grape (for on this trip I ate very little or
nothing in the morning) , I left Lucca without waiting for certain
gentlemen who were getting ready to come and accompany me.
I had a fine road, mostly level, with the hills covered with number­
less olive trees on my right, on my left some marshes, and the sea not
far off.
In one place in the state of Lucca I came across a machine that is
half ruined owing to the negligence of the said lords; and this lack
does great harm to the surrounding country. This machine was
made for the purpose of draining the soil in these marshes and
making them fertile. A great ditch had been dug, at the end of
which three wheels were kept continually in motion by means
of a stream of running water which came falling down from the
 I T A LY A N D F RA N C E : T H E R ETU R N H O M E 1 25 9
mountain onto them. These wheels, with certain vessels attached to
them, drew the water from one side of this ditch, and on the
other side poured it into another, higher ditch and channel; which
ditch, made for this purpose and provided with walls on each side,
carried this water into the sea. Thus the whole country around
was drained.
I passed through the middle of Pietrasanta, a fairly large fortress
town of the duke of Florence, with many houses but empty
of people, because, from what they say, the air is so bad that you
cannot live there, and most of them die or barely exist. We came for
supper to
MASSA DI CARRARA, twenty-two miles, a town belonging to the
prince of Massa, of the house of Cibo. You see a fine castle on the
top of a hill. About midway up this hill, around the said castle and
below it, are the streets and houses, surrounded by good walls. And
further down, outside the said walls, is a large suburb in the plain,
surrounded by other new walls. The place is handsome: handsome
streets, handsome painted houses.
I was forced to drink new wines - they drink no others in these
parts - which, with a certain kind of wood and the whites of eggs,
are made so clear that they lack none of the color of the old wines;
but they have an indefinable unnatural taste.
On Sunday, October 22nd, I first followed a very level road,
having the Tyrrhenian Sea still on my left, a harquebus-shot away.
And on this road, between us and the sea, we saw some ruins, not
very big, which the people of the country say used to be a great city
called Luna. 2

Then we came to Sarzana, a town belonging to the Republic of

Genoa; and you see their coat of arms there, a Saint George
on horseback. They keep a guard of Swiss soldiers, since the town
once belonged to the duke of Florence. And if the prince of Massa
were not in between them, there is no doubt that Pietrasanta
and Sarzana, the frontier towns of the two states, would be con­
tinually at grips.
We passed Sarzana, where we were forced to pay four giulii
per horse for one stage, and where a great artillery celebration was
being held for the passage of Don Giovanni de' Medici, natural
brother of the duke of Florence, who was returning from

2 An ancient Etruscan town, already decayed in Roman times, and demolished

by the Arabs in ror6.
1260 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
Genoa from seeing the Emptess,3 on whom many other princes
1
of Italy had also gone to call, on behalf of his said brother. And
among other things there wa�-. much ado about the sumptuosity of
the duke of Ferrar.a, .who had ·come to meet her at Padua with four
hundred carriages·. · He had asked permission of the Signory of
Venice to pass through their territory with six hundred horse, and
upon their replying to his request that they would allow him to come
with a certain somewhat smaller number, he put all his people into
carriages and thus brought them all, but diminished the number
of horses. I came across this prince Don Giovanni on the way,
a young man very handsome in person, accompanied by twenty
men in good harness but on hired horses; a way of traveling which
is not considered unbecoming in Italy, even for a prince. After
passing Sarzana, we left the road to Genoa on our left.
To get to Milan it makes little difference whether you go by
way of Genoa or by the other way; it comes to the same thing.
I wanted to see that city, and the Empress, who was there. What
bothered me was that there are two routes to go there, one three
days' journey from Sarzana, which has forty miles of very bad
and very alpine road, of rocks and precipices and bad inns; this
road is little frequented. The other is through Lerici, three miles
from Sarzana, where you embark on the sea and in twelve hours
cross over to Genoa. Since I cannot endure the water because of
the weakness of my stomach, and feared the discomfort of this
route even less than the difficulty of getting lodgings, because of
the great crowd of people in Genoa; and moreover, since it was
said that the road from Genoa to Milan was none too safe from
robbers; and since I had nothing but my return home on my
mind; I decided to pass up Genoa, and followed the road on
the right through many mountains, always keeping to the
bottoms and the valley along the river Magra. And having this
river on our left, we passed now through the state of Genoa, now
through that of the duke of Florence, now that of the lords of
the house of Malespina. Finally, by a road that was reasonably
good, except for a few steep and precipitous spots, we came to
sleep at
PONTREMOLI , thirty miles, a very long town, full of ancient
buildings which are not very attractive. There are a few ruins, and

3 Maria, widow of Maximilian II.

 I TA LY A N D F RA N C E : T H E R E T U R N H O M E 1261
they say that the town was called Appua4 by the ancients. It now
belongs to the state of Milan, and recently the Fies chi family held it.
At table the first thing they gave me was cheese, as they do
around Milan and in the country around Piacenza. Following the
Genoese practice, they gave me olives without pits, prepared with
oil and vinegar like a salad - very good.
The site of this town is among the mountains and at the foot
of them.
To wash your hands they furnished a basin full of water placed on
a stool. Everyone had to wash his hands in the same water.
I left here Monday morning, the 23rd, and on leaving the house
climbed the Apennines - very high, but the road not at all hard or
dangerous. All day we were climbing and coming down mountains,
mostly alpine and barren. In the evening we came to sleep at
FORNovo, in the state of the count of San Secondo, thirty miles.
It was a pleasure to find myself out of the hands of those scoundrels
of the mountains, who practice every sort of cruelty imaginable on
travelers in charging for food and horses.
They put on the table for me an assortment of condiments in the
form of excellent relishes of various kinds. One of these was made
with quinces.
In these parts you find that horses for hire are extremely scarce.
You are in the hands of people who have no rules and who do not
keep their word to foreigners. Others paid two giulii per horse for
each stage; they demanded of me three, four, and five giulii for each
stage, so that every day it came to more than a crown to hire one
horse, because they also counted two stages where there was only one.
Here I was two stages away from Parma; and to Piacenza from
Parma it was the same distance as from Fornovo, so that by going
to Parma I would have lengthened the trip by only two stages.
I decided not to go there so as not to upset my trip home, having
put aside all other plans. This place is a tiny village of six or seven
little houses, situated on a plain along the flooded river Taro -
I think that is the name of it - which we followed for a time on
Tuesday morning, coming to dine at
BORGO SAN DONNINO, twelve miles, a little stronghold which
the duke of Parma is beginning to surround with fine walls,
well-flanked. Here they put on the table a mustard-like relish made

4 In ancient times there was a people of Liguria called the Appuans, but no
town of Appua is believed to have existed.
1262 'P R A V E L J O U R N A L
with apples and oranges .cut in pieces, like half-cooked quince
,
marmalade.
From here, leaving on our r!.ght Cremona at the same distance as
Piacenza, we followed a very fine level road in a countryside where
as far as the horizon you see no mountains or unevenness, with very
fertile soil; changing horses at every stage. I took these two stages at
a gallop to test the strength of my loins, and felt neither pain nor
fatigue from it; my urine was natural.
Near Piacenza there are two big columns, one on either side of
the road, with about forty paces between them. At the foot of these
columns are Latin inscriptions which forbid building or planting
trees or vines between them. I do not know whether they merely
wanted to preserve the width of the road, or indeed to keep the
esplanade open, as we see it to be, from these columns to the town,
which is half a mile away. We came to sleep at
PIACENZA , twenty miles, a very big city. Having arrived very
early, I went all around in it for three hours. Muddy, unpaved streets,
small houses. And in the square, which is its most beautiful spot, is
the Palace of Justice, and the prisons, surrounded by shops of no
account and the crowd of citizens from all around.
I saw the castle, which is in the hands of King Philip, who keeps
here a guard of three hundred Spaniards, badly paid, so I understood
from them. The dian5 is sounded morning and evening with the
instruments that we call oboes and they call pijferi; and it is sounded
for an hour. There are many people in the castle, and handsome
pieces of artillery. The duke of Parma never goes there. He for his
part (and he was in the city at that time) is lodged in the citadel,
which is a castle in another place; and he never goes to the castle that
King Philip holds.
In short, I saw nothing here worth seeing except the new Mon­
astery of Saint Augustine, built with money that King Philip has
used here, in exchange for another Church of Saint Augustine, from
the materials of which he has made this castle; for he holds part
of the revenue of the church itself. The church remains to be built,
and is well begun. But the lodgings of the friars, who are seventy in
number, and the double cloisters, are finished. In corridors, dormi­
tories, wine cellars, and other facilities, this building seems to me
the most sumptuous and magnificent that I have seen anywhere, if
I remember rightly, for the service of the Church.

5 Normally, the reveille.

 I T A L Y A N D F RA N C E : T H E R E T U R N H O M E 1263
•

At table here they put on the �salt in a lump, the cheese in a big
piece without a dish.
The duke of Parma was expecting the arrival in Piacenza of the
first-born son of the archduke of Austria, which son I saw at
Innsbruck; and now it was said that he was going to Rome to be
crowned king of the Romans.
They offer water for the hands, and for mixing with the wine,
with a big brass spoon. The cheese they eat here is exactly like the
Piacentini cheeses that are sold all over.
Piacenza is exactly halfway between Rome and Lyons. In order
to go more directly to Milan I would have had to go and sleep at
Marignano, thirty miles, and from there to Milan it is ten miles.
I lengthened my trip by ten miles in order to see Pavia. I left early on
Wednesday, October 25 th, following a fine road, in which I urinated
one soft little stone and a lot of gravel.
We passed through the middle of a walled village of Count
Santafiore. Toward the end of the trip we crossed the Po on a ferry
made of scaffolding placed on two boats and surmounted by a little
cabin, with a long rope resting in various places on some small boats
arranged in order on the river. Near this place the Ticino joins the
Po. We came early to
PAVIA , thirty short miles. Immediately I set about seeing the
principal sights of the city: the bridge over the Ticino, the cathedral,
the churches of the Carmelites, Saint Thomas, Saint Augustine, in
which is the shrine of Saint Augustine, a rich sepulcher of white
marble with many statues.
In a certain square in the city may be seen a brick column, on top
of which is a statue which seems to be a copy of the one of
Antoninus Pius 6 on horseback in front of the Capitol. This one is
smaller and not at all comparable in beauty. But what makes me
more doubtful is that this statue has two stirrups and a saddle with
saddlebows in front and behind, whereas the other does not have
these; and this is all the more in agreement with the opinion of the
learned, that stirrups, and saddles of this kind, were invented later.
Perhaps some ignorant sculptor thought that these were lacking.
I also saw the beginning of Cardinal Borromeo's building for the use
of the students.
The city is large and rather beautiful, comfortably populated,
and there is no lack of artisans of many kinds. There are few

6 Not Antoninus Pius, but Marcus Aurelius.

 'f R A V E L J O U R N A L
beautiful houses; and the -0ne in which the Empress stayed these
past days is not much. I saw th1e arms of France, but the lilies had
been effaced. In short, there is,,.n othing rare here.
In these parts horses are hired for two giulii per stage. The best
hostelry, or, to be more-precise, the best hotel in which I have stayed
from Rome to here was the Post at Piacenza; and I believe it is the
best in Italy, after that of Verona. The worst on this journey was
the Falcon in Pavia. Here and in Milan you pay extra for firewood,
and the beds lack mattresses.
I left Pavia on Thursday, October 26th. I took the road to the
right, half a mile off the direct route, to see the spot where they say
the shattering of King Francis' army occurred,7 which is a level
place; and also to see the Charterhouse, which with good reason
has the reputation of being a very beautiful church. The fa\:ade of
the entrance, all of marble, with numberless carvings, is really
something stupendous. There is also an altar decoration in ivory,
on which are carved the Old and the New Testament. Besides this
there is the marble tomb of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, founder of the
church; and then the choir, and the decorations of the high altar, and
the cloisters, very beautiful and of unusual size. These are the finest
things. The house is very large in area and gives the impression - not
only in the size and number ofits different buildings, but even more
in the number of people, servants, horses, coaches, laborers, and
artisans - of being the court of a very great prince . They are con­
tinually working on it at incredible expense, which the Fathers pay
out of their revenues. The site is in the middle of a very beautiful
meadow. From here we came to
M I LAN, twenty miles. This city is the most populous in
Italy, large, and full of all sorts of artisans and merchandise. It is
not too much unlike Paris, and has much the appearance of a French
city. It lacks the palaces of Rome, Naples, Genoa, Florence;
but in size it beats them all, and in its crowds of people it comes
up to Venice.
On Friday, October 2 7th, I went to see the castle from the
outside, and went almost all around it. It is a very big building and
wonderfully strong. The garrison in it consists of at least seven
hundred Spaniards, excellently supplied with artillery; and they
were adding more defenses all around. This day I stopped there

7 The battle of P.1\ria, in which Francis I was defeated and taken prisoner by
Charles V in 1525 ,
 I T A LY A N D F RA N C E : T H E R E T U R N H O M E 1265
.

because of the very heavy rain that suddenly caught us. Until then
the weather and the roads had treated us very kindly.
On Saturday, October 28th, I left Milan in the morning. I set out
on a fine level road, and although it rained continuously and the
road was full of water, there was no mud, for the country is sandy.
I came for dinner to
BUFFALORA, eighteen miles. Here we crossed the bridge over the
river Naviglio, which is narrow, but deep enough to carry big boats
to Milan. And a little farther on we crossed the Ticino by boat and
came to sleep at
NOVARA, twelve miles, a little town, not very attractive, standing
in a plain, with vineyards and groves and fertile land around it. We
left there in the morning and came and stopped a bit to feed our
animals at
VERCELLI , ten miles, a town belonging to the duke of Savoy, also
in a plain and along the river Sesia, which we crossed by boat. The
said duke has built in this place, in a great hurry and with a world
of people, a fortress - a handsome one, as far as I could see from
outside - and has thereby aroused the suspicion of the Spaniards
near these parts.
From here we passed through the middle of San German and
then Santhia, two little walled villages. And, always following
a beautiful plain, fertile mainly in walnuts (for in this region
there are no olives, and no oil except from walnuts), we came to
sleep at
LIVORNO, twenty miles, a little village with a good many houses.
We left Monday early, and following a level road came to dine at
CHIVAsso, ten miles; and from here, crossing a lot of rivers and
streams by boat and at fords, we came to
TURIN , ten miles. We could easily have arrived here in time to
dine. A small city in a very watery location, not very well built or
attractive, although a little stream runs through the middle of the
streets to clean away the dirt. In Turin I paid five and a half crowns
per horse for my use as far as Lyons, six days, their expenses to be
paid by the drivers.
Here they ordinarily speak French, and they all appear very
devoted to France. The language of the people is a language that
has almost nothing Italian about it but the pronunciation; the rest of
it is French words.
We left here on Tuesday, the last of October, and came along
a level road to dine at
1266 11 R A V E L J O U R N A L
SAN AMB ROGio; two stages. From there, following a narrow plain
between the mountains, to sleep at
susA, two stages, a little wajled place with a good many houses.
Here I felt a great. pain in_ my right knee, which pain had already
bothered me a good many'days, but kept increasing all the time. The
hostelries are better here than in other parts of Italy - good wines,
bad bread, much to eat, courteous innkeepers - and throughout
Savoy. On All Saints' Day, after hearing Mass, I came to
NOVALESA, one stage. Here I hired eight marroni8 to carry me in
a chair to the top of Mont Cenis and take me down in a sledge on
the other side.
[ TH E JOURNAL BY MONTAIGNE I N FRENCH ]
Here they speak French; so I quit this foreign language, which
I use easily but with very little sureness, not having had the time to
learn it at all well, since I was always in the company of Frenchmen.
I made the ascent of Mont Cenis halfway on horseback, halfway
on a litter carried by four men, with another four who relieved them.
They carried me on their shoulders. The ascent takes two hours,
stony and difficult for horses that are not accustomed to it, but
otherwise without danger or difficulty; for since the mountain is
broad and rises steadily, you find no precipices, and no danger except
of a stumble.
From the top of the mountain you see beneath you a plain
two leagues wide, many little houses, lakes, and fountains, and
the posthouse; no trees, but a lot of grass and meadows that
are useful in the mild season. At that time everything was covered
with snow. The descent is one league, steep and straight, and
I was taken on a sledge by the same marrons. And for all their
service, for the eight of them, I paid two crowns. The sledging
alone costs only one teston. It is a pleasant sport, but without
any risk.
We dined, without much appetite, at
LAN SLEBOURG, two stages, which is a village at the foot of the
mountain, where Savoy begins; and we came on to sleep in a little
village9 two leagues away. There are lots of trout all around here
and excellent old and new wines. From here we came, by a hilly and
stony road, to dine at

8 French marrons. litter-carriers.

9 Possibly Termignon.
 I TA LY A N D F RA N C E : T H E R ETU R N H O M E 1267
SAINT-MICH EL, five leagues, a village where the posthouse is.
From here we came to rest, very late and very wet, at
LA CHAMB RE, five leagues, a little town from which the mar­
quises de La Chambre take their title. On Friday, November 3rd, we
came to dine at
AIGUEB ELLE, four leagues, a little enclosed town, and to sleep at
MONTM E LIAN, four leagues, a town with a fort which occupies
the top of a low ridge that rises out of the middle of the plain
between these high mountains. The said town is situated below
the said fort on the river Isere, which goes on to Grenoble, seven
leagues from the said place. Here I clearly felt the excellence of the
Italian oils, for those over here began to give me a stomach-ache,
whereas the others never gave me an aftertaste. We came to dine at
CHAMB E RY, two leagues, the principal town of Savoy, small,
handsome, and mercantile, set among the mountains, but in
a place where they recede a long way and form a very big plain.
From here we passed over the Mont du Chat, high, steep, and rocky,
but not at all dangerous or hard, at the foot of which lies a big lake,
and along this a castle called Bourdeau, where they make very
renowned swords; and to rest at
YENNE, four leagues, a small town.
On Sunday morning we crossed the Rhone, which we had on our
right, after passing a little fort on the river which the duke of Savoy
has built between some rocks that are very close together; and along
one of these rocks there is a little narrow path at the end of which is
the said fort, not very unlike Chiusa, which the Venetians set at the
end of the mountains of Tyrol. From here, still going along the low
ground between the mountains, we came without a stop to
SAINT- RAMBERT, seven leagues, a tiny little town in the said
valley. Most of the towns in Savoy have a stream in the middle
that washes them; and the streets on both sides, as far as the said
stream, are covered with big porch roofs, so that you are under cover
and dry in all weather. It is true that the shops are the darker for it.
On Monday morning, November 6th, we left Saint-Rambert,
where Monsieur Francesco Cenami, a banker from Lyons who
had retired here because of the plague, sent his nephew to me
with some of his wine and many very nice compliments. I left here
Monday morning early, and after at last coming completely out
of the mountains, I began to enter upon the really French plains.
Here I crossed the river Ain in a boat at the harbor of Chazey, and
came on without stopping to
1268 1' R A V E L J O U R N A L
MONTLUEL, six. leagues; a small town on a much-traveled road,
'
belonging to the duke of S avoy, and the last ofhis. On Tuesday after
dinner I took the post ano carpe to sleep at
LYONS, two stages, thr�e leagues. I liked the sight of the city very
much. On Friday I bought from Joseph de La Sone three unused
little cropped horses to go in file, for two hundred crowns; and the
day before I had bought from Malesieu one pacing horse for fifty
crowns and another cropped one for thirty-three.
On S aturday, Saint Martin's Day, in the morning I had a bad
stomach-ache, and stayed in bed until afternoon, when I had diar­
rhea; I ate no dinner and very little supper.
On Sunday, November 12th, Monsieur Alberto Giachinotti of
Florence, who showed me many other courtesies, had me to dinner
at his house, and offered to lend me money, though he had no
knowledge of me until then.
On Wednesday, November 15th, I left Lyons after dinner, and by
a hilly road came to sleep at
LA BOURDELLIERE, five leagues, a village in which there are only
two houses. From here on Thursday morning we took a fine level
road, and around the middle of it, near Feurs, a little village, we
crossed the river Loire by boat and came on without stopping to
L'H6PITAL, eight leagues, a little walled place. From here Friday
morning we followed a hilly road in bitter, snowy weather with
a cruel wind against us, and came on to
THIERS , six leagues, a small town on the river Alli er, very
mercantile, well-built, and populous. Their principal traffic is in
paper, and they are renowned for carved knives and playing cards. It
is equidistant from Lyons, Saint-Flour, Moulins, and Le Puy.
The closer I came to home, the more the length of the road
seemed annoying; and indeed, counting the days, I was not halfway
from Rome to my house until Chambery at the earliest. This town is
part of the appanages of the house of [Bourbon] 10 belonging to the
duke of Montpensier.
I went to Palmier's to see the cards made. There are as many
workmen and as much to do in this as in any other worthy business.
The common cards are sold at only one sou, and the fine ones at
two caroli.
On Saturday we followed the rich plain of the Limagne, and,
after crossing the Dore and then the Alli er by boat, came to sleep at

10 Montaigne leaves the name blank.

 I T A LY A N D F RA N C E : T H E R ETU R N H O M E 1269
PONT-DU-CHATEAU, four leagues. The plague has ravaged this
place badly, and I heard many remarkable stories about it. The
manor house, which is the ancestral home of Viscount de Canillac,
was burned down as they were trying to purify it with fire. The said
lord sent one of his men to me with many offers by word of mouth,
and to ask me to write to Monsieur de Foix to recommend his son,
whom he had just sent to Rome.
On Sunday, November r 9 th, I came to dine at
CLERMONT, two leagues, and stopped here for the sake of my
young horses.
On Monday the 2oth I left in the morning, and, at the top of the
Puy de Dome, I passed a rather large stone, broad and flat in shape,
which had been in the passage since morning, and I had felt it the
day before, only at the base of the penis; and at the time when it was
about to descend into the bladder, I also felt it a bit in the kidneys. It
was neither soft nor hard. I passed through
PONTGI BAUD , where I went to greet Madame de La Fayette in
passing, and I was half an hour in her parlor. This house has less
beauty than reputation; the site of it is rather ugly than otherwise,
the garden small, square, and the alleys in it raised a good four or five
feet; the beds are at the bottom, with many fruit trees and few herbs
in them, and the sides of these sunken beds are lined with freestone.
It was snowing so hard, and the weather was so bitter, with a cold
wind, that you saw nothing of the country. I came to sleep at
PONTAUMUR , seven leagues, a little village. Monsieur and
Madame du Lude were two leagues from there. The next day
I came to sleep at
PONTCHARRAUD , a little village, six leagues. This road is studded
with wretched hostelries as far as Limoges; they do not lack passable
wines, however. No one passes but muleteers and messengers bound
for Lyons.
My head was not in good shape; and if storms and cold winds
and rain are bad for it, I gave it its fill of them on these roads, where
they say the winter is more severe than anywhere else in France.
On Wednesday, November 22nd, in very bad weather, I left here,
and having passed through Felletin, a little town that seems to be
well built, situated in a valley bottom all surrounded by high slopes,
and which was still half deserted because of the recent plague, I came
to sleep at
CHATAIN, five leagues, a wretched little village. Here I drank
some new and unpurified wine, for lack of old wine. On Thursday
 T RA V E L J O U R N A L
the 23rd, with my head still in tl\e same condition, in rough weather,
I came to sleep at
SAUVIAT, five leagues, � litt� village that belongs to Monsieur de
Lauzun. From here I cam,e- the next day to sleep at
L I MOGES, s i.X leagues, where I stayed all day S aturday, and
bought a mule for ninety sun-crowns, and paid five crowns for
a mule-load from Lyons to here, having been cheated in this of
four livres; for all the other loads cost only three and two-thirds
crowns. From Limoges to Bordeaux we paid one crown per hun­
dredweight.
On Sunday, November 26th, I left Limoges after dinner and
came to sleep at
LES CARS, five leagues, where there was no one but Madame des
Cars. On Monday I came to sleep at
THIVIERS , six leagues. Tuesday to sleep at
P E RIGUEUX , five leagues. Wednesday to sleep at
MAURIAC, five leagues. On Thursday, Saint Andrew's Day, the
last of November, to sleep at
MONTAIGNE, seven leagues, which I had left on June 22nd, 15 80,
to go to La Fere. Thus my travels had lasted seventeen months and
eight days. n

rr On his copy of Beuther's Ephemeris historica, under the date November 30,
Montaigne wrote this note: "1581, I arrived in my house, back from a trip I had
made in Germany and Italy from June 2 2 , 1579 [read 1580] until the said day; on
which day the year before I had arrived in Rome."