CHRISTIAN BUOL AND CHRISTIAN PALMY

MY FRIENDS AND FELLOW-TRAVELLERS

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.

CONTENTS

Page
AUTUMN WANDERINGS 11

MONTE OLIVETO 34

MONTEPULCIANO 57

SPRING WANDERINGS 84

MAY IN UMBRIA 106

THE PALACE OF URBINO 138

A VENETIAN MEDLEY 169

THE GONDOLIER'S WEDDING 212

FORNOVO 238

BERGAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO COLLEONI 261

LOMBARD VIGNETTES 282

NEW ITALIAN SKETCHES.

AUTUMN WANDERINGS.

I.--ITALIAM PETIMUS.

_Italiam petimus!_ We left our upland home before daybreak on a clear
October morning. There had been a hard frost, spangling the meadows with
rime-crystals, which twinkled where the sun's rays touched them. Men and
women were mowing the frozen grass with thin short Alpine scythes; and
as the swathes fell, they gave a crisp, an almost tinkling sound. Down
into the gorge, surnamed of Avalanche, our horses plunged; and there we
lost the sunshine till we reached the Bear's Walk, opening upon the
vales of Albula, and Julier, and Schyn. But up above, shone morning
light upon fresh snow, and steep torrent-cloven slopes reddening with a
hundred fading plants; now and then it caught the grey-green icicles
that hung from cliffs where summer streams had dripped. There is no
colour lovelier than the blue of an autumn sky in the high Alps,
defining ridges powdered with light snow, and melting imperceptibly
downward into the warm yellow of the larches and the crimson of the
bilberry. Wiesen was radiantly beautiful: those aerial ranges of the
hills that separate Albula from Julier soared crystal-clear above their
forests; and for a foreground, on the green fields starred with lilac
crocuses, careered a group of children on their sledges. Then came the
row of giant peaks--Pitz d'Aela, Tinzenhorn, and Michelhorn, above the
deep ravine of Albula--all seen across wide undulating golden swards,
close-shaven and awaiting winter. Carnations hung from cottage windows
in full bloom, casting sharp angular black shadows on white walls.

_Italiam petimus!_ We have climbed the valley of the Julier, following
its green, transparent torrent. A n