Status Updates From Voyages en Suisse et en Italie

The terrible calamity which visited Messina and swept away twelve thousand of its inhabitants, did not leave behind it a single dwelling for the thirty thousand who survived..The horror caused by this unparalleled event impels them with light-hearted cheerfulness to enjoy the passing moment. A dreadful expectation of a fresh calamity was excited on 21st April by an earthquake which again sensibly shook the ground...

The news that an eruption of lava had just commenced tempted me to visit Vesuvius for the third time...We boldly went straight towards a dense volume of smoke...at last, under the clear heaven, we distinctly saw the lava emitted from the rolling clouds of smoke. We may hear an object spoken of a thousand times, but its peculiar features will never be caught till we see it with our own eyes..

Pompeii. Many a calamity has happened in the world, but never one that has caused so much entertainment to posterity as this one. I scarcely know of anything that is more interesting. The houses are small and close together, but within they are all most exquisitely painted..you have a sight of the sea and the setting sun..We took our dinner at the "Torre del' Annunziata," with our table placed close to the sea...

The great portrait of myself which Tischbein has taken in hand begins already to stand out from the canvass. The painter has employed a clever statue maker to make him a little model in clay, which is elegantly draperied with the mantle; with this he is working away diligently..

Maybe that's why the left leg is longer than the right.

I attended the blessing of the tapers in the Sistine chapel. I was in anything but good humour for I thought to myself those are the very candles which for three hundred years have been dimming those noble paintings, and it is their smoke which, with priestly impudence, not merely hangs in clouds around the only sun of art, but from year to year obscures it more and more, and will at last envelop it in total darkness

Of the beauty of a walk through Rome by moonlight it is impossible to form a conception, without having witnessed it. All single objects are swallowed up by the great masses of light and shade, and nothing but grand and general outlines present themselves to the eye. For several days we have enjoyed to the full the brightest and most glorious of nights. Peculiarly beautiful at such a time is the Coliseum...

Sicily..it must not be merely a ride round it and across it, which is soon done, but from which one brings away in return for our fatigue and money nothing but a simple—I have seen it. The best way is to take up one's quarters in Palermo, and afterwards in Catania; and to make excursions, having previously, however, well studied Riedesel and others on the locality.
And The Leopard…

We paid a second visit to the Sistine Chapel, and had the galleries opened, in order that we might obtain a nearer view of the ceiling. As the galleries are very narrow, it is only with great difficulty that one forces one's way up them, by means of the iron balustrades...those who are liable to get dizzy had better not make the attempt.
Oh, that there were only some means of fixing such paintings in my soul!

There are opportunities enough here for my collecting many more specimens. In our way to the ruins of Nero's palace, we passed through some artichoke grounds newly turned up, and we could not resist the temptation to cram our pockets full of the granite, porphyry, and marble slabs which lie here by thousands, and serve as unfailing witnesses to the ancient splendour of the walls which were once covered with them.

I'm in Verona and so is Goethe!
Verona, Sept. 16. ,I came to a public spectacle. Four noble Veronese were playing ball against four people of Vicenza. The game is played as follows: Two boards are placed at a convenient distance from each other. He who strikes the ball stands at the higher end, his right hand is armed with a broad wooden ring, set with spikes.
Sounds as violent as opening of Romeo & Juliet

we had the opera, which lasted till midnight, and I was glad to get some rest.
Tamerlane at La Scala lasted till midnight, and I also was glad to get some rest!

The long cape, the round hat, the staff and cockle (the latter used as the most innocent drinking-vessel)—all had its signification, and its immediate use, while a tin-case held their passports. Most remarkable of all were their small, red morocco pocket-books, in which they kept all the little implements that might be wanted for any simple necessity. They took them out on finding that something wanted mending...

I know I'm in Italy - even the graffiti is about art. I wonder what Goethe would think of this: L'arte è una puttena

I'm reading the Travels in Italy section as I set out on my travels to Italy

La statue de Marc-Aurèle me rappela le Commandeur dans Don Juan.

01/03/1788
La semaine dernière a été bien remplie, et me sembla avoir duré un mois. D'abord j'ai tracé le plan de Faust, et j'espère que cette opération m'a réussi. On comprend bien que c'est autre chose d'achever la pièce à présent ou de l'avoir achevée à quinze ans; je crois qu'elle n'y perdra rien, d'autant que je crois maintenant avoir retrouvé le fil. Je suis tranquille aussi pour le ton de l'ensemble.

description très vivante du Carnaval de Rome



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Rome, 1er février 1788.
On me fatigue ici avec les traductions de mon Werther; on me les communique et l'on me demande laquelle est la meilleure, et si tout cela est vrai. C'est un fléau qui me poursuivrait jusqu'aux Indes.

Rome, 25 décembre 1787.

Cette fois le Christ est né au milieu des tonnerres et des éclairs: nous avons eu juste à minuit un violent orage.
L'éclat des plus grand chefs-d’œuvre ne m'éblouit plus; je vis maintenant dans la contemplation, dans la connaissance vraie et distincte.

Naple, 24 avril 1787

On observe partout, avec le plus vive sympathie, une gaité extraordinaire. Les fleurs et les fruits de toutes couleurs dont la nature se décore, semble convier les hommes à parer leurs personnes et tout ce qui leur appartient des couleurs les plus vives. Mouchoirs, rubans de soie, fleurs sur le chapeau...

Agrigente, 24 avril 1787

On voit s'élever à l'extrémité de cette plaine verte et fleurie le temple de la Concorde...

Palerme, dimanche 15 avril 1787

1er avril 1787

Rome, 23 novembre 1786

Citta Castellana, 28 octobre 1780

Sainte Cécile, Raphaël

Raphaël a toujours fait ce que les autres peintres désiraient faire, et je pourrais maintenant me borner à dire que l'ouvrage est de lui.

Petit hôtel près de la place Saint Marc. Tranquille...

La solitude, après laquelle j'ai soupiré souvent avec tant d'ardeur, je puis en jouir maintenant à souhait; car nulle part on se sent plus seul que dans la foule, absolument inconnu de chacun.

Et maintenant la météo... :(