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Windows 10 1703 download iso italy travelers auto.BURT FRANKLIN: BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCE SERIES #179
It was then that the Duke bitterly dubbed him an "Italianfyd Inglyschemane," equal in faithlessness to "a schamlesse Scote"; [] i. Edward de Vere, seventeenth Earl of Oxford, famous for his rude behaviour to Sir Philip Sidney, whom he subsequently tried to dispatch with hired assassins after the Italian manner, [] might well have been one of the rising generation of courtiers whom Ascham so deplored.
In Ascham's lifetime he was already a conspicuous gallant, and by , at the age of twenty-two, he was the court favourite. The friends of the Earl of Rutland, keeping him informed of the news while he was fulfilling in Paris those heavy duties of observation which Cecil mapped out for him, announce that "There is no man of life and agility in every respect in Court, but the Earl of Oxford. At the very time when the Queen "delighted more in his personage and his dancing and valiantness than any other," [] Oxford betook himself to Flanders--without licence.
Though his father-in-law Burghley had him brought back to the indignant Elizabeth, the next year he set forth again and made for Italy.
From Siena, on January 3rd, , he writes to ask Burghley to sell some of his land so as to disburden him of his debts, and in reply to some warning of Burghley's that his affairs in England need attention, replies that since his troubles are so many at home, he has resolved to continue his travels.
In another letter also [] he assures Cecil that he means to acquaint himself with Sturmius--that educator of youth so highly approved of by Ascham. He did not know this till his late return to Venice. He has been grieved with a fever. The letter concludes with a mention that he has taken up of Baptista Nigrone crowns, which he desires repaid from the sale of his lands, and a curt thanks for the news of his wife's delivery.
From Paris, after an interval of six months, he declares his pleasure at the news of his being a father, but makes no offer to return to England. Rather he intends to go back to Venice. He "may pass two or three months in seeing Constantinople and some part of Greece. However, Burghley says, "I wrote to Pariss to hym to hasten hym homewards," and in April , he landed at Dover in an exceedingly sulky mood.
He refused to see his wife, and told Burghley he might take his daughter into his own house again, for he was resolved "to be rid of the cumber. Certain results of his travel were pleasing to his sovereign, however. For he was the first person to import to England "gloves, sweete bagges, a perfumed leather Jerkin, and other pleasant things.
Arthur Hall and the Earl of Oxford will perhaps serve to show that many young men pointed out as having returned the worse for their liberty to see the world, were those who would have been very poor props to society had they never left their native land. Weak and vain striplings of entirely English growth escaped the comment attracted by a sinner with strange garments and new oaths. For in those garments themselves lay an offence to the commonwealth. I need only refer to the well-known jealousy, among English haberdashers and milliners, of the superior craft of Continental workmen, behind whom English weavers lagged: Henry the Eighth used to have to wear hose cut out of pieces of cloth--on that leg of which he was so proud--unless "by great chance there came a paire of Spanish silke stockings from Spaine.
Wrapped up with economic acrimony there was a good deal of the hearty old English hatred of a Frenchman, or a Spaniard, or any foreigner, which was always finding expression. Either it was the 'prentices who rioted, or some rude fellow who pulls up beside the carriage of the Spanish ambassador, snatches the ambassador's hat off his head and "rides away with it up the street as fast as he could, the people going on and laughing at it," [] or it was the Smithfield officers deputed to cut swords of improper length, who pounced upon the French ambassador because his sword was longer than the statutes allowed.
Her Majestie is greatly offended with the officers, in that they wanted judgement. There was also a dislike of the whole new order of things, of which the fashion for travel was only a phase: dislike of the new courtier who scorned to live in the country, surrounded by a huge band of family servants, but preferred to occupy small lodgings in London, and join in the pleasures of metropolitan life.
The theatre, the gambling resorts, the fence-schools, the bowling alleys, and above all the glamor of the streets and the crowd were charms only beginning to assert themselves in Elizabethan England. But the popular voice was loud against the nobles who preferred to spend their money on such things instead of on improving their estates, and who squandered on fine clothes what used to be spent on roast beef for their retainers.
Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier parodies what the new and refined Englishman would say Time hath set a new edge on gentlemen's humours and they show them as they should be: not like gluttons as their fathers did, in chines of beefe and almes to the poore, but in velvets, satins, cloth of gold, pearle: yea, pearle lace, which scarce Caligula wore on his birthday.
On the whole, we may say that the objections to foreign travel rose from a variety of motives. Ascham doubtless knew genuine cases of young men spoiled by too much liberty, and there were surely many obnoxious boys who bragged of their "foreign vices.
Lastly, there was another element in the protest against foreign travel, which grew more and more strong towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth and the beginning of James the First's, the hatred of Italy as the stronghold of the Roman Catholic Church, and fear of the Inquisition.
Warnings against the Jesuits are a striking feature of the next group of Instructions to Travellers. The quickening of animosity between Protestants and Catholics in the last quarter of the sixteenth century had a good deal to do with the censure of travel which we have been describing. In their fear and hatred of the Roman Catholic countries, Englishmen viewed with alarm any attractions, intellectual or otherwise, which the Continent had for their sons. They had rather have them forego the advantages of a liberal education than run the risk of falling body and soul into the hands of the Papists.
The intense, fierce patriotism which flared up to meet the Spanish Armada almost blighted the genial impulse of travel for study's sake. It divided the nations again, and took away the common admiration for Italy which had made the young men of the north all rush together there. We can no longer imagine an Englishman like Selling coming to the great Politian at Bologna and grappling him to his heart--"arctissima sibi conjunxit amicum familiaritate," [] as the warm humanistic phrase has it.
In the seventeenth century Politian would be a "contagious Papist," using his charm to convert men to Romanism, and Selling would be a "true son of the Church of England," railing at Politian for his "debauch'd and Popish principles. They had scarcely started before the Reformation called it a place of abomination. Lord Burghley, who in Elizabeth's early days had been so bent on a foreign education for his eldest son, had drilled him in languages and pressed him to go to Italy, [] at the end of his long life left instructions to his children: "Suffer not thy sonnes to pass the Alps, for they shall learn nothing there but pride, blasphemy, and atheism.
And if by travel they get a few broken languages, that shall profit them nothing more than to have one meat served on divers dishes. The mother of Francis Bacon affords a good example of the Puritan distrust of going "beyond seas. All through his prolonged stay abroad she chafed and fretted, while Anthony perversely remained in France, gaining that acquaintance with valuable correspondents, spies, and intelligencers which later made him one of the greatest authorities in England on continental politics.
He had a confidential servant, a Catholic named Lawson, whom he sent over to deliver some important secret news to Lord Burghley. Lady Bacon, in her fear lest Lawson's company should pervert her son's religion and morals, had the man arrested and detained in England. His anxious master sent another man to plead with his mother for Lawson's release; but in vain.
The letter of this messenger to Anthony will serve to show the vehemence of anti-Catholic feelings in a British matron in She cannot abide to hear of you, as she saith, nor of the other especially, and told me plainly she should be the worse this month for my coming without you, and axed me why you could not have come from thence as well as myself. It was not only a general hatred of Roman Catholics which made staunch Protestants anxious to detain their sons from foreign travel towards the end of Elizabeth's reign, but a very lively and well-grounded fear of the Inquisition and the Jesuits.
When England was at war with Spain, any Englishman caught on Spanish territory was a lawful prisoner for ransom; and since Spanish territory meant Sicily, Naples, and Milan, and Rome was the territory of Spain's patron, the Pope, Italy was far from safe for Englishmen and Protestants.
Even when peace with Spain was declared, on the accession of James I. There is a letter, for instance, to Salisbury from one of his agents on the Continent, concerning overtures made to him by the Pope's nuncio, to decoy some Englishman of note--young Lord Roos or Lord Cranborne--into papal dominions, where he might be seized and detained, in hope of procuring a release for Baldwin the Jesuit.
Send me, I pray you, a note of the chief towns to be passed through. I care not for seeing places, but to go thither the shortest and safest way. Bedell's fears were not without reason, for the very next year occurred the arrest of the unfortunate Mr Mole, whose case was one of the sensations of the day.
Fuller, in his Church History , under the year , records how He was appointed by Thomas, Earl of Exeter, to be Governour in Travail to his Grandchilde, the Lord Ross, undertaking the charge with much reluctance as a presage of ill successe and with a profession, and a resolution not to passe the Alpes.
In vain doth Mr Molle dissuade him, grown now so wilfull, he would in some sort govern his Governour. What should this good man doe? To leave him were to desert his trust, to goe along with him were to endanger his own life. At last his affections to his charge so prevailed against his judgment, that unwillingly willing he went with him. Now, at what rate soever they rode to Rome, the fame of their coming came thither before them; so that no sooner had they entered their Inne, but Officers asked for Mr Molle, took and carried him to the Inquisition-House, where he remained a prisoner whilest the Lord Ross was daily feasted, favoured, entertained: so that some will not stick to say, That here he changed no Religion for a bad one.
No threats could persuade Mr Mole to renounce his heresy, and though many attempts were made to exchange him for some Jesuits caught in England, he lay for thirty years in the prison of the Inquisition, and died there, at the age of eighty-one. It was part of the policy of the Jesuits, according to Sir Henry Wotton, to thus separate their tutors from young men, and then ply the pupils with attentions and flattery, with a view to persuading them into the Church of Rome.
Not long after the capture of Mole, Wotton writes to Salisbury of another case of the same sort. And doubtlessly as we collect now upon the matter if Sir John Harington [] had either gone the Roman Journey, or taken the ordinary way in his remove thitherwards out of Tuscany, the like would have befallen his director also, a gentleman of singular sufficiency; [] for it appeareth a new piece of council infused into the Pope by his artisans the Jesuits to separate by some device their guides from our young noblemen about whom they are busiest and afterwards to use themselves for aught I can yet hear with much kindness and security, but yet with restraint when they come to Rome of departing thence without leave; which form was held both with the Lords Rosse and St Jhons, and with this Lord Wentworthe and his brother-in-law at their being there.
And we have at the present also a like example or two in Barons of the Almaign nation of our religion, whose governors are imprisoned, at Rome and Ferrara; so as the matter seemeth to pass into a rule.
And albeit thitherto those before named of our own be escaped out of that Babylon as far as I can penetrate without any bad impressions, yet surely it appeareth very dangerous to leave our travellers in this contingency; especially being dispersed in the middle towns of Italy whither the language doth most draw them certain nimble pleasant wits in quality of interceptors, who deliver over to their correspondents at Rome the dispositions of gentlemen before they arrive, and so subject them both to attraction by argument, and attraction by humour.
Wotton did not overrate the persuasiveness of the Jesuits. Lord Roos became a papist. Wotton's own nephew, Pickering, had been converted in Spain, on his death-bed, although he had been, according to the Jesuit records, "most tenacious of the corrupt religion which from his tender youth he had imbibed.
Another conversion of the same sort had been made by Father Walpole at Valladolid, the year before. Sir Thomas Palmer came to Spain both for the purpose of learning the language and seeing the country. Therefore, perceiving himself to be in danger of death, he set to work to reconcile himself with the Catholic Church. Having received all the last Sacraments he died, and was honourably interred with Catholic rites, to the great amazement also of the English Protestants, who in great numbers were in the city, and attended the funeral.
There is nothing surprising in these death-bed conversions, when we think of the pressure brought to bear on a traveller in a strange land. As soon as he fell sick, the host of his inn sent for a priest, and if the invalid refused to see a ghostly comforter that fact discovered his Protestantism. Whereupon the physician and apothecary, the very kitchen servants, were forbidden by the priest to help him, unless he renounced his odious Reformed Religion and accepted Confession, the Sacrament, and Extreme Unction.
If he died without these his body was not allowed in consecrated ground, but was buried in the highway like a very dog. It is no wonder if sometimes there was a conversion of an Englishman, lonely and dying, with no one to cling to.
We must remember, also, how many reputed Protestants had only outwardly conformed to the Church of England for worldly reasons. They could not enter any profession or hold any public office unless they did. But their hearts were still in the old faith, and they counted on returning to it at the very end. In the hour of death men turn to old affections.
And so in several ways one can account for Sir Francis Cottington, Ambassador to Spain, who fell ill, confessed himself a Catholic; and when he recovered, once more became a Protestant. The mere force of environment, according to Sir Charles Cornwallis, Ambassador to Spain from , was enough to change the religion of impressionable spirits. His reports to England show a constant struggle to keep his train of young gentlemen true to their national Church. The Spanish Court was then at Valladolid, in which city flourished an especially strong College of Jesuits.
Thence Walpole, and other dangerous persuaders, made sallies upon Cornwallis's fold. At first the Ambassador was hopeful Two of myne own Followers I have found corrupted, the one in such sorte as he refused to come to Prayers, whom I presently discharged; the other being an honest and sober young Gentleman, and one that denieth not to be present both at Prayers and Preachinge, I continue still, having good hope that I shall in time reduce him. But within a month he has to report the conversion of Sir Thomas Palmer, and within another month, the loss of even his own chaplain.
In a week the chaplain wrote for a prolongation of his stay, making discourse of "a strange Tempest that came upon him in the way, of visible Fire that fell both before and behind him, of an Expectation of present Death, and of a Vowe he made in that time of Danger. The chaplain never came back. He had turned Romanist. The reasons for the headway of Catholicism in the reign of James I. To explain the agitated mood of our Precepts for Travellers, it is necessary only to call attention to the fact that Protestantism was just then losing ground, through the devoted energy of the Jesuits.
Even in England, they were able to strike admiration into the mind of youth, and to turn its ardour to their own purposes. But in Spain and in Italy, backed by their impressive environment and surrounded by the visible power of the Roman Church, they were much more potent.
The English Jesuits in Rome--Oxford scholars, many of them--engaged the attentions of such of their university friends or their countrymen who came to see Italy, offering to show them the antiquities, to be guides and interpreters. How much the English Government feared the influence of the Jesuits upon young men abroad may be seen by the increasing strictness of licences for travellers.
The ordinary licence which everyone but a known merchant was obliged to obtain from a magistrate before he could leave England, in gave permission with the condition that the traveller "do not haunte or resorte unto the territories or dominions of any foreine prince or potentate not being with us in league or amitie, nor yet wittinglie kepe companie with any parson or parsons evell affected to our State.
Lord Zouche grumbled exceedingly at the limitations of his licence. This restraint is truly as an imprisonment, for I know not how to carry myself; I know not whether I may pass upon the Lords of Venis, and the Duke of Florens' territories, because I know not if they have league with her Majesty or no. To come to our Instructions for Travellers, as given in the reign of James I.
Sir Robert Dallington, in his Method for Travell , [] gives first place to the question of remaining steadfast in one's religion:. And it is to be feared, that he which is of one religion in his youth, and of another in his manhood, will in his age be of neither Now what should one say of such men but as the Philosopher saith of a friend, 'Amicus omnium, Amicus nullorum,' A professor of both, a believer in neither.
To this effect I must precisely forbid him the fellowship or companie of one sort of people in generall: these are the Jesuites, underminders and inveiglers of greene wits, seducers of men in matter of faith, and subverters of men in matters of State, making of both a bad christian, and worse subject.
These men I would have my Travueller never heare, except in the Pulpit; for [] being eloquent, they speake excellent language; and being wise, and therefore best knowing how to speake to best purpose, they seldome or never handle matter of controversie. Our best authority in this period of travelling is Fynes Moryson, whose Precepts for Travellers [] are particularly full. Moryson is well known as one of the most experienced travellers of the late Elizabethan era. On a travelling Fellowship from Peterhouse College, Cambridge, in he made a tour of Europe, when the Continent was bristling with dangers for Englishmen.
Spain and the Inquisition infected Italy and the Low Countries; France was full of desperate marauding soldiers; Germany nourished robbers and free-booters in every forest.
It was the particular delight of Fynes Moryson to run into all these dangers and then devise means of escaping them. He never swerved from seeing whatever his curiosity prompted him to, no matter how forbidden and perilous was the venture.
Disguised as a German he successfully viewed the inside of a Spanish fort; [] in the character of a Frenchman he entered the jaws of the Jesuit College at Rome. For instance, when he was plucked bare by the French soldiers of even his inner doublet, in which he had quilted his money, he was by no means left penniless, for he had concealed some gold crowns in a box of "stinking ointment" which the soldiers threw down in disgust. His Precepts for Travellers are characteristically canny.
Never tell anyone you can swim, he advises, because in case of shipwreck "others trusting therein take hold of you, and make you perish with them. We are not all like Amadis or Rinalldo, to incounter an hoste of men. And to the end he may leave nothing behind him in his Innes, let the visiting of his chamber, and gathering his things together, be the last thing he doth, before hee put his foote into the stirrup.
The whole of the Precepts is marked by this extensive caution. Since, as Moryson truly remarks, travellers meet with more dangers than pleasures, it is better to travel alone than with a friend. And surely there happening many dangers and crosses by the way, many are of such intemperate affections, as they not only diminish the comfort they should have from this consort, but even as Dogs, hurt by a stone, bite him that is next, not him that cast the stone, so they may perhaps out of these crosses grow to bitterness of words betweene themselves.
Lest the traveller should become too well known to them, let him always declare that he is going no further than the next city. Arrived there, he may give them the slip and start with fresh consorts. Moryson himself, when forced to travel in company, chose Germans, kindly honest gentlemen, of his own religion.
He could speak German well enough to pass as one of them, but in fear lest even a syllable might betray his nationality to the sharp spies at the city gates, he made an agreement with his companions that when he was forced to answer questions they should interrupt him as soon as possible, and take the words out of his mouth, as though in rudeness.
If he were discovered they were to say they knew him not, and flee away. Moryson advised the traveller to see Rome and Naples first, because those cities were the most dangerous. Men who stay in Padua some months, and afterwards try Rome, may be sure that the Jesuits and priests there are informed, not only of their coming, but of their condition and appearance by spies in Padua. It were advisable to change one's dwelling-place often, so to avoid the inquiries of priests.
At Easter, in Rome, Moryson found the fullest scope for his genius. A few days before Easter a priest came to his lodgings and took the inmates' names in writing, to the end that they might receive the Sacrament with the host's family. Moryson went from Rome on the Tuesday before Easter, came to Siena on Good Friday, and upon Easter eve " pretending great business " darted to Florence for the day.
On Monday morning he dodged to Pisa, and on the folowing, back to Siena. The conception of travel one gathers from Fynes Moryson is that of a very exciting form of sport, a sort of chase across Europe, in which the tourist was the fox, doubling and turning and diving into cover, while his friends in England laid three to one on his death.
So dangerous was travel at this time, that wagers on the return of venturous gentlemen became a fashionable form of gambling. Sir Henry Wotton was a celebrated product of foreign education in these perilous times. As a student of political economy in he led a precarious existence, visiting Rome with the greatest secrecy, and in elaborate disguise. For years abroad he drank in tales of subtlety and craft from old Italian courtiers, till he was well able to hold his own in intrigue. By nature imaginative and ingenious, plots and counterplots appealed to his artistic ability, and as English Ambassador to Venice, he was never tired of inventing them himself or attributing them to others.
It was this characteristic of Jacobean politicians which Ben Jonson satirized in Sir Politick-Would-be, who divulged his knowledge of secret service to Peregrine in Venice. Greatly excited by the mention of a certain priest in England, Sir Politick explains:. Sir Henry Wotton's letter to Milton must not be left out of account of Jacobean advice to travellers. It is brief, but very characteristic, for it breathes the atmosphere of plots and caution. Admired for his great experience and long sojourn abroad, in his old age, as Provost of Eton, Sir Henry's advice was much sought after by fathers about to send their sons on the Grand Tour.
Forty-eight years after he himself set forth beyond seas, he passed on to young John Milton "in procinct of his travels," his favourite bit of wisdom, learned from a Roman courtier well versed in the ways of Italy: "I pensieri stretti e il viso sciolto. So much for the admonitory side of instructions for travellers at the opening of the seventeenth century.
Italy, we see, was still feared as a training-ground for "green wits. Parents could be easily alarmed by any possibility of their sons' conversion to Romanism. For the penalties of being a Roman Catholic in England were enough to make an ambitious father dread recusancy in his son. Though a gentleman or a nobleman ran no risk of being hanged, quartered, disembowelled and subjected to such punishments as were dealt out to active and dangerous priests, he was regarded as a traitor if he acknowledged himself to be a Romanist.
At any moment of anti-Catholic excitement he might be arrested and clapped into prison. Drearier than prison must have been his social isolation. For he was cut off from his generation and had no real part in the life of England.
Under the laws of James he was denied any share in the Government, could hold no public office, practise no profession. Neither law nor medicine, nor parliament nor the army, nor the university, was open to him. Banished from London and the Court, shunned by his contemporaries, he lurked in some country house, now miserably lonely, now plagued by officers in search of priests. At last, generally, he went abroad, and wandered out his life, an exile, despised by his countrymen, who met him hanging on at foreign Courts; or else he sought a monastery and was buried there.
To be sure, the laws against recusants were not uniformly enforced; papistry in favourites and friends of the king was winked at, and the rich noblemen, who were able to pay fines, did not suffer much. But the fact remains that for the average gentleman to turn Romanist generally meant to drop out of the world. The admonitions of their elders did not keep young men from going to Italy, but as the seventeenth century advanced the conditions they found there made that country less attractive than France.
The fact that the average Englishman was a Protestant divided him from his compeers in Italy and damped social intercourse. He was received courteously and formally by the Italian princes, perhaps, for the sake of his political uncle or cousin in England, but inner distrust and suspicion blighted any real friendship.
Unless the Englishman was one of those who had a secret, half-acknowledged allegiance to Romanism, there could not, in the age of the Puritans, be much comfortable affection between him and the Italians. The beautiful youth, John Milton, as the author of excellent Latin verse, was welcomed into the literary life of Florence, to be sure, and there were other unusual cases, but the typical traveller of Stuart times was the young gentleman who was sent to France to learn the graces, with a view to making his fortune at Court, even as his widowed mother sent George Villiers, afterwards Duke of Buckingham.
The Englishmen who travelled for "the complete polishing of their parts" continued to visit Italy, to satisfy their curiosity, but it was rather in the mood of the sight-seer. Only malcontents, at odds with their native land, like Bothwell, or the Earl of Arundel, or Leicester's disinherited son, made prolonged residence in Italy. Aspiring youth, seeking a social education, for the most part hurried to France. For it was not only a sense of being surrounded by enemies which during the seventeenth century somewhat weakened the Englishman's allegiance to Italy, but the increasing attractiveness of another country.
By it was said of France that "Unto no other countrie, so much as unto this, doth swarme and flow yearly from all Christian nations, such a multitude, and concourse of young Gentlemen, Marchants, and other sorts of men: some, drawen from their Parentes bosoms by desire of learning; some, rare Science, or new conceites; some by pleasure; and others allured by lucre and gain But among all other Nations, there cometh not such a great multitude to Fraunce from any Country, as doth yearely from this Isle England , both of Gentlemen, Students, Marchants, and others.
Held in peace by Henry of Navarre, France began to be a happier place than Italy for the Englishman abroad. Germany was impossible, because of the Thirty Years' War; and Spain, for reasons which we shall see later on, was not inviting. Though nominally Roman Catholic, France was in fact half Protestant. Besides, the French Court was great and gay, far outshining those of the impoverished Italian princes. It suited the gallants of the Stuart period, who found the grave courtesy of the Italians rather slow.
Learning, for which men once had travelled into Italy, was no longer confined there. Nor did the Cavaliers desire exact classical learning. A knowledge of mythology, culled from French translations, was sufficient. Accomplishments, such as riding, fencing, and dancing, were what chiefly helped them, it appeared, to make their way at Court or at camp. And the best instruction in these accomplishments had shifted from Italy to France.
A change had come over the ideal of a gentleman--a reaction from the Tudor enthusiasm for letters. The somewhat moderated esteem in which book-learning was held in the household of Charles I. Of pedantry, however, there never seems to have been any danger in Court circles, either in Tudor or Stuart days.
It took constant exhortations to make the majority of noblemen's sons learn anything at all out of books. For centuries the marks of a gentleman had been bravery, courtesy and a good seat in the saddle, and it was not to be supposed that a sudden fashionable enthusiasm for literature could change all that.
Ascham had declared that the Elizabethan young bloods thought it shameful to be learned because the "Jentlemen of France" were not so.
Henry Peacham, in , described noblemen's flagging faith in a university education. They sent their sons to Oxford or Cambridge at an early age, and if the striplings did not immediately lay hold on philosophy, declared that they had no aptitude for learning, and removed them to a dancing school. But to mend the matter, send them either to the Court to serve as Pages, or into France and Italy to see fashions, and mend their manners, where they become ten times worse.
The influence of France would not be towards books, certainly. Brave, gallant, and magnificent were the Gallic gentlemen; but not learned. As the Vicomte D'Avenel has crisply put it:. The poorest younger son of an ancient family, who would not disdain to engage himself as a page to a nobleman, or as a common soldier, would have thought himself debased by accepting the post of secretary to an ambassador.
Brute force was still considered the greatest power in the world, even when Sully was Conseiller d'Etat, though divining spirits like Eustache Deschamps had declared that the day would come when serving-men would rule France by their wits, all because the noblesse would not learn letters. When a boy came from the university to Court, he found himself eclipsed by young pages, who scarcely knew how to read, but had killed their man in a duel, and danced to perfection.
The martial type which France evolved dazzled other nations, and it is not surprising that under the Stuarts, who had inherited French ways, the English Court was particularly open to French ideals.
Our directions for travellers reflect the change from the typical Elizabethan courtier, "somewhat solemn, coy, big and dangerous of look," to the easy manners of the cavalier.
A Method for Travell , written while Elizabeth was still on the throne, extols Italian conduct. The first writer of advice to travellers who assumes that French accomplishments are to be a large part of the traveller's education, is Sir Robert Dallington, whom we have already quoted. His View of France [] to which the Method for Travel is prefixed, deserves a reprint, for both that and his Survey of Tuscany , [] though built on the regular model of the Elizabethan traveller's "Relation," being a conscientious account of the chief geographical, economic, architectural, and social features of the country traversed, are more artistic than the usual formal reports.
Dallington wrote these Views in , a little before the generation which modelled itself on the French gallants, and his remarks on Frenchmen may well have served as a warning to courtiers not to imitate the foibles, along with the admirable qualities, of their compeers across the Channel.
For instance, he is outraged by the effusiveness of the "violent, busy-headed and impatient Frenchman," who "showeth his lightness and inconstancie A childish humour, to be wonne with as little as an Apple and lost with lesse than a Nut.
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BBC News. July 5, Breakdown Cover hot-spot of the beam lights up the A white sign with only banknotes In Italy it is compulsory for drivers edge of the road and does not dazzle and coins indicates a self-service to have third-party motor insurance.
EU drivers must lane; a white sign with a hand Check with your insurance provider display a country sticker on their car holding the bank notes indicates that you are fully covered to drive unless the numberplate includes that there will be an operator.
Avoid abroad; in some cases, drivers will their countrys euro-symbol. UK drivers world to build a motorway: the Italian motorways are designated can arrange full breakdown cover Autostrada dei Laghi, which runs with the letter A followed by a while abroad some companies from Milan to Varese, and was opened numeral for instance A8, for the even offer a package that includes a in Nationwide, there are now Autostrade dei Laghi. Some motor- hour English-language helpline.
If you are driving your own car, you roads planned. The privately built Therefore an Italian motorway can should carry your vehicle insurance motorways are toll roads; non-toll have two numbers: say A11 and E The insurer Strade Statali. On a toll road, you Secondary roads are known as should also provide a European pick up a ticket when you join the strada statale SS , strada provinciale Accident Statement form.
Additionally, motorway and pay as you exit. Tolls SP or strada comunale SC the you will need to carry with you the can be paid in cash, by credit card latter sort is usually very small, and vehicle registration document and a Visa, MasterCard, American Express maintained by the local town council.
As you approach a toll used in Italy; you will see the numbers and you have to leave the vehicle. Note that The use of mobile phones in cars Rallentare some roads may just be named, and except hands-free is prohibited. Seat Slow down may not use a number at all. Centro On motorways, the speed limit for Town or city centre cars and motorcycles over cc is Driving with Children Incrocio kmph 80 mph ; on main roads it Children under 1.
Speed to 18 kg 40 lbs in a baby seat, and Parcheggio limits are lower if you are towing see above that in a booster seat. If you are Car park p21 , or if you have held a licence for renting a car, baby and booster seats Senso vietato under three years, in which case you can be hired when you book.
Remem- No entry must not exceed 90 kmph 55 mph ber to check that there is no airbag Sosta vietata on main roads or kmph 62 mph fitted if you intend to put a child in the No parking on motorways. Limits are also lower front passenger seat. Service stations Tutte le direzione if there is fog or heavy rain. If you incur a fine while you are changing facilities are virtually non- driving a rental car, the rental company existent, and there is unlikely to be Below far left Hiking-route signs, Val di Planol will deduct the money from your anywhere for older kids to let off steam Below left Road climbing through a tunnel to credit card when the fine arrives; speed safely.
Some car rental companies hire the village of Pieve Below middle Parking sign fines can range from around out portable DVD players, which might Below right Spa town of Pr-Saint-Didier in the to Tourists who are stopped by make long journeys less stressful.
Rules of the Road Buying Petrol a good day to travel if you have a Remember: always drive on the right. Petrol benzina stations are frequent; long distance to cover, as the lorry Most visitors from a country with left- most open from early morning until drivers are safely at home eating hand traffic get used to right-hand lunchtime, then from 3pm till around lunch with their families.
Outside those hours you will Road maintenance is a major issue. Petrol stations rainstorms and baking hot, tarmac- On motorways, Italian drivers can be on motorways tend to be open 24 melting summers. White roads, aggressive. Some of them believe the hours a day. Unleaded senza piombo known as strada bianche, have only inside lane is only for lorries, dont like petrol is universally available, as a gravel surface, though these are being overtaken and rarely use the are diesel gasolio and LPG PLG.
If still marked on road maps. They concentrate on you are driving near Switzerland, its the cars in front of them and those to worth noting that petrol prices there Mountain Roads the side, and if they see a space ahead are about two-thirds of what they Reaching some of Italys most spec- of them, they will fill it.
The best advice are in Italy, so it might be worth a tacular viewpoints and mountain is to let them pass. If a car flashes its trip over the border to fill up many passes inevitably involves tackling headlights it is telling you to get out Italians will be doing just that.
If you hairpin bends the Stelvio Pass in of the way, and it is best not to argue. Outside built-up areas, use Road Conditions valleys of the Ortles mountain range. Surprisingly, in a country although rush hours and summer been eroded by heavy winter snow, where football victories and weddings holidays can see the kind of long snow-melt and frost, and it can take are celebrated by convoys of cars tailbacks common to most of Europe.
Travel of any kind on either snow and ice, it is safer to avoid moun- Office offers detailed advice on safe side of the national summer holiday, tainous areas in winter conditions, Italian road travel in the Travel Advice Ferragosto 15 August , should be especially on unfamiliar roads.
In by Country section of its website. If you break down and do not www. This Foreign and Commonwealth Office www. If you are in a hire car, www.
Service stations produce your rental contract and Police Carabinieri with fast-food restaurants are on the flight tickets. If you do have pan- increase in particular the Autogrill European cover, your provider will Police Polizia Statale chain, which offers decent sandwiches contact the nearest garage and and usually has a small supermarket make arrangements for you.
Fire Brigade where you can pick up basic supplies If you are unfortunate enough to and even some local specialities. On be involved in an accident, depending Roadside Assistance the back roads, however, you are more on its severity, call one of the emer- likely to find a pretty village with a bar gency services listed in the Directory.
You will then need to fill motorway and taking a break in the out a European Accident Statement nearest town or village.
Well-priced see p16 and take the contact details set-lunch deals aimed at local workers and vehicle registration number of pranzo di lavoro are worth looking any other cars involved. If you have a Below far left Mountain road in the Dolomites out for; service will be fast, and you camera, it is a good idea to take photos Below left Symbol of a major petrol company, can get a simple, well-cooked three- of the accident from all angles before Agip Below middle The fertile Val dOrcia, course meal for under Parking Restricted Traffic and Parking in an Italian town or city Congestion Charges can demand a great deal of time and The centres of many Italian towns and patience.
When kerb-space is limited, historic villages are closed to non- drivers tend to park anywhere and resident traffic. These so-called Zone everywhere: on pavements, at bus Traffico Limatato restricted traffic stops, even blocking private entrances. Many of these parking attendants are on the rise, as zones are monitored by cameras, and Above Street mirror on a narrow road in Amiata are zone di rimozione tow-away zones.
Other towns To rent a car in Italy you need to parking is common, triple parking impose traffic restrictions on certain be over 20, and to have held a full becoming more so. Towns and villages days, or at certain times of day licence for at least one year. Be sure popular with tourists usually have Bergamo, for instance, does this in its that your rental agreement includes paying car parks just outside the historic centre, Citt Alta.
Make sure collision-damage waiver CDW and centre, and many places now operate you read the signs: lavorativo or feriali theft protection, as well as unlimited a zoned parking scheme, with the means Monday to Saturday, and is mileage. Child seats need to be type of zone indicated by the colour of marked by two crossed hammers; booked in advance. With the rise in the lines on the side of the road.
Blue- festivi indicates Sundays and public inner-city congestion, automatic cars zone parking spaces have a maximum holidays, and is marked by a Christian are becoming more widely available.
If your hotel is within a restricted When you collect the vehicle you and cost around 1 an hour though area, you will need a police permit to will need to produce your passport, they can be free at lunchtime, after enter with your car they will need to driving licence and credit card from 8pm and on Sundays. White-zone know your registration number. Yellow-zone areas are for The city of Milan has introduced a a security deposit.
Cars are usually residents only. For zones where there congestion-charge scheme Ecopass supplied with a full tank of petrol, is a time-limit but no parking fee, in an attempt to reduce traffic and it is wise to return them refilled, Italian cars including rental cars come volumes and pollution. Other towns as if not, you will be charged at an equipped with a mini clock dial that among them Genoa and Turin inflated rate for filling the tank.
All the major international car rental 10 per cent of the population has When parking, do not leave any companies such as Avis, Budget, a motorbike or scooter.
Two-wheel valuables in your car and certainly Hertz and Europcar operate in Italy. Virtually all Italian It is worth comparing rates online the labyrinth of streets that forms the cars have removable car radios, before you decide which to use, as centre of many cities, and you will which Italian drivers invariably take well as investigating any deals offered usually find somewhere free to with them when they park.
Secure, by your airline; low-cost airlines are park, even in the busiest metropolis. Away from the city, Italy is an but hotels can offer guest discounts. You could compare the deals you exhilarating country to traverse by Disabled drivers displaying the have found yourself with those of bike, with roads twisting up and blue disabled badge can park in a reliable car-rental broker such as down mountains and along dramatic designated disabled spaces.
Holiday Autos or AutoEurope. Note that if caravan or trailer is 50 kmph 30 mph you are on a motorbike or scooter, a in built-up areas; 70 kmph 45 mph CAR HIRE helmet is compulsory for both driver on secondary and main roads; and AutoEurope and pillion a rule enforced with 80 kmph 50 mph on motorways. The best maps for long journeys Motorcycles must use dipped head- and overall planning are the AA Road Budget www.
Regional maps from www. Local they will not plot every country lane Holiday Autos councils have established designated and unsurfaced track. Touring Club www. These are rarely sold is becoming increasingly common. Blurent www. Some www. In peak season, you will need to If you are intending to use a sat nav book places in advance at camp application on your mobile phone, sites. In quieter areas, free camping check that the software has on-board is on the increase, but it is illegal.
Where to Stay Italy has some of the most memorable places to stay in Europe, ranging from grand hotels oozing belle poque glamour to boutique hotels on the cutting edge of contemporary design. Some boutique hotels are opportunity to experience exceptional run by hospitality-trade professionals, Agriturismi Italian hospitality, whether the setting others by passionate newcomers, The agriturismo scheme began in is a couple of rooms in a simple often from the worlds of architecture the s to enable farmers and city apartment or a glamorous suite and design.
Visitors will find plenty landowners to boost falling revenues in a historic palace. The BB Planet of boutique hotels recommended by renting out converted farm website is a useful online resource. In the best-run places, Italian hotels are given an official produce, others have full-blown breakfasts can be fantastic affairs, with rating of between 1 and 5 stars restaurants.
Many offer activities home-made jams and cakes, fresh though the 7-star Town House Galleria such as horse riding, and some have croissants and fruit; at the other end of has recently opened in Milan: www. Note that the with swimming pools, tennis courts a cellophane-packed croissant and a number of stars awarded to a hotel and mountain bikes to rent. This means that the star in coastal and lake resorts often an arrangement with a local caf.
They are usually open www. For the tentless, Official agriturismo website Facilities and Prices sites often have bungalows, sleeping www. Single rooms are rare, and you If you want to focus on a single region, www. Bathrooms, for a week or two. The widest choice can Trip Advisor your sole use. In the cheapest hotels, be found in Tuscany and Umbria, but www. The more expen- properties in exquisitely restored Italian camp sites www.
The following price bands are based and surroundings. Weekend rates Castelmuzio Below Hotel Ristorante Locanda expensive over in city hotels are often great value. Where to Eat One of the great pleasures of travelling in Northern and Central Italy is exploring the rich culinary and wine-making traditions of each region.
Every drive in this guide provides the opportunity to sample regional specialities, whether it be the pesto and sh dishes of Liguria, the trues, hams and salamis of Umbria or the cheeses, dumplings and smoked sausages of the Alto-Adige. Below is a basic guide to the typical kinds of eating places you will nd in Italy, from simple pizzerias to sophisticated gourmet haunts. Practical Information on a separate dish alongside.
Finally, Above Sign for a pizza restaurant in Riva del Perhaps the most typical Italian there is the dolce, or dessert. House Garda, near Lake Garda breakfast is a croissant cornetto and wines can vary in quality, but a coffee at a bar. The coffee comes in quarto quarter , mezzo half or more basic, homely sort of place; the a staggering variety of modes, from 1-litre caraffa carafe will always menu was often scrawled on a short and sharp un caff to long and be at the very least drinkable.
An espresso In cities and major towns, credit newsprint to cover the tables and on diluted with hot water to make it cards are widely accepted less so which to write the bill. An osteria was resemble American filter coffee is an in smaller places and in the country, an unpretentious country or city Americano; an espresso with a blob where it is advisable to carry cash. Tax and service must be included meat with some cheese, and maybe Italians wouldnt dream of having a in the bill by law, and a small cover a simple pasta dish to accompany a frothy cappucino at any time of day charge coperto is usually added.
However, that other than breakfast. In summer, there Tipping is becoming more common; has all changed, and these days the is usually iced coffee caff freddo. Ristorante is now a youll find a few restaurants that keep fit the bill. Men like women will be neutral, generic term that could apply their kitchens open right through to expected to wear tops during meals, to anything from a Michelin-starred dinner, which is usually served from even at beachside places.
Only in gem to a seaside joint where mass- pm. Most restaurants are the most exclusive restaurants is dress catering is the order of the day; and closed one day a week and display formal, and men required to wear a although there are trattorie and osterie their giorno di chiusura closed day in tie and jacket. Children are welcome that have existed for half a century, the window, although in the summer, in restaurants, even late at night.
Meals begin with an antipasto, Ristoranti, Trattorie, Osterie Trattoria often implies an interest in or starter, followed by the primo, These are the three main types of reviving and reinventing traditional or first course most commonly restaurants in Italy, and until some dishes; whereas osteria tends to pasta, risotto or, in winter, a minestra years ago they were quite distinct.
The secondo is the meat A ristorante was a proper restaurant, the very best primary ingredients and fish course, with the contorno with linen tablecloths and waiters and wines, as promoted, for instance, vegetables or salad usually served in uniform. A trattoria was usually a by the Slow Food movement. Where to Eat You have more a delicatessen alimentari where you on a three-course meal for one, chance of striking gold if you go to can buy delicacies such as rosemary- including a half-bottle of house wine, a pizzeria with a wood-burning oven spiked hams, mature gorgonzola, cover charge, tax and service: forno a legna , from which the pizzas speck and olives; a bakery il forno ; inexpensive under 25 should emerge bubbling, scorched and a greengrocer fruttivendolo moderate and blistered.
Pizzerias are almost or market mercato packed with expensive over 45 always informal places, and pizza is seasonal fruits and vegetables.
The classic accompaniment markets also bring together local to pizza is a cold draught beer. Cafs and Bars There are often stalls with specialities At one end of the spectrum are grand from the south of Italy too capers, cafs with chandelier-lit interiors and sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella di terraces fringing some of the most bufala and spicy salami which add spectacular piazzas in Italy; at the other, an exotic touch.
Less romantically, modest local bars with s colour Italian supermarkets, including schemes, steaming coffee machines chains like Esselunga and Una, stock and dusty plastic flowers.
These very good-quality fresh produce as unpretentious neighbourhood bars well as freshly baked bread. Some have a few tables outside Chiavenna steak or a freshly caught Sansepolcro market Below left Fruits on a for a more leisurely breakfast or apritif, red mullet.
Around the lakes you will Bolzano market stall Below middle Al fresco though you should find time at least find free beaches spiaggia pubblica dining in Orvieto Below middle right once on your trip to dawdle over a where you can settle on a grassy Subterranean wine vault, Canonica a Cerreto, Campari soda and olives in a traditional patch by the lakeside and enjoy Chianti Below This bakery in San Casciano pavement caf watching life pass by.
In the Shadow of the Alps Turin to Castello di Rivoli Highlights Royal Turin Admire the sweeping boulevards, elegant hunting lodges and pleasure palaces of this aristocratic city Gourmet Piedmont Taste the regions famous mushrooms and truffles and sample the rich, French-influenced cuisine Strategic mountain passes Walk in the footsteps of some of historys greatest armies Hannibal, Augustus and Napoleon all marched through the Alps near Aosta Paradise park Explore Italys first national park, the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso, and see ibex, chamois, marmots and magnificent golden eagles.
In the Shadow of the Alps The rolling hillsides around Turin produce some of the worlds most delectable wines and prized gourmet delicacies, such as white true and various kinds of cheese. Encircled by palaces and former hunting lodges and set against the amphitheatre of the snow-capped Alps, Aiguille du Midi Ferret. Turin is well-endowed with beautiful architecture and cutting-edge m Arnouvaz. The tour then passes through the dramatic landscape of Col. Colle d. La Thuile Sarre S. Bernardo ch e M.
Paramont en Introd. Hike in the mountains and then take a chairlift or cable car from Courmayeur or La Thuile up to the highest peaks in Europe. Number of days: 34, allowing half Grand Combin a day to explore Turin. Stretches M. Emilius of the route between Pr-Saint-Didier m M. Val d. Almese Tor. Airasca Carignano find a host of buildings to explore Villa- stellone in Turin with the works of Baroque architect Juvarra, and impressive museums and churches.
Outdoor enthusiasts can take the mountain air in historic Aosta. For full details, see p Its Museo Torino. Park under Piazza Vittorio. Indeed, it was the first capital and has a garden for al fresco meals. Today, it is the countrys design and Via Nino Costa 4, ; ; contemporary art capital. And, for a taste of the dolce vita, Turin is www. Des Artistes moderate Centrally located near the Piazza Vittorio Veneto, this boho chic hotel has just 22 A three-hour walking tour of cinema with props and classic film pleasant and well-appointed rooms and From Piazza Vittorio Veneto, clips, including the car chase in The offers good, professional service.
Take the glass lift to ; www. Next, old Fiat factory designed by Renzo Antonelliana 1. Topped by turn right and then left into Piano , this hotel has minimalist airy a m ft spire, this the wide Corso San Maurizio rooms, glass walls and large bathrooms. Continue through the lent Museo Nazionale del Madonna and child, park to the far corner and Below clockwise from top left The grand Cinema closed Mon.
The opulent exterior of the Palazza Madama in the Piazza production capital of the world interior is graced with chinoiserie, Castello; dome of the Chiesa di San Lorenzo The museum re-creates the story gold, velvet and tapestries. A MA Chiesa di.
GLI UR. TEB E. Two tombs of over 50 members of the LOsteria del Corso inexpensive of Turins most atmospheric cafs are Savoy family. Duke Vittorio Amedeo Simple, good family-run fish place. The funicular ride 4 open daily. The interior of this from Sassi station just below up to Cera Una Volta moderate church is a Baroque fantasy of marble, the basilica is always popular with chil- Welcoming restaurant offering regional specialities and an excellent menu stucco and gilding.
It also has a dren. A large plaque in the grounds degustazione. Corso Vittorio replica of the Sindone di Torino Turin commemorates the tragic loss of the Emanuele ll 41, ; ; Shroud , believed to be the sheet in Grande Torino football team, whose www. The Museo del Grande Torino Ristorante del Cambio expensive Quadrilatero 5 the gridded area displays the teams memorabilia.
Turins most famous restaurant serves authentic bollito misto a mix of that recalls the old Roman settle- Head west to pick up SS11 then cooked meats. Booking essential. The cobbled streets are full SP Castello take SR to Biella.
The collection includes papyri, a black statue of Ramses ll 13th century BC , sarcophagi and the tomb of Kha and Merit c. At the heart of Textile Valley, Biella Go north, signposted Champdepraz, is famous as a major centre for high- turn right at SR6, left at SS26 towards quality wool and yarn production, Aosta and follow signs to Fnis. More than 50 Local cuisine matches robust flavours factory outlets line the industrial with French flair, reflecting the areas approach roads many of which are relationship with the House of on the SS look for spaccio on Savoy.
The woods, especially near signs, meaning outlets. There are Alba, are truffle- and mushroom- also outlets in Biella see right. The rich and any dish with salsa di tartufi bianchi will be delicious. Bagna town has a compact, attractive cauda is a warm, aromatic dip made centre and highlights include the with oil, anchovies, garlic and cream. Renaissance basilica and cloister of Blue gorgonzola is the best- known St Sebastian, with lovely frescoes cheese dolce creamy or piccante inside.
A funicular goes up to the crumbly , but look for soft cheeses, beautiful medieval village of Piazzo. Fork right on SP73, then with Albas white truffles. Set on such as Il Melograno closed Wed. AOSTA il melograno of iron. Much restored Its origins date to the 13th century, Hotel Europe moderate over the years, the palace has vivid but what is visible today is largely Set in the heart of the old town, this frescoes of 15th-century street life, the creation of Aimone de comfortable hotel albergo is both elegant and welcoming.
Its 63 rooms along with period furniture and arti- Challant, who belonged to a noble are decorated to a high standard and facts. Nearby, the village Champdepraz family linked to the Savoys. The castle there is a pleasant restaurant. The inner Agriturismo lArc en Ciel inexpensive This working farm has five pleasingly furnished rooms.
Home-grown produce is served in the fine restaurant. Extremely good value. Its 22 rooms are clad in pine and there is a warming, wood-burning oven in the restaurant. Via Laydetr 7, ; ; www. There is also a small museum of local furniture inside.
There is a car park at Piazza Arco dAugusto. To south to Cogne. The chef, Alfio Fascendini, bell tower and an elegant cloister. Today, it Via Tourneuve 4, ; ; purchased from cuckoo clocks to is home to the endangered ibex, www. Maps of the footpaths and Lou Ressignon to the city. Inside, on the right, lie routes are available from the visitor inexpensivemoderate the remains of a Roman theatre.
Just information centre Via Bourgeois 34, Well-established family-run inn specializing in authentic Valdostano to the north, accessed through the ; A path meanders specialities. At weekends, music Convento di San Giuseppe, is the south to Valnontey, where the complements feasting. Also has rooms. Amphitheatre open daily. The best time to see Splendid little restaurant with a warm, art treasures from the area in the these is from late-June to mid-July.
Visitors can also buy some excellent produce in the shop. OctMar: closed Mon. Next to the left on to the SS This road becomes Rue Grand Paradis 21, ; Duomo is the Roman Forum with a the Avenue du Gant Champex ; reduced hours in low season supporting arcade cryptoporticus. While there are many outlets just outside town, within Biella itself is Fratelli Cerruti Via Cernaia 40; open daily , selling men and womens classic clothes with 30 per cent plus discount, and sportswear specialist Fila Via Cesare Battisti 28; closed Mon mornings.
Nearby La Thuile reached via the SS26; closed in winter was once a mining area and is now a picturesque skiing and hiking town, and more of a family resort than chic Courmayeur. In summer chairlifts allow access to heights of 2, m 7, ft for some spectacular walking and trekking. Take the SS26, entering France on the D The main hub, Via Roma, pass in the Alps on the French-Italian There is a large car park by the cable is traffic free and full of designer shops border.
It was an important invasion car to Plan Checrouit, on the southern and gourmet gems. The Museo route and Napoleon I built a road edge of town. Alpino Duca degli Abruzzi Piazza there in It is also believed by Visitor Information Abb Henry 2; ; closed Wed some to have been Hannibals pass Piazzale Monte Bianco 8, ; morning tells tales of dramatic moun- when he marched his army and ; www. Enter Italy on. There are 33 the picturesque town Pr-Saint-Didier w Exilles individually designed rooms, together is famous for its warm thermal waters.
The restaurant is noted for its excellent food and service. There is a splendid fort. Exilles Fort Via degli ; www. The waters are said to valley, but also a great example of this prestigious hotel is noted for its have detoxifying, toning and anti- military architecture. A fort has kept charm and good service. There is a inflammatory properties. There is also a very pleasant restaurant.
Via Roma 87, ; ; www. France and Italy since the 12th century, although what is visible today is mainly from the 19th century. It is said that from , the Man in the Iron Mask, a prisoner whose face and identity remain a mystery to this day, was incarcerated within these walls. Many have theorized as to his identity, most famously Alexandre Dumas, who postulated that he was Louis XIVs identical twin. It is an imposing Baroque Head back northeast on the SS The Combal.
Established in , it draws remarkably well-preserved marble customers from all over the area. In the medieval Michelin-starred restaurant in the historic centre, the Romanesque Museo dArte Contemporanea, featuring classic Piedmont dishes, Cattedrale di San Giusto open daily , but with very creative twists dating from the 12th century, has a variant of molecular gastronomy lovely frescoes and a fine campanile.
This is where full of gourmet delights. Then head out to the grand fairytale castle in Fnis 6. Next, those based in Aosta, the amazing hunting lodge Palazzina di Caccia di head to Cogne 8 to visit the Parco mountain scenery is easy to explore.
Stupinigi 1 and the magnificent Nazionale del Gran Paradiso for an Castello di Rivoli r filled with invigorating walk among breath- Baroque architecture tour thought-provoking modern art. Aosta is located on the SS In the Land of the Truffle Barbaresco to Cuneo Highlights Kings of wine Taste the nectar of the gods made from the Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards in the Langhe region Gourmet delights Linger over your meal in Bra, the home of Slow Food, and savour the famous white truffle of Alba Mountain rides Zig-zag up the mountain pass from Sampeyre for spectacular views Valley pastures Stroll along the lush, wooded Valle Maira to the sound of sheep bells Timeless Saluzzo Take a tour of mellow Saluzzos historic core, through frescoed Renaissance houses and palazzi.
In the Land of the Truffle Piedmonts attractions are diverse. The vine-braided hills of the Langhe yield velvety and elegant wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco among Italys most celebrated while in the oak woods around Alba, keen-nosed hounds sni out valuable musky white trues.
Villages in the area are dotted with ne restaurants Bra was the birthplace of the Slow Food movement , which make the most of the bounty of hazelnut and chestnut groves, fruit orchards and mountain pastures. Castles and churches perch on hills; Occitan, the ancient Romance language of troubadors, is still spoken in the Alpine valleys; and the dramatic mountain scenery is never less than enthralling.
Vari Ruffia la Colletta M. Bracco Ostana San Cavallermaggiore. Indulge in gourmet food in the Colletto Robilante m so village or mountain restaurants s Ge.
Entracque Vernante frescoes in the villages above n e. Matto ag. Number of days: 34, allowing for a day in the Langhe region and a day each for Valle Varaita and Valle Maira. Distance: Approx km 90 miles. Road conditions: Roads are well- surfaced, but not always numbered. Rural routes are slow, winding and popular with motor bikers and cyclists Sommariva at weekends. Mountain passes can be. T Sanfr Castagnole Corneliano delle Lanze passing places. Late autumn sees fog throughout.
The T. Opening times: Shops tend to open i Dem. Monforte some closing on Monday morning. Museums vary; those in smaller places close in the weeks Fossano early part.
Check ahead out of season. Magliano Shopping: Alba is full of shops selling Alpi truffles and truffle-infused products oil, pasta, pure as well as hazelnut Morozzo cakes and sweets. Cuneo is famous Above Abandoned brick bridge on the route to Bra, see p43 Below Lofty mountain peaks of for chestnuts and Bra for its cheese. Outdoor enthusiasts can head for the pretty villages, valley greenery and mountain scenery of the Valle Varaita.
Step Barbaresco, overlooking the Tanaro inside the cathedral to see the lovely river, makes a good introduction wooden choir stalls depicting still to the hilltop villages of the Langhe lifes and townscapes, inlaid in area, whose vineyards spill down the by Bernardino Fossati.
The main street, slopes in geometric patterns towards Via Vittorio Emanuele II, is lined with the rolling hills beyond. A stroll down shops selling truffles, oils, pastas, Via Torino reveals characteristics wines, cheeses and chocolates. Turn left at Gallo for Grinzane one of a string of medieval watch- Cavour signposted. Park by the castle. The pleasures of the table ubiquitous regional enoteca, housed were held in high regard even before in the former church of San Donato.
Look for bagna Cascina Rein inexpensive cauda hot bath an olive oil dip A liberty-style villa with great views, set with anchovies and garlic, fritto misto among vineyards and orchards a short 2 Alba fried meats , bollito misto boiled drive east of Alba on Viale Cherasca.
Cuneo, Piemonte; meats , tajarin egg tagliatelle and Truffle hunts can be arranged. Alba rose to prominence in medieval agnolotti egg ravioli , the mountain Localit Altavilla 9, ; ; times, when brick towers cheese castelmagno, and the testicles www. During October and Cuneo, Piemonte; A short drive southwest of La Morra, November, swarms of chefs and food The magnificent 16th-century Castello its a good base for wine-country tours. Via Rittane 7, Frazione Vergne, ; ; www.
On its faade, he is portrayed 19th century. His bed, mayoral sash fine antiques and furnishings, a lush garden and pool. Good breakfast too. Via Roma , ; ; Below left Green rolling hills and vineyards around Barbaresco Below right The famous truffle www. In November, the castle gains worldwide attention with its prestigious white truffle auction, when astronomical amounts of money sometimes in excess of , for a single lot change hands.
More affordable for visitors are the fine wines and grappas for sale in the attached regional enoteca. Above left The exquisite dome of the Chiesa views across wine country.
Theres Tremlett in exchange for a supply also a well-priced tasting menu. Enrico Crippa. On the ground floor, La The highlight of this diminutive town Piola offers less expensive, rustic fare.
King of Wines. The vineyard has This lively town its name coming from piazzaduomoalba. Through Slow Food movement. As a result, for hazelnut chocolate truffles. The tour ends in the tempio restaurants here. The tall church of fondue , and beef braised in Barolo. Theres an enoteca the words of its creator Bernardo closed Wed on hand for those who want to buy. Park in Piazza Martiri. Chiesa di SantAndrea open movement with a lovely courtyard daily is giddily Baroque, from its setting, this serves rabbit tajarin thin 5 La Morra statue-topped faade to its altar tagliatelle with butter and sage.
Via Mendicit 14, ; ; Cuneo, Piemonte; packed with candles. Antique toys www. Other options bars for tasting. Park in Viale del Sole or Viale drunken cheese aged in grape skins , Castello is rewarded with superb Gozzano around the Parco Graneris.
Above Riverbed on the way to Sampeyre in the Valle Varaita Above right The historic 7 Savigliano celebrates the exploits of Vittorio centre of Saluzzo, with views across the valley Cuneo, Piemonte; Amedeo I, Duke of Savoy, in a series Despite losing out to Turin in the of bold military frescoes, and has bid to be the capital of the Savoy more decorative feminine rooms too.
Close by is the Baroque 18th-century pharmacy. Palazzo Taffini dAcceglio enquire Follow the signs for Saluzzo at tourist office for admission , which directly westwards on the SP Almost in France, the city was constantly changing hands between the French and the House of Savoy. On a walk through the narrow lanes and steep cobbled alleyways and steps up to the old town, it feels as though time has stopped here. To the left stands the Master of Elva. The tourist office is Park in Piazza Garibaldi.
Cross Corso Italia Vergine 1 open daily , whose faade and turn left through the Porta Santa Tourist Information Piazza Risorgimento 1, ; has three round windows.
The interior Maria 2 and follow Via Alessandro ; www. CO CIT. FR VA A. Vicolo Mercati 10, ; ; VI. CH LT. TA RE.
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